Angel Insights Blog
Thursday, April 15, 2021
Investors, Entrepreneurs Prepare For ACA 2021 – Summit of Angel Investing
By: Sarah Dickey, ACA Membership Director
Investors and entrepreneurs from the Pacific Northwest and around the world will reunite in Portland and online May 4-6 for ACA 2021 – The Summit of Angel Investing!
The conference, which kicks off May 3 with the Innovation Funders Showcase, will provide attendees a dynamic virtual experience under the themes of economic recovery, angel education, and expanding horizons.
“I’m most excited about the opportunity to get our Portland ecosystem partners back in the game,” said Portland Seed Fund Managing Director and ACA Event Chair Angela Jackson. “This annual event is about collaborating to bring angels and entrepreneurs together.”
Angela Jackson, Portland Seed Fund Managing Director and ACA Event Chair
ACA will kick off the conference with the Innovation Funders Showcase, a highly curated company pitch event. The showcase will have a national spotlight with US federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, and Angels Groups will refer their best companies to showcase for possible investments.
ACA 2021 – The Summit of Angel Investing will also feature a keynote from one of Portland’s own dynamic successful entrepreneurs, Monica Enand. “Monica is so impressive, not just in her career, but how she uses her influence in the community to tackle tough conversations, such as getting more women into boardrooms or preventing discrimination on the basis of race or gender,” said Jackson.
Other special events in the conference will include a timely update from the ACA public policy team on what to expect under the Biden administration, and a virtual networking hallway. “It’s an unstructured virtual room where people can create the serendipity they crave from live conferences,” said Jackson. “They can bump into someone new, talk about summit content or anything else. Networking is consistently top rated at live conferences, no matter how excellent the content. Last year, we added the virtual hallway at the last minute and it was wildly popular.”
Throughout the virtual conference, attendees will also be offered “Brain Breaks,” off-content experiences aimed to help investors and entrepreneurs combat Zoom fatigue by getting up from their chairs and learning something new in new and different ways.
This year’s Summit will benefit from the practice of last year’s Summit, which went virtual at the beginning of the pandemic. “Last year, we had to pivot the event on a dime, but as with so many things, forced constraints often result in a better outcome,” said Jackson.
While primarily a global virtual event, ACA expects about 25 people to attend in person in Portland, Ore. There will be a mix of local angels, entrepreneurs and luminaries, and a handful of top ACA members from other cities. “They will get to experience how special this local ecosystem is, and they’ve been wanting to do that for two years,” said Jackson. The summit will stage from Portland’s Hotel Jupiter Next with options for small, socially distanced meals, coffees, and happy hours.
“Whether someone is just starting or advanced in their investing acumen, there will be something for everyone,” said Jackson.
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