MAGIC AND MAGICIANS: What is designer/angel/connector Matt Shampine doing in this photo tweeted today by Vegas showman Criss Angel with the caption, "In secret project meeting will reveal details about 1 of the projects this Sunday...." No idea what it could be, as Mr. Angel's website is already maximum sick!

IT PAYS TO MOCK UP. The life science inventory-management start-up mock-pitched at a Startup Leadership Program event last week as an exercise, where the company was mock-valued by mock-VCs at a cool mock-$7.5 million. “Most of the VCs tended to gravitate toward Quartzy, which ended up being a very expensive deal,” director Kanchan Koya said. “They had a premoney that was really, really high… A mock VC fund invested $2 million or $1 million on a pre-money of like $7.5 million, but clearly the company needed more than just a million to actually make it.” The start-up's performance landed them a real interview with First Round Capital, which was being represented at the event by Charlie O'Donnell, who demurred when Betabeat tried to find out whether the real pitch went as well as the fake one. "Tons of companies pitch at First Round, 3-4 a day :)," he said on Gchat. "I try to talk to all the really interesting people doing interesting stuff... If you made every company that pitched a rumor, you could make the whole site a rumor round-up."

CITYPOCKETS. After weeks of grinding through paperwork, Cheryl Yeoh got money!

STEALTH START-UP. Galhaus, is in pre-splash page stealth mode, while its counterpart Guyhaus is in pre-alpha. But we're told the product will be more than toothpaste delivery--it'll be more similar to Birchbox.