The Operator's Edge: From San Diego Angel Academy

Angel Academy Session 3 brings together a panel of San Diego operators who crossed over to the investor side - including Katherine Chapin, Dane Chapin, Ken Potashner, and Bardia Moayedi with backgrounds spanning investment banking, corporate law, and consumer products. The conversation gets honest fast: what it means to bet on a founder who introduces herself as "just a mom," why losing money on a deal teaches you more than any pitch deck, and how San Diego's open, collaborative angel community creates a fundamentally different deal flow than Silicon Valley's closed-door networks. Key Topics * Operating experience as an angel investor's real edge * The "just a mom" story: why passion beats pedigree every time * Dane Chapin's board game company postmortem and what losing taught him * San Diego's open angel ecosystem vs. Silicon Valley's closed networks * Underestimating risk: the Coin investment and what it revealed * Co-investing with spouses and building shared conviction * Why brand obsession signals a founder worth backing * Pitch contests vs. relationship-driven deal flow Links & Resources * San Diego Angel Conference (SDAC): * SDSU ZIP Launchpad: * Rising Tide Partners: Connect on LinkedIn * Dane Chapin * Katherine Chapin * Ken Potashner * Bardia Moayedi * Neal Bloom This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit risingtidepartners.substack.com/

You can listen to The Operator's Edge: From San Diego Angel Academy online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Operator's Edge: From San Diego Angel Academy is an episode from Tacos and Tech Podcast by Neal Bloom.

This episode is 63:01 long.

This episode was published on May 13, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Tacos and Tech Podcast when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.