It is distinctly different from the excitement of the dot com boom of the late 1990s, in that the investors (following the investor shake out of the dot com bust) are more experienced and rational. Many of the SuperAngels are previously successful entrepreneurs who are re-investing their winnings and their experience in company-building into the next generation of start ups.

There is a lot of competition among early stage investors — as the traditional and boutique venture capital firms are joined now by SuperAngels, long-standing angel groups, private equity, accelerators and even crowd funding in their search for early position in the next new hot company.

There is lots of capital to invest and lots of start ups to screen.  In a funny way, the bad economy is part of this bonanza:  there are few worthwhile investment opportunities in traditional vehicles (stocks, bonds, bank or brokerage savings accounts) for investors, and there are few jobs to distract the young entrepreneurs willing to risk their first or second start up ventures.

The energy comes from the recent and upcoming exits — high-multiple strategic sales and IPOs, including Zynga, Twitter and Facebook.  Aggressive and rewarding exits always add confidence to fuel investing — the investors know there is somewhere to take their young companies for their ROI.

“A perfect storm” of opportunity, one of the panelists called it.

Yes, we all agreed, the ratio of start ups to failures is likely to stay the same.  But the opportunity to begin again on a new venture, or even to “pivot” a start up as the market shifts, creates more and more ventures and attempts, due to the much lower cost of building new technology using standard, off-the-cloud tools to launch a first product, market test it, adjust or pivot, and re-launch.

What do the investors look for?  A great team, and new way to solve a significant problem, a Big Market for a Big Exit, and the passion of the entrepreneur.  This is not a new list, but absent is the demand for revenue before funding, or a previously successful CxO.  Now, that is optimism!