Maximize Angel Investments Orlando founder aims to fund home-grown business startups, create jobs

ORLANDO, Fla. --- The most efficient way to spur the local economy and create new jobs is to grow your own. That’s the motto of William C. De Temple, chief executive officer of Maximize Angel Investments Orlando, Inc., and he’s putting his money where his mouth is.

De Temple founded Maximize Angel Investments Orlando www.MaxAngelInvestments.com after meetings with Gordon Hogan, director and Dr. Tom O’Neal, founder of the University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program.

“Central Florida has a vibrant network of startup entrepreneurs and support groups,” De Temple said. “The biggest need now is capital to launch some of these newly emerging enterprises and help them grow into large companies with international markets,” he said.

Already, De Temple has recruited 22 angel investors, each of whom has committed $50,000 annually to fund startup ventures.

But it’s not just money, De Temple is quick to add.

“Capital is the most critical single need, but successful angel investing requires a much broader approach,” De Temple said.

“We have a rigorous selection protocol to determine which companies have the greatest potential to grow quickly, efficiently and sustainably,” De Temple said. “We also have stringent requirements of our angel investors. With their knowledge and experience, they need to play an active role coaching entrepreneurs and overseeing the growth of companies we invest in,” he said.

De Temple has more than 30 years of experience in angel investing. When he launched his first company in Vancouver, B.C., angel investors helped fund its growth. When annual revenues topped the $12 million mark in 1984, he and his investors sold the company and monetized their investment. DeTemple then relocated to southern California.

There, he launched three more companies with angel investment capital and sold them. With the proceeds, he became an angel investor himself.

“I have personally invested in six companies, and I’ve been very pleased with the results so far,” De Temple said.

De Temple modeled Maximize Angel Investments Orlando after the Tech Coast Angels network in Southern California, the most successful angel investment network in the U.S.

“I was frustrated with the state of the art here in Central Florida,” De Temple said. “Angel investing isn’t a benevolent effort. It’s a sound business strategy with definitive goals and objectives and it’s based on the most fundamental principles of capitalism,” De Temple said.

“What makes Central Florida unique and worth the effort here is the entrepreneurial community and the network of support services that have grown from the UCF Business Incubation Program,” he said. “We have created a fertile field here, and now it’s time to plant some seeds,” De Temple said.

Maximize Angel Investments Orlando is focused on startup and second stage growth companies located in the Central Florida triangle that runs from Palm Coast in Flagler County down to Palm Bay in south Brevard County to west of Lakeland. Orlando is the hub, De Temple said.

“I’m talking to Chambers of Commerce in each community. I’m talking to the Economic Development Commissions, law firms, CPA firms and individual Angels that I get referred to. I’m making everybody well aware of what we are doing,” De Temple said.

In September, Maximize Angel Investments Orlando will host a seminar featuring Dave Berkus, the rock star of the angel investment movement who has more than 70 successful angel investment startups to his credit. Registration for the event is $249.

De Temple has published a book, How to Raise Capital Quickly, available free at www.RaiseCapitalQuickly.com.