The Starting Gate

'Miami Nice' is our special sauce

 

By Brian Brackeen

I am the CEO of Kairos, a tech startup focused on facial recognition in the workforce management and retail spaces.  We moved from San Francisco to Miami last year and it's been nothing less than a stellar experience and a blessing. 

There are a number of reasons that we came to Miami, reasons like weather, a budding tech scene, weather, a growing urban core, the Über hipness of Wynwood, great incubators popping up like The LAB Miami, and did I mention weather? 

But what keeps us here, and what binds us to this amazing city, is relationships. In Miami we are good at relationships, it's our special sauce. Maybe it's the friendliness of our Latin inspired culture, our multiple shared languages, or maybe it's just that weather I spoke of, that makes us just darn happy people. The relationships that Kairos has built in Miami have had a huge impact on our growth and success. 

I'd like to share our still growing success story and encourage others to exploit an amazing natural resource I like to call:  "Miami Nice". 

In August of last year we had just finished the Google sponsored NewMe Accelerator and then returned to Miami.  Fresh off the plane last year from San Francisco, I attended a evening event at the Launch Pad on lean methodologies. It was hosted by Andrej Kostresevic. I enjoyed the free pizza and drinks, sat in the back fully intent on simply watching and learning the scene, yet "Miami Nice" would not allow just that. I met Wifredo Fernandez eating a slice of cheese pizza (folded correctly as any good Philadelphia inspired individual would) and he immediately asked me how I was, what brings me here, that he had lived in my hometown of Philadelphia and that he was happy for us to have completed the NewMe program. He then promptly introduced us to Matt Haggman of Knight Foundation. 

Matt and I had a couple of breakfasts at the amazing Deli Lane in Brickell, and he also was VERY warm and welcoming. He told me all about the budding scene and how Knight it trying to empower and educate our community through entrepreneurship. It was a positive and heartening message. The Philadelphian in me was waiting for the catch, but again the "Miami Nice" struck me. (A reoccurring theme) I told him we were looking to raise a seed round, and he immediately gave me a introduction to a couple of local angel investors including Juan Pablo Cappello and Marco Giberti 

Juan Pablo, Marco and five other investors invested into Kairos's Seed round. Giving us the financing and the chance we needed to close some big deals (JC Penney, etc) and finish some key technology. Beyond money, they have also been great friends. Inviting me to their homes for BBQ's, inviting me to startup events, and even submitting my name to speak at a event on "How I financed my startup" put on by Hispanic Unity of Florida. Their "Miami Nice" is the reason Kairos still exists. 

At the Hispanic Unity event, I met Yvonne Lopez. Her "Miami Nice" was on overdrive. :) She leads community outreach efforts for the City of Coconut Creek and as soon as she saw our technology she thought "That would work great for our city."  She setup a meeting with their IT Director who I met with just yesterday. Coconut Creek is now planning on deploying our facial recognition timeclocks across the city for their 300 employees, including the Police Department. It's a key government customer that will enable us to land more government business. They loved the product so much they even offered to show it off to other potential customers and investors. They plan to install it in their sparkling new building on their government campus. Kairos now has 124 customers in our pipeline, and Coconut Creek will be our first government customer. 

"Miami Nice" is not just kindness, it's really trying to help those you meet. We are giving back by mentoring at places like Incubate Miami and taking five interns from Posse Miami (also funded by the Knight Foundation).  "Miami Nice" is a real asset for Miami, I believe it's our special sauce and why we have such a vibrant and growing tech community. I can tell you, tech events in Miami are much larger than any in Philadelphia or even San Francisco, people are friendlier, and more willing to help. "Miami Nice" is going to be what launches Miami to the next level. I'm proud to lead a Miami-based tech company, and I aspire everyday to be as "Miami Nice" to others as they have been to me and to Kairos. 

Brian Brackeen is the CEO of Kairos, a facial recognition and identity focused B2B. He worked at Apple, IBM, and Comcast before getting bit by the startup bug. He lives and breathes Miami and all of its quirks. His email is brian@kairos.io

 

Adventures of the Ultimate Startup Road Warrior

I saw Ken Beauvais at Refresh Miami events, at NewME's Pop-Up Accelerator and at a Demo Day and hackathon, all in Miami. But what is unusual is Ken didn't just trek from West Kendall or even the far north -- Boca Raton -- to get here; he traveled all the way from Fort Myers. What I found out is that Ken, who always seemed to be wearing a tie, traveled to Tampa, Orlando and other areas as well, sometimes attending back-to-back events. He's slowed down his travel schedule, he told me, to concentrate on his startup, ArCEOns and on helping to build a startup ecosystem in his own city, but I'm sure we'll be seeing him pop up from time to time! I asked him if he would write about his observations of Florida's startup communities. Here is his report:

By Ken Beauvais

Ultimate Startup Road Warrior? Maybe! What I can say is traveling to the different cities, meeting people, talking about ideas, entering competitions, speaking to audiences and listening to speakers was definitely an adventure.  If I only count startup-oriented events/meetings in Florida from as north as Orlando to as south as Miami, in a year’s time I attended over 30 events, Some were attended by less than 10 people and others drew well over 1,000, however, each event uniquely added value to my journey.

