Angel Network hears entrepreneurs who need wings

The Long Island Angel Network, which connects investors with entrepreneurs, held its first presentation meeting in Melville Tuesday, highlighting eight businesses, including one started by a Garden City neurosurgeon who has virtually given up his practice so he can pursue his dream of revolutionizing the medical industry, and another begun by a pair of cat owners who sell kitty litter over the Internet.

Angel Network chairman Michael Faltischek said the list of presenting companies had been whittled down from 30.

Neurosurgeon Louis Cornacchia said he has "virtually" given up his medical practice to promote his 5-year-old company, Doctations, which he describes as a "Google-like suite" of applications that links patients, doctors, medical billers and others in the industry, taking matters beyond electronic medical record-keeping, he said.

Huntington restaurateur John Tunney sought money for his company, CooCoo, which provides texted information on Long Island Rail Road schedules, sports scores and local business. "How do we make money?" Tunney said. "Straight advertising."

Chief executive Jerome Hairston and chief operating officer Marc Silverstein, of KittyLitterDelivery.com, said their Internet company provides places where cat owners can get e-brand cat litter and cat food delivered to their homes. "I wouldn't call either of us cat people," Silverstein said. But, he added, both know the frustration of running out of litter late on a Sunday night.

Angel meetings will be held quarterly, Faltischek said.