Xandra Laskowski has been an angel investor since 2013. She’s a member of Tech Coast Angels and Titan Angel Fund, and an investor in The Cove Fund II.
TCA is a stalwart SoCal investment network; Titan Angel Fund is owned by Titan Angels LLC, affiliated with California State University-Fullerton; Cove Fund II is based out of Applied Innovation’s The Cove at University of California-Irvine.
It wasn’t enough.
Laskowski had friends interested in angel investing but who felt uncomfortable in some of the meetings, saying they didn’t connect with the pitching companies and didn’t see themselves reflected in the memberships. Angel investing can be daunting to newcomers, amid emerging industries and investment risks.
Laskowski sought a women-only angel group, couldn’t find one and—in classic entrepreneurial fashion—launched Osea Angel Investors in 2017.
Criteria
Osea—the name is a play on “OC”—meets monthly at The Cove, hearing 15-minute pitches from two to three companies and from speakers on various industries and economic trends.
The group will hear pitches from companies with revenue, a disruptive technology with a high barrier to entry and an identified exit strategy of two to three years.
Leadership background, money in the bank, a known lead investor and a negotiated term sheet are vital.
Osea hits at some of the daunting elements with no minimums to participate and a hardline on who gets in the door: the group sees pitches from all different industries but a company has to be personally interesting to members.
“You invest in what you know,” Laskowski said.
She launched with eight investors and now has 25.
Members include President Kristi Ritoch and board members Kim Kovacs, Janice Hamlin and Sarah Chambless.
Kovacs is chief executive of Fullerton-based cannabis company MyJane Inc. and president of Los Angeles Venture Association. Members’ backgrounds overall include two chief executives, founder of an international staffing firm and a law firm partner.
Laskowski worked for Ingram Micro Inc. Husband Joseph Laskowski was an early employee at Broadcom Corp. and she’s been managing the family portfolio for 20 years.
20%
Members have invested in six of the 38 startups that’ve pitched the group, roughly a 20% investment rate—also notable for angel investing but partly flowing from the group’s personal-interest entry requirement.
Companies invested in include OC-based real estate lead platform Digsy; San Diego-based digital security firm Smart Armor; and baby gear service Tot Squad and hotel guest messaging provider Whistle, both in Los Angeles.
Osea members have injected about $250,000 into startups so far.
Some 20% of U.S. angel investors are women, a 2017 report by trade group Angel Capital Association said and the number is growing: women make up 30% of angels that started investing in the two years prior to the report.
Laskowski enjoys mentoring new investors and wants them to learn from her experience.
They “always want to go with their gut: they hear a pitch and want to write a check, but everything can change very quickly,” she said. “I’ve lost money, so now when I coach and advise [others] they are benefiting from my failures.”
