I'm headed out to California in two weeks. As I used to live in the Bay Area for four years, I am looking forward to it. But the purpose of the trip is work. We have six consumer companies in the CEI Community Ventures portfolio and there is a very strong concentration of consumer-oriented venture capital/private equity funds in the Bay Area, including:
- TSG Consumer Partners
- Encore Consumer Capital
- Physic Ventures
- VMG Partners
- Rosewood Capital
- San Francisco Equity Partners
- Simon Equity Partners
- Swander Pace Capital
- Blue Horizon Equity
- Sea Change Investment Fund (co-investors with our fund in Look's Gourmet Food Co./Bar Harbor Foods and Putney Pasta)
On November 13, a great Healthy Living consumer-focused investor meeting will happen in San Francisco -- NCN III, Nutrition Capital Network's third national Investor Meeting. This is a great way to see a carefully selected group of private companies with unique health, wellness consumer products and services in one day. This group of 24 early- and mid-stage nutrition industry companies are actively seeking capital. I've been to NCN I and NCN II: In fact I attended NCN II as a presenter and an investor. As the de facto Acting CEO for Putney Pasta, I gave the company's 10 minute pitch to the room. To try and make it interesting, I also attempted to cook a Skillet Meal while I was talking. All I ended up proving is that it's hard to mess up while you cook a Putney Skillet Meal: I actually forgot that I was cooking while I was talking so the hot skillet with the pasta, sauce and shrimp was left unattended by my side as I tried to make my way through the PowerPoint. Yes, I have sympathy for entrepreneurs at pitch fests as I can honestly say I've walked in your shoes.
At NCN, companies introduce themselves in 10-minute presentations on the morning of November 13, with the afternoon reserved for one-on-one meetings. Investors receive detailed profiles of the presenting companies 3-4 days ahead of the meeting, and each company's presentation is carefully managed to assure quality and uniformity. Attendance at NCN's Fall 2008 Investor Meeting is not cheap - it requires a $2,500 registration fee for each investor, and includes a networking dinner on-site at the St. Regis on the evening of Wednesday, November 12.
More information is available at http://www.nutritioncapital.com/meetingfall2008.html
I'll be out in the Bay Area meeting with several of the funds listed above at the top of the article; if you are out there and would like to get together, send me an email.
Hope to see you there.
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