The reason I started this journey was because it seemed that Southwest Florida as a whole didn’t have an ecosystem for a tech entrepreneur. It looked like all the events, talent, investors, networking opportunities and other things that a startup needs to thrive were everywhere but Southwest Florida (specifically not in Fort Myers). I will explain later why this is not necessarily the case.

The three main cities that I traveled to find that tech entrepreneur ecosystem were Orlando, Tampa and Miami. I also made stops in surrounding cities like Deland, Sarasota and Fort Lauderdale, which also had great events. My journey didn’t go in one direction; it was more of a zigzag, back and forth scattered brain approach. In some ways it mirrored a tech startup. We often pivot in different directions before we set our hearts on a final destination. Being flexible and agile is essential. While the final destination is always important; the actual journey and the roads we take is what holds the valuable substance. 

TAMPA

Let’s start with Tampa. Some of the events I attended included Start-Up Weekend, CodeCamp, BarCamp and a Tampa Bay Technology Forum workshop.  CodeCamp and BarCamp (pictured above) was a co-located event at the University of South Florida. I had the opportunity to learn more about jQuery/jQuery Mobile. I presented about the future of social ecommerce and titled it “Shopping in the Matrix”. I listened to talks about law, business, technology, education, startups and so much more.

 One thing that stood out about Tampa was that I met an overwhelmingly amount of consultants. If you are looking for advisors/advice in Tampa, go ahead and hit the easy button. I can’t vouch for all of them but I did get some great feedback and advice about my startup. On the other hand, the best takeaways had a lot to do with the emotional mindset of an entrepreneur. Let me give you one example. The very last session at the Tampa BarCamp was an open discussion with Peter Radizeski and Antony Francis. Peter mentioned that there was a point in his career that he knew that he should be charging his customers more for his services but was reluctant to raise his prices. This could have been for several reasons ranging from fear of losing customers to fear of change.

 The good news is, with the help of his advisors, he was able to change his mindset. A lot of us have been or are in that same situation. We are so used to what we always got paid, what we always did and don’t realize that we may be worth more. He ended the story by saying "Money is a good thing, take more of it." As an entrepreneur raising capital for a startup, I was able to relate. If you don’t think you or your idea is worth much, investors won’t either. 

Although I haven’t raised the money needed for my startup, having the right mindset is a good start.

There is a lot of interest in startup and tech events in Tampa and they had impressive turnouts. I didn’t run into any of the successful (obviously relative) startups in Tampa.  However, I did meet tons of smart talented people with great ideas. Soon we will hear more buzz coming from the Tampa startup/tech scene.

ORLANDO

I also attended a Startup Weekend in Orlando (pictured above). This was by far the most organized event I attended on my journey.  The organizers even had daily meetings to see if they could add additional value to our experience. They made us present so often we thought that we were ready to say our pitches backwards. There was one organizer who went above and beyond.  Ron Ben-Zeev continued to check back with us to make sure we were on track. Even after he gave us some amazing business strategy advice and we told him we were ready, he said “in the words of Mike Tyson, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.” And boy was he right; we were not ready.  Don’t get me wrong, collectively we were a talented team working on an exciting app called Happy Wife Happy life. But we were surprised by the criteria that the judges used when picking the winners.   The easy thing to do is blame the organizers for getting “weird” judges… lol.

However, when you think about Ron’s quote from Mike Tyson  you really want to put things into perspective. I am a big boxing fan and know that sometimes the great boxers will tell their opponents what they are going to do and do something completely different on fight night. What usually happens is that the opponents will end up training just on what they were expecting. Unfortunately, all that preparation didn’t mean much during the fight, because they forgot to focus on their own weaknesses. And as an entrepreneur you realize you have a bad plan (sometimes just the wrong plan) when you get punched by the one(s) you didn’t see coming. Frequently studying the judges, investors, pitch criteria, competitors and even your customers is not enough. You have to work on every aspect of your business to be well prepared. And when you are done, plan for how you are going to get back up, if you do get knocked down from a punch.

