John Sechrest is the founder of the Seattle Angel Conference and Mossy Ventures, where he focuses on one core challenge in the innovation economy: how to systematically develop new angel investors. Through his programs, he has helped hundreds of investors gain practical experience evaluating startups and making early-stage investment decisions through structured, learn-by-doing investment programs.
His work focuses on transforming interested professionals into confident, capable angels by teaching the core disciplines of early-stage investing including deal flow development, due diligence practices, portfolio construction, and collaborative investment decision processes. His programs are designed not just to educate investors, but to activate them.
John also works internationally to help startup ecosystems build local investor capacity through initiatives such as the Trans-Atlantic Angel Conference and Startup Investor Accelerator programs, supporting the growth of angel communities in emerging markets.
He is a frequent speaker on angel education, investor activation, and ecosystem development, and is particularly interested in scalable models that can help create the next 10,000 angel investors needed to support the next generation of startups.