San Diego Angel Conference VIII

A Front-Row Seat to the Best of San Diego Innovation

One of the great privileges of participating in the 2026 San Diego Angel Conference was getting a front-row seat to the entrepreneurs, investors, and community leaders who make San Diego one of the most exciting innovation ecosystems in the country.

The finale showcased an impressive group of founders tackling meaningful problems across healthcare, biotechnology, software, and other industries. While every startup is unique, what stood out most was the quality of the people behind the companies—their resilience, expertise, and willingness to dedicate years of their lives to solving difficult challenges.

This year, I had the opportunity to serve as an investor and lead the due diligence team for Cytodyme alongside a group of exceptionally sharp investors. The experience reinforced that venture investing is ultimately a team sport. Some of the most valuable insights came not from any individual analysis, but from the collective intelligence of experienced operators, executives, founders, scientists, physicians, and investors who brought different perspectives to the table.

Out of 135 companies, six presented at the finals and twelve had booths.

Presenting were:

Vayim is a medical device for treating chronic rhinosinusitis (persistent sinus infections).

Cytodyme automates quality and regulatory reporting for life science companies navigating a 160x increase in post-market compliance requirements.

Shezza is a woman-owned premium sock brand solving painful heel blisters in a $3.5-4B target market.

Sesh is commercializing a liquid biopsy cancer diagnostic that helps determine the correct treatment for cancer patients.

PolyVascular is bringing minimally invasive valve replacement to children with congenital heart disease.

My Village Innovations is a women-led medical device company redesigning gynecologic care.

Boothing were:

Ocko Navigation develops GPS-free navigation for drones.

SUNMUD is the only high performance sustainable sunscreen for surfers and athletes.

BrainStorm Therapeutics is developing an NVIDIA award-winning AI-powered platform to improve drug discovery for neurological diseases.

Wayfarer Aircraft & Development has patented dual-use technology enabling aircraft to operate without runways, solving the Pentagon's most urgent logistics problem.

Hyivy Health is a seed stage medical device company that was created out of the founder's experience with cervical cancer.

GelTech Labs is building Carousel, a benchtop automation platform that replaces manual hydrogel testing with fast, precise, and reproducible data for R&D and QC labs.

One of the aspects I appreciate most about the San Diego Angel Conference is the rigor of the process. Every member reviews pitch decks, submits feedback, participates in discussions, and votes collectively to advance the companies with the highest potential. The process is designed not only to identify promising investments but also to provide meaningful feedback to founders.

For companies that do not advance, the conference provides honest and thoughtful debriefs. Sometimes that feedback can be difficult to hear, but I continue to be impressed by founders who embrace it as an opportunity to improve. The best entrepreneurs understand that constructive criticism is often one of the most valuable forms of capital they can receive.

The conference was also an outstanding educational experience. Having started my venture investing journey more than a decade ago as an analyst with Tech Coast Angels San Diego, I've spent years participating in investment committees, helping family offices and medical groups establish investment programs, and evaluating private companies. Yet I still found myself learning from the people around me.

What makes the SDAC community special is the willingness of its members to openly share both their successes and failures. The stories behind great investments are fascinating. The stories behind mistakes are often even more valuable. There is very little ego in the room and plenty of humility. Investors freely discuss deals they missed, lessons they learned the hard way, and the tuition they paid throughout their venture education. Those conversations are often equal parts educational and entertaining.

Beyond the companies and the investment process, the conference introduced me to some of San Diego’s most accomplished and generous individuals. These are people who contribute not only capital but also significant amounts of time, mentorship, expertise, and encouragement to the next generation of entrepreneurs. Their commitment to helping founders succeed is one of the reasons San Diego continues to punch above its weight as an innovation hub.

Here’s my buddy Rick introducing Cytodyme at the Finale!

A special thank you is due to Neal Bloom and the entire San Diego Angel Conference Board. They have built a program that combines education, diligence, mentorship, and investment into a uniquely valuable experience for both founders and investors. Their leadership has helped create a community where people genuinely want to help each other improve.

For anyone serious about becoming a better investor, entrepreneur, or business leader, I would strongly encourage participation in the San Diego Angel Conference. The analytical rigor alone is worth the commitment, but the relationships and learning opportunities may be even more valuable.

For two to three months, we met weekly in the evenings to evaluate the companies that had applied to the conference. We reviewed pitch decks, hosted founder presentations, discussed diligence findings, and debated investment merits in a setting that closely resembled a professional investment committee. What impressed me most was the intellectual honesty of the group. Participants were encouraged to challenge assumptions, test ideas, and follow the evidence wherever it led. More than once, I brought forward an argument that seemed compelling in my own mind, only to realize through discussion that it didn’t hold up under scrutiny. That process of having ideas refined—or occasionally dismantled—by exceptionally thoughtful investors sharpened my own analytical thinking considerably.

The SDSU interns were equally impressive. They contributed meaningful research, helped leverage new diligence tools, and brought fresh perspectives from their MBA or collegiate studies and diverse professional backgrounds. Watching them engage with the process reminded me of how I got started as an analyst more than a decade ago. I found myself encouraging anyone who would listen to consider a career in venture and investing. Breaking into the venture field is rarely easy, but for those willing to put in the work, it can be an incredibly rewarding profession—one that offers the opportunity to learn continuously, support innovation, and ultimately build a career that provides both intellectual fulfillment and meaningful time with family.

The San Diego Angel Conference also offers an outstanding Angel Academy program, where Neal Bloom walks participants through the principles, frameworks, and thought processes that underpin successful early-stage investing. Through a series of educational sessions and interviews with respected investors such as Dr. Will Alaynick of Phase Two Ventures, participants gain insight into how experienced angels evaluate opportunities, assess risk, and build long-term investment portfolios.

Even after years of participating in investment committees and venture diligence, I found the program to be a valuable refresher on the fundamentals that drive successful investing. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of individual deals, but Angel Academy reinforces the disciplined thinking, pattern recognition, and analytical rigor that are essential to making sound investment decisions over time.

Congratulations to this year’s winner, Sesh. Andrew is an exceptionally charismatic founder, and after participating in diligence calls with leaders from the National Cancer Institute who spoke highly of his vision and capabilities, it was easy to see why the company stood out.

One of the most rewarding aspects of angel investing is the opportunity to support companies that can meaningfully improve people’s lives while also generating a return on capital. Advancing cancer care is about as impactful a mission as I can imagine, which is why I’m thrilled to be investing in Sesh through my ownership units as an SDAC investor.

The Bay Area remains the gold standard for startup ecosystems, but San Diego is building something special in its own way. Our growth feels authentic, collaborative, and deeply rooted in relationships. Here, people genuinely want to help each other succeed.

SD is already one of the best places in the world to live. Increasingly, it is becoming one of the best places in the world to launch companies that advance science, improve healthcare, and save lives.

After spending time with the founders, investors, mentors, and volunteers who power the San Diego Angel Conference, it’s clear that San Diego’s innovation ecosystem is in very good hands. The talent, collaboration, and willingness to support the next generation of entrepreneurs make it easy to be optimistic about what lies ahead.

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