Jim Troxel

Jim Troxel is a Founder of Development Capital Networks (DCN) and leads its WBTangels initiative, a national network of locally-based angel funds that pool a shared infrastructure of technology, talent, and capital sources (delivered in part through the WBT Innovation Marketplace) to invest in early-stage entrepreneurial ventures. He describes WBTangels around the philosophy "global resources, investing locally," and his signature program, "Seed Investing as a Team Sport," frames angel investing as a collaborative, group-based discipline.

Troxel's primary career is in community and organizational development, leadership training, and facilitation — a body of work spanning roughly 45 years and a dozen countries, during which he says he has inspired more than 70,000 people across more than 1,000 seminars and workshops. He co-founded Millennia Consulting, LLC, a Chicago consulting firm focused on the public-service sector (historically at 28 E. Jackson Blvd., Chicago), and he has served as adjunct faculty at DePaul University's School for New Learning, where he developed coursework on facilitating adult learning. He is also associated with the Institute of Cultural Affairs.

His move into seed and angel finance came through his role as Training Director for the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds (NASVF). In that capacity, and later through DCN/WBTangels, he led close to 100 "Seed Investing as a Team Sport" one-day seminars across the U.S. — work that he credits with helping catalyze the formation of roughly 50 different angel groups and funds. He co-authored the "Innovation Finance Reference Guide" with DCN's Robert G. Heard for the Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA), and says he has personally launched seven businesses and advised many others.

Troxel earned his undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University and a graduate degree (in organizational transformation / a related field) from DePaul University in Chicago. In 2013 he helped launch Cowboy Technology Angels, LLC, an angel fund supporting ventures emanating from Oklahoma State University, his undergraduate alma mater.

• Stage: Seed-stage / early-stage angel investing; all participating WBTangel fund members are accredited investors.
• Model — "Seed Investing as a Team Sport": Troxel's core thesis is that effective angel investing is collaborative rather than solo — locally-organized angel funds work as teams and leverage a shared national network of deal flow, technology, and capital.
• "Global resources. Investing locally": WBTangels emphasizes locally-rooted funds (often tied to universities and regional ecosystems) that tap a broader national infrastructure for due diligence and co-investment.
• Sectors: Generalist technology focus in practice, with associated deals in drone/aerospace and defense (Vigilant Aerospace), energy/oilfield data analytics (GroundMetrics), and fintech/financial-services software (3530 Technologies).
• What makes him say yes: Disciplined, process-driven evaluation — his curriculum stresses the seed-investing process, due diligence, "investment appetite," valuing the enterprise and pricing the deal, and term sheets — suggesting a structured, fundamentals-first approach to backing companies.