Net Conference Moves

Organizers of the popular VentureNet conference will announce today that they are relocating the 3-year-old event from Long Beach to Costa Mesa.

Hundreds of online entrepreneurs are expected to flock to the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel in November, when executives from fledgling companies will gather to listen to advice from successful online entrepreneurs, pitch business plans to potential investors and network with fellow start-up neophytes.

“Orange County is becoming an epicenter of activity for Internet and software companies,” said Bill Manassero, executive director of the Software Council of Southern California, which sponsors the event. “It’s so hot right now, it seemed like a natural place for this conference.”

It may be easy to launch a business on the World Wide Web, said Manassero, but keeping a Net-based company afloat definitely takes money. The conference, set for Nov. 4-5, spotlights 35 companies with an interesting idea, product or business model. But other attendees--venture capitalists and other potential investors--also use the conference to spot new talent and investment trends.

Organizers are accepting applications from companies who want to present their business plans at the conference. The Software Council is posting updated information about the conference on the World Wide Web at https://www.venturenet.org.

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P.J. Huffstutter covers high technology for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7830 and at p.j.huffstutter@latimes.com.