Wednesday, September 04, 2013

Angel Investors Peek Into SOCAP13

I don't have time to attend the full SOCAP13 conference this year but I did make time to stop in briefly at one event.  Hub Ventures and Investors' Circle teamed up to host an "Angel Squared" mixer tonight for those of us from the finance sector.  I left early as the room was getting pretty crowded but I met some cool people.

In case you haven't heard, accelerators and incubators for the non-profit sector are proliferating.  They're just as adaptive as their for-profit counterparts and some organizations reach out to both for-profit and non-profit startups.  The social capital ecosystem is growing in size and complexity.  One of the gurus I met at Angel Squared tonight likened social capital to a managed forest where some managers want to clearcut trees for farmland, some would rather harvest timber responsibly, and others would prefer to preserve the forest and clear the undergrowth to grow coffee.  I had previously thought social capital was more like an Amazon rain forest, with tremendous chaos and random diversity.

I arrived early enough to check out the crowds of conference goers streaming out of Fort Mason.  The one most important take-away I gleaned from watching these folks is that the social capital movement is populated by a large number of very attractive-looking women.  I mean, for crying out loud, these chicks had model-quality looks and triathlete-caliber figures.  I am definitely clearing my calendar in 2014 to attend SOCAP if it means I'll be surrounded by hot females all week.  Even the gals I met tonight at Angel Squared were hot, although they may have thought I was a jerk for not being much of a conversation starter.  Hey ladies, it was so loud in that cramped conference center I could hardly hear a word any of you said to me.  I'm much more loquacious during a candlelit dinner in a quiet restaurant, if you know what I mean.  One hot woman did answer my question about whether a for-profit publicly traded company can certify as a B-corporation.  The answer is yes, it can.

Let's recap tonight's important lessons.  Is SOCAP cool?  Yes, it is.  Will I attend next year?  Yes, I will.  Are hot chicks attracted to social capital?  Yes, they are.  Do these women find me intriguing and stunningly handsome?  Of course they do, don't be silly.  Alfidi Capital is going full steam into social capital.