If you are looking for a great networking event or if you have a business idea that you want to test please read on:

The 7th Annual Fast Pitch Competition
April 24, 2012
Korn Hall at UCLA Anderson School of Management

 Tech Coast Angels Presents:

 The 7th Annual Fast Pitch Competition

Now in its seventh year, the Tech Coast Angels Fast Pitch event has come to symbolize true entrepreneurial spirit and innovation.

The participating companies represent a wide variety of business models, original thinking and, at times, disruptive discoveries that go on to change entire industries. Finding these companies and helping them reach the next level is at the heart of Tech Coast Angels’ mission.

Applicants interested in competing in this year’s event must submit an application online by midnight on March 31, 2012. After an initial screening, chosen applicants will be invited to an initial try-out in mid-April where they will undergo extensive training and coaching to hone their 90-second pitches.

Then, 10 finalists, out of approximately 150 applicants, will be invited to compete in the April 24th event where they will each have 90 seconds to make their best pitch to a panel comprised of Tech Coast Angels members, founders of leading accelerators and incubators and other start-up experts. The 10 finalists will be competing to win the following categories:

• Best Overall
• Best Fundability
• Best Presentation

Many of the companies that have participated in Fast Pitch have received funding from Tech Coast Angels and several venture capital firms. Overall, Tech Coast Angels has funded more than 200 ventures and raised over $1 billion for portfolio companies from direct investments and follow-on investment partners.

This year’s keynote speakers will be Andrew Chung of Khosla Ventures and Barry Cottle of Zynga. Andrew is an investment partner at Khosla Ventures, one of Silicon Valley’s premier venture capital funds started by Vinod Khosla, founder of Sun Microsystems. Barry is executive vice president of corporate development at Zynga, the dominant player in casual online gaming that recently went public with a multibillion dollar valuation.

Andrew Chung is an investment partner at Khosla Ventures one of Silicon Valley’s premier venture capital funds started by Vinod Khosla,  founder of Sun Microsystems.  Andrew is a director on the boards of Lanzatech (biofuel), LS9 (biofuel), EcoMotors (transportation), Pellion (storage), Biodiscovery (agriculture), and a stealth company (mobile).  He is interested in developing leading companies in cleantech, Internet, mobility, education, and genomics and also leads the firm’s China activities.  Andrew started his first company at age 19, and incubated UberWorks, which was acquired by a public company.  He also worked at Bain and Co., as well as Lightspeed Venture Partners, where he helped drive and manage the firm’s investments in Solazyme (NASDAQ: SZYM, biofuel), Stion (solar), LS9 (biofuel), Coaltek (clean coal), Leyden Energy (storage), Orbis Education (nursing), and Personalis (genome interpretation).

Barry Cottle is executive VP Corporate Development of Zynga, the dominant player in casual online gaming which recently went public with a multibillion dollar valuation.  Barry has over 20 years of experience within technology, games and entertainment building and leading business and corporate initiatives. He was executive vice president of EA Interactive, where he oversaw digital gaming properties including mobile, social and casual online games., Barry also held executive roles, including: CEO of Quickoffice Inc, COO of the Wireless and Content division at Palm Computing Inc., as well as chief internet officer at Palm. He served as SVP of marketing at Disney Televentures and CMO of Americast for The Walt Disney Company.

Los Angeles is also undergoing something of a transformation as a number of business accelerators have set up shop here setting the stage for the next generation of home-grown technologies, innovations and scores of entrepreneurs. The Fast Pitch competition is a microcosm of this activity and represents what Tech Coast Angels does on a daily basis.

After the event, dinner and drinks will be served, and attendees will have ample time to network with Tech Coast Angels members, venture capitalists and other industry experts.

Why should you attend Fast Pitch LA 2012?

• Connect with more than 400 professionals from the venture capital industry and start-up community
• Listen to business leaders discuss the most promising early stage companies in Southern California
• Gain invaluable industry insights from veteran start-up CEOs and angel investors and VC experts