Valerie Gaydos is an angel investor and business development expert. She has been involved with many start-up companies as a founder, investor, and advisor particularly in the areas of operational development, strategic planning and governance for more than 20 years. She is the founder of Capital Growth, Inc. (CGI) which she started in 1994 as a venture capital data and information publishing company and was the first affordable searchable online database of venture news and information. CGI continued to acquire, build then sell several small business and publishing entities over the years. Capital Growth, Inc. currently provides equiyt, debt or mentor capital to various high growth early stage businesses with a concentrated interest in data, software, Internet infrastructure, social media, augmented reality, cyber security and more. She and her colleagues are the founders of The Angel Venture Forum which is an ad hoc consortium of active angel investors in Mid-Atlantic region. On the political front, she owns Fifty-First Associates, LLC, a political intelligence firm. From 2004-2007 Valerie served as President of the Pennsylvania Angel Network. From 2004-2010 she was director of the Private Investors Forum (Philadelphia).  She earned a BA in Russian Language and Economics from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In her spare time she races sailboats on the Chesapeake Bay (and wherever else the opportunity presents itself).