The Starting Gate

Start-Up City: Miami grows -- act fast to register; AdMobilize launches; co-founder matchmaking moves

So much going on this week! Here are some more highlights:

Growing interest in "urban tech"

Due to overwhelming response, the free Start-Up City: Miami event on Feb. 13 will be moving to a larger space -- the New World Center’s Main Performance Hall in Miami Beach. This will allow space for about 600 attendees, and that's good news for the 200 people on the waiting list, organizers said, as all or most will be able to get in and more space may be available. Act fast to register here for the all-day forum, which originally filled up within a week, will bring together leading voices from the tech, design, urban planning and startup communities for a series of conversations about building Miami's entrepreneurial ecosystem and the emerging models of "urban tech" taking root in Miami and other cities around the world. Speakers include Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, and Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, as well as dozens of local and national experts (agenda here).  The program is  being presented by The Atlantic and The Atlantic Cities,  curated by urban affairs expert artist Richard Florida and sponsored by the Knight Foundation. Event programming also will be streamed live online at http://events.theatlantic.com/start-up-city-miami/2013/. Read my earlier post and  Q&A with Richard Florida about the event here. Local watch parties include one at FIU’s College of Business Complex, Room 240, 11200 SW 8th St. Participate on Twitter with the hashtag #StartupMiami.

"The Robin Hood of advertising"

Rodolfo Saccoman and his team at AdMobilize launched www.admobilize.com this week and they aim to disrupt the traditional advertising market. If you went to the last Refresh Miami event you saw his pitch. The idea is so simple: Why not get paid to advertise the brands you already love. Be a walking billboard, get paid to sit in traffic. Saccoman was one of the first startup entrepreneurs I met back in 2009 when he was developing My Therapy Journal and I was really taken aback by his passion. This will be an interesting Miami startup to watch and support. His video explains it better than I ever could. 

 

Opposites attract

Developers were looking for marketers, sales people were looking for technical might, numbers guys were offering their services to the dreamers in the room. Some people came with long wish lists to get their ideas off the ground -- help with programming, design, marketing, finance -- and others  simply wanted to join a team and there were plenty of people to pitch them in a diverse mix of industries. Noting the importance of building a team with complementary strengths and chemistry, Scott Goodman of yourlisten.com, who organized Miami's first CoFoundersLab event Wednesday at Incubate Miami that attracted about 50-60 people, hopes to make this CoFoundersLab matchmaking networker a regular event. 

Please keep me posted on what's going on at ndahlberg@miamiherald.com and follow me on Twitter @ndahlberg 

Youfit chooses Kendall for 46th club opening Thursday

The South Florida fitness entrepreneur who created the budget-minded Youfit Health Clubs has already opened 45 clubs in several states. On Thursday, his 46^th club –- and 18^th in South Florida –- will open in Kendall at the Crossings Shopping Village at 112 St. and 132 Ave.

Founded by Rick Berks in 2008 with one club in St. Petersburg,  the rapidly expanding Youfit Health Clubs  offers no-frills gyms that require no long-term contracts (you pay by the month). Fees are typically only $10 a month, less than a third of what most gyms charge. Youfit clubs are also environmentally friendly, with energy-efficient features and floors are made of recycled tires or Nike “grind” (i.e. old sneakers).

 “We’re building clubs for people who don’t want to deal with the trauma and drama of the usual health club,” says Berks, a former Broward sheriff's deputy who owned a Gold's Gym franchise and co-founded the Planet Fitness chain before launching Youfit. “We’re getting people here in South Florida off the couch. We’re creating new businesses here and we’re creating them in a way that’s good to the environment.”

 The Kendall club will be followed by seven more openings in the next two months, including another Miami location and its first club in California, the company said.

(Photo of Rick Berks, above, is from the Tampa Bay Times.)