Watch the entrepreneurial funding process as it actually happens - not what you see on Shark Tank! The event will feature four startup firms honing their pitches to a panel of angel investors - the last step before they hit the big stage. We encourage entrepreneurial companies considering a fund raise down the road to attend as observers in order to become more familiar with the process. Format: 8 minute presentations, followed by 8 minutes of panel feedback. After panel comments, we allocate 4 minutes for audience perspectives and questions.

Eleanor Haas Co-leads the New York Chapter of Keiretsu Forum, the largest angel network in the world. She is also an advisor to two additional angel communities - 37 Angels and Astia, which focus on firms created or led by women. Further, as Managing Director of The Calyx Group LLC, she advises innovators on presentation skills, business strategy, revenue and growth issues, funding, marketing, and relationships with investors & partners.

Jodd Readick has been a serial entrepreneur and product innovator for over 30 years. He is Co-Founder of three telecom firms: User Centric Communications, Vumber.com, and DMI Communications. He is also Co-Founder of Unwired Mobile, a patented blockchain technology enabling international mobile roaming. Previously, he spent 5 years as Manager of Marketing and Strategic Planning at DuPont. He serves on the Advisory Board of several startups.

John Hempill is a Partner at Sheppard Mullin in the Corporate Practice Group. He has extensive experience in private and public finance,representing private emerging growth companies, venture capital funds, and strategic investors in seed rounds and later stage private financings. He has advised clients in both acquisitions and dispositions of companies and lines of business, as well as in other types of negotiated business combinations.

Bruce Crawford, Founder of the Entrepreneur Forum, will serve as moderator. Prior to founding the Forum in 2008, he was Co-Head of Ratings Advisory at Salomon Smith Barney, where his primary responsibility was preparing corporations for bond rating presentations to agencies. Previously, he was a Director in Corporate Finance at Standard & Poor's, responsible for firms in the automotive, chemical, energy, and pharmaceutical industries.