I didn’t attend many events in the Orlando area but one thing that stood out was people are willing to travel to Orlando.  Orlando was the only city that I lost the “who traveled the furthest competition”.  It may be because there are a lot of revenue generating startups in Orlando. In my opinion, one of the hardest parts of a startup is getting to your first dollar, and Orlando startups are moving in the right direction.

MIAMI

The same reason that people love the Miami party scene is why I love the Miami startup scene. It’s the excitement.  I feel like Miami is the place to be for most startups that are looking to stay in Florida. I am not saying that the other locations don’t have the momentum and opportunity; however, the Miami area feels like home. What stood out about Miami were everybody’s genuine and proactive personalities.  They kept inviting me back, sometimes even to private and/or invitation only meetings. 

Two great examples are Stonly Baptiste and Pabla Ayala. After I met Stonly at a Hackathon (we worked on Scheduly together), he often goes above and beyond to let me know about events and introduce me to people in Miami. Pabla was the person that finally convinced me to use Twitter and it’s mainly because of her personality.  She calls herself a media whisperer but she really screams anything that has to do with tech and startups.

Some of the events I attended in Miami were the Incubate Miami Demo Day, Miami Tech Talk, AT&T Hackathon, NewMe Pop-Up Accelerator (pictured above), Refresh Miami events and FundingPost events. The NewMe Pop-Up was a condensed sample of the 12 week program in San Francisco. The excitement during that three night event is a testament to what Miami will be. 

During the event, Brian Brackeen was our coach. He gave us some remarkable advice on business structure and positioning.  In the beginning I thought we were getting ready to do another pivot, a term used very loosely in the startup scene, but in reality we were redefining our product/service for the correct target market. When we got back after updating our positioning -– based on his advice -- he said “If you guys were able to do all that in a couple of hours in a restaurant, someone needs to write you a check.” That might not be verbatim, but his point was that if investors see your efficiency and resourcefulness at a bootstrapping level, they will be more curious to see what you will do with
their help.

FORT MYERS

A part of me wants to bring those great characteristics that I see everywhere else to Fort Myers. The crazy part is what I was looking for is already here. However, the best way to grow the Southwest Florida startup ecosystem might be to do it organically, and I hope to be a driving force to improve what we already have and add some synergy.

I have come a long way from being that one lonely entrepreneur and started attending more events in Southwest Florida. Some events I attended are BarCamp, Entrepreneur Society of Naples meeting, Gulf Coast Venture Forum Kick off meeting, Naples Young Professionals meeting, Southwest Technology Regional Partnership events and VentureX Pitch Night (pictured above).

Brett and David Diamond, the founders of VentureX, are doing a great job creating a hub for entrepreneurs in Naples. A recent event, The Pitch Night, demonstrates that the talent, investors and networking opportunities are here in Southwest Florida. I estimate that over 90 percent of the attendees were local residents. If we (Southwest Florida) continue to feed the entrepreneur ecosystem with great events, showcase our talents and partner with businesses/investors, we will be
a great startup scene destination in no time at all.

SUMMARY

 One common trait among the different cities was that the people did what they could, with what they had, where they were (paraphrase of Theodore Roosevelt). And I plan to do just that. Ultimate Startup Road Warrior!? Maybe! You decide and let me know. I met some great people, won exciting things, had a lot of fun and most importantly I learned. What did I learn? Be yourself, be a sponge and have some fun. 

If you have any questions about my journey feel to reach out to me on twitter @KenMrCEO. Also, you may hear more from me soon; this article has inspired me to start working on a blog. Thanks Nancy for your pro-activeness!

Ken Beauvais is an entrepreneur, internet visionary and motivational speaker.  He is the founder of ArCEOns, a web app that focuses on being in the very center of what you buy, sell and advertise.

View: Creating serendipity in your community

By Mike Greenberg

I’m looking forward to the meeting dubbed “Group of Groups” happening later tonight. A large number of high-profile tech community members have been gathered to sit down and decide how to improve our community and its cohesiveness. It’s enthusiastic to see these individuals taking the time to get involved, but I’m concerned about the lasting impact that this meeting will produce. Primarily because of each person’s interpretation of “improving our community.” It has been suggested that meeting once per quater will be enough to keep our channels of communication open, but I don’t believe that it will be enough.

Part of our community’s problem is how far everyone is stretched apart from each other. I’ve written before about how valuable serendipity can be to success, and it applies similarly with community. As an attempt toward improving this, I propose more opportunity to have one-on-one interactions. If you’re having trouble thinking of reasons to get together, lunches are a perfect excuse. I think if each person can commit to having lunch once per month with someone else in the community, two things will happen: (1) we will generate more serendipity and (2) more starkly expose our “disconnected-ness” as a community. Both of these are hugely beneficial in our community's growth, but only if we’re truly all-in on building this community.

I’ve started an open thread on the South Florida Tech Leaders Google Group for lunch invitations. I hope you’ll consider my offer.

South Florida Tech Leaders open lunch invitation

 Mike Greenberg is a software developer from South Florida. Occasionally, his finger-peckings are attention-worthy. The rest of the time, he’s just intentionally distracting you from something he doesn’t want you to see. You can even follow @mikegreenberg on Twitter.

Do you have viewpoint?

Starting Gate welcomes guest posts and viewpoints from the South Florida community! If you have an idea for a post, email me at ndahlberg@Miamiherald.com or tweet me @ndahlberg

 

View: Florida needs to create its own model for building its tech industry. Now what?

By Doug Poretz

Panelists at the Friday, Feb.1, closing lunch session of the annual Florida Venture Forum Capital Conference agreed on one basic premise:  Florida should forget about emulating the growth model of Silicon Valley, Boston, or any other of the well-known centers of technology.  I think that was a significant acknowledgement, and an encouraging sign because you can’t fix something unless you understand it realistically to begin with.  The panelists basically all said that it’s too late to succeed using that model, and that Florida isn’t positioned to compete well using that model in any case.  Their conclusion:  Florida needs to explore and create its own model of how to become a tech center, leveraging its own unique assets.

 The panel, which was sponsored by Enterprise Florida, was primarily focused on the Life and BioScience industries in the state, but the comments apply equally to the Information Technology sector, as well.  Panelists were: Bard Geesaman, Managing Director, MPM Capital;  Bernadette Cusack, Office of Intellectual Property Mayo Clinic – Florida;  Les McPhearson,  Senior Director- Business innovation, Florida Blue;  John Tullis, Managing Director, Tullis Health Investors; and Dr. Daniel Wilson, Dean, UF/Shands College of Medicine.

 Despite agreement on the need for Florida to create its own model for how to become a tech center, there was no real agreement on how to do that or what that model would look like.  I have been involved in similar efforts during my career, so here are some ideas I think could jump-start the creation of a “Florida model”:

 Coalesce the players. There was a lot of talk about the need to collaborate.  But you can’t collaborate without  collaborators – the more the better. If Florida is really going to create its own model, this is an a priori truth:  community comes first, and collaboration follows.  The people and organizations that are going to be instrumental in building Florida into a global tech center need to meet each other, build relationships, do business with each other and refer business to each other.  Build the community and collaboration will come naturally.  Without the  community, collaboration is a nice dream.  Once the community comes together, the spirit of collaboration  should distinguish the Florida community.

Actually do something about the geographical reality.  More than one speaker noted that Florida   lacks the “density” of Silicon Valley, Boston and the other tech centers where relationships are built when people see each other often.   Can that be overcome?  There have been some very big, powerful and coalesced communities created on the web.  What about conducting a competition to solicit proposals on how the web can be used to at least partially offset the geographical situation and build the tech community?  Make the competition highly visible and offer a decent prize, and great solutions will be submitted.  If one or more is successfully implemented, Florida will not only overcome its geographical dilemma, it will also tie innovative thinking and online solutions with    Florida’s tech community, especially IT. It could also set a precedent for turning to public competitions more than just once to help build the tech community – sort of like an American Idol for innovators.

Accept that Florida is one state.  There are distinct segments within the  state, and segments within the segments.  That’s reality and it’s not going away.  But the fact that Florida is one state is also reality.  Parochialism can sometimes be an asset, but it’s a distinct liability right now for Florida because it hampers the formation of the broad-based community that is needed to build a tech industry for the state.  While there is sensitivity from region to region not to compete, there is no real movement to see just how powerful collaboration can be.  That should change.

Change how success is measured.  Governor Scott has set 700,000 new jobs as the goal of economic development efforts.  That’s an admirable goal: good for the state, for the people who get the new jobs, and for political goals.  But it is inadequate if Florida is going to be serious about building a tech industry.  New jobs will be an outcome for sure, but other goals need to be achieved to grow less-cyclical, high paying, wealth-creating jobs over a long period of time.  Basically, this will be an effort to transition Florida from an agriculture, real estate and hospitality economy to a knowledge economy.  That requires a shift in culture in order to make the state attractive to young tech workers, support basic research, understand the need to keep improving infrastructure, encourage entrepreneurialism, establish a local investment community, and more.  Because that is going to take years to build, focusing on job creation alone will mask the importance of achieving these long-term cultural shifts. A new index is needed that measures multiple critical trends in order to see the pace and breadth of progress to a new future.

Position Miami as the emerging most important international city of the Western Hemisphere.  Miami is generally acknowledged to be “the capital of Latin America.” That description should encompass a status as the hemisphere’s center of gravity for the technology industry.  The primary Internet hub for all Latin America is located in Miami, and the May 2014 Tech Conference of the Americas, being initiated by Manny Medina, will be another major event in establishing Miami’s prominence in IT.  And in biomedicine and biotech, Latin American venues are increasingly being used for clinical trials for Florida-based companies.  But Miami has also become a magnet for Europeans, Russians and Asians – just ask the people selling high-end real estate in Miami.  With its diverse population, the premier status of its ports, the obvious attraction of its climate and     environment, and favorable tax policy, Miami can become increasingly important as a true international city in today’s “flat” world.  Imagine Miami positioned as the Dubai of the Western Hemisphere, with the added benefit of the political stability of the US.  That would bring investment capital, global commerce, a more vibrant culture, and an environment where global tech companies from startups to multinationals can prosper.  It’s an issue of branding, and it will require the support of the coalesced business community to make that happen.

Craft a uniquely Florida vision of the future.  People pursue visions and understand progress within the context of that vision.  An image of what Florida would look like with a vibrant tech community needs to be crafted, promoted, and shared.  This goes beyond “the right climate for business” campaign being launched by the state (which I personally think is a memorable ad line for a much-needed campaign).  The vision that is needed is aspirational and bold: what the future could look like for Florida with a vigorous tech community.  Such a widely accepted and shared image of the future is a vital component in creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

These six steps hardly comprise the totality of what it will take for Florida to create its own role model.  But, in the spirit of the challenge defined by the panelists at the Florida Venture Forum, they are uniquely “Florida.”  Most importantly, they are doable first steps in the pursuit of an effort widely agreed to be needed.  We need to get going.

Doug Poretz of Palm Beach Gardens,  principal and co-founder of Next Horizon Communications, LLC, has been a communications advisor to senior executives for more than four decades. He has extensive experience in community-building and played a leading role in making Northern Virginia a center of excellence for the global IT industry. He can be reached at dporetz@NextHorizonCommunications.com

Read Doug Poretz's last viewpoint on Starting Gate here.

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/the-starting-gate/views/#storylink=cpy

 

View: For South Florida to build a tech industry, the business community needs to coalesce, collaborate

By Doug Poretz

The economic and cultural future of South Florida, from Miami to St. Lucie, is at a critical point.  Right now, it looks like the region will grow slowly, largely through low paying jobs generated by the three long-time state pillars of real estate, agriculture and tourism.  But it is also possible that the region will experience sharp and accelerating growth with high paying jobs generated by new and growing technology businesses. 

All the factors are in place for the first alternative to be realized.  But for the more optimistic alternative to come true, one critical ingredient is needed:  the support of the region’s broad business community.  This includes all those organizations that have nothing to do with technology per se, but that are motivated because they understand the proposition that a rising tide lifts all ships. 

Before the broad business community can really marshal the firepower to support an idea as big as building a new major industry for the region, the business community has to coalesce behind a shared commitment to a shared aspirational vision. 

That vision must be very robust, and have a multi-year horizon.  There must be an effort to make the region more attractive to “the creative class,” especially including the young tech workers that will be needed in growing numbers – or else the tech firms will leave the area as they grow.  The region’s investment community will have to be grown, from angels to VCs and private equity and investment banking firms, so that local businesses can access local financial support and high quality ongoing mentorship.  Both the region’s physical and intellectual/educational infrastructures need to be enhanced to support tech companies.  And an exciting vision for what could happen here should be bannered and promoted in a way that makes this region competitive with the aggressive campaigns of regions such as Silicon Valley, Northern Virginia, Boston, Research Triangle Park, and a growing list of regions from around the world that seek a similar future, for good and obvious reasons. 

To date, the onus of promoting economic development in this region has fallen on the shoulders of state, local or regional government-backed programs as well as public-private partnerships.  When the few outstanding achievements and lots of small victories of these well-intentioned organizations are analyzed against the backdrop of what other regions are doing, it is clear that South Florida is not on the path to capturing the competitive position necessary to build a viable invigorated and growing knowledge economy well into the future.

Many of the region’s organizations with over-lapping missions have shown a great sensitivity not to compete with each other.  But there is a major difference between “we don’t compete” and “we collaborate aggressively,” which is what is so desperately needed and can exist only when the region’s business community gets fully behind an idea whose time has come.

But before there can be collaboration, