Face to Face with Investors - TCA Venture Group
Face-to-Face with Investors
Where Conversations Become Opportunities!
Seed to Pre-Series A with proven traction and ready for your next chapter? This is your event.
Join us for our signature "Face to Face" round table sessions — intimate, high-impact conversations with active investors who are here to engage, not just listen. You'll walk away with real-time feedback from experienced capital partners, meaningful connections, and the kind of candid insight that only comes from being in the room. For the right founders, this could mean more than just a conversation — it could mean a follow-on meeting with investors ready to go deeper.
You've got 3 minutes — make them count. Step up, make your case, and either walk away with a reason to meet again or honest feedback on what's missing and exactly what investors are looking for.
Agenda
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm: Connect with fellow founders, investors, and entrepreneurs, explore the $ide Hustle Challenge Marketplace featuring student-led ventures, and enjoy light refreshments.
5:00 pm - 5:10 pm: Opening Remarks
George Carpenter, President, TCA OC Venture Group
Ryan Foland Director, UCI ANTrepreneur Center
5:10 pm - 5:40 pm: AI or AI-Washing?
What VCs actually look for when every startup claims to be an AI company
Ann Metzger, General Partner, 360 Venture Collective
Dave de Csepel, TCA Venture Group Chairman
Gardner Smith, Software investor Ankona Capital
Moderator: George Carpenter President, TCA Venture Group
5:40 pm - 6:10 pm: The Other Side of the Table
Perspectives from Entrepreneurs Who Now Write the Checks
This panel features successful entrepreneurs who now sit on the other side of the table as investors. They’ve been in your shoes as operators which gives them a perspective many investors may not have. Expect a frank discussion on what they’ve learned as investors, and with the benefit of hindsight, what they wish they’d known when they were the ones doing the pitching
Bob Richardson, CEO PB Financial Inc.
JJ Richa, Pismo Ventures
Moderator: Steven Liu TCA Venture Group
6:15 pm - 7:45 pm: Face to Face with Investors Round Tables
This is where the real work happens. Join an intimate, casual roundtable with active investors in your industry — whether you want to make your case for a follow-on meeting, get a strategy question answered, or hear directly what investors are looking for and what might be missing from your story.
Founders choose their room based on industry focus, and every entrepreneur in the room benefits — not just from investor insight, but from the candid, collaborative energy of fellow founders in the trenches alongside you.
You've got 3 minutes. Use them however serves you most.
This is not a formal pitch session — it's something more valuable: an honest, face-to-face conversation with people who can move the needle.
Investors include: Andy Firoved, Dave de Csepel, George Carpenter, Ray Chan, Silvia Restelli, Jeff Kuan, Glenn Rogers, Grant Van Cleve, Hans Imhof, Steven Liu, Ann Metzger, JJ Richa, John Samuelson, Kal Kalimada, Mallory Shickora, Med Armani, Muru Annamalai, Pat Hwang, Quan Nguyen, Ray Chan, Robin Pimentel, Sagar Patel, Gardner Smith, Dr. Thomas Lee, Volker Huther, Jerry Heikens, Dhaval Kapadia and many more!
Parking at: 4502 Campus Dr, Irvine, CA 92617 (Here) - Map from the parking structure to the UCI ANTpreneur Center (Here) Skip the parking line and prepay (Here)
Hosted by TCA Venture Group and UC Irvine ANTrepreneur Center
[By attending all attendees agree to release, indemnify, hold harmless, defend, and pay defense costs for all organizers and sponsors from any and all liability or claims and consent to use and sharing in any media of any photos or videos taken.]
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