Members of the tech coast Angels, an unprepossessing crew of rich businessmen, sit in a borrowed meeting room in Orange County, Calif. They're investors. They have fun grilling cash-strapped startups, criticizing business plans and hooting at optimistic growth projections. Think Adam Smith meets the acerbic judge on television's American Idol. "You still haven't told us why your salaries are so high," Luis Villalobos, the group's founder, admonishes a shamefaced man selling spa magazines. A biotech firm's founder is dinged for dismissing the competition that might kill him. But they take the razzing, eager for a piece of the $10 million that the Tech Coast Angels invest each year. It's all in pursuit of making a few bucks. It's also the American economy's best hope.
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