1. Never let on how much you need the other guy’s money.
2. Stay in control. He wants a rate of return and you want to scale your business. This is not a unilateral transaction.
3. Express a level of confidence in your technology based on a solid understanding of it, your market and your competition.
4. Understand and be responsive to the interests of your investors.
5. Be sure to play side one of Led Zeppelin IV at the closing table.

I hope you get lucky…

Bo Peabody, co-founder of Tripod.com and Village Ventures, was the keynote speaker. Bo’s book, Lucky or Smart?, is available on Amazon.

I am pleased that my new venture, QuoteJuice.com, was chosen to present. For the past couple years, Andrew Lunde, one of Atlanta’s most accomplished technologists, and I have been building the site. We are sticking to the adage that if you aren’t embarrassed by the way the site looks then you launched to slow. We are continuing to make improvements that will make the user’s experience better.

Quotejuice.com allows consumers to easily quote and compare side-by-side competing health plans, and to make application for the insurance product that best fits their needs. The company is a licensed insurance agency in Georgia, California, Colorado, North Carolina and Tennessee. QuoteJuice, founded in March 2007, is a member company of the Advanced Technology Development Center at Georgia Tech.

Paul Stamatiou wrote a comprehensive piece on Startup Riot. Here are some pictures from the event:

Sanjay briefs the presenters.

Andrew Lunde and Sig Mosley.

Angus pitches QuoteJuice!

James Harris pitches Artisanal Influence!

Keith McGreggor oversees the snarkiness on BackNoise; Paul Freet, Jeff McConnell and Sig Mosley.