John Dilts has left his position as president of the Keiretsu Forum chapters in Westlake Village and Los Angeles to form a new angel venture group. In March Dilts will launch Maverick Angels, a venture capital, training and support organization with its first chapters in Westlake Village, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. Like Keiretsu, Maverick Angels is a for-profit venture with revenues generated from training programs, consulting fees and presentation and membership fees. But unlike the traditional models for angel investor groups, which are often loosely aligned organizations, Dilts hopes to provide a more formalized approach. “We developed some new due diligence software, Maverick Link, which is a back-end infrastructure software to support collaboration,” Dilts said. The software will allow members to receive more complete information on potential investments, and it will facilitate communication between investors so that members can better understand each other’s investment decisions and goals. “I think there needs to be more value for money,” Dilts said. A separate boot camp for entrepreneurs will be open to the public. But those who wish to make a presentation to the investment group will be able to use the boot camp and coaching services to prepare for the presentation. “If someone doesn’t get meaningful traction after the boot camp, we will refund their money minus an administrative fee,” Dilts said. Dilts, who was trained as an attorney, formed his first venture fund while taking his bar exam and began a career coaching entrepreneurs and consulting. He has taught entrepreneurship at corporations around the world and served as the head of the local Keiretsu chapters for the past two years. He decided to form Maverick to try to improve the information flow to potential investors and better nurture and train entrepreneurs. “The challenge for many angel groups is it can tend to be a free for all,” he said. “There is no ongoing infrastructure that can focus on facilitating due diligence. It’s hit and miss.” Maverick is expected to launch with 40 to 50 members, who will each pay an annual fee of $3,000. Within the next two years Dilts said he hopes to solidify membership levels at all three chapters at around 50 and open another chapter in Silicon Valley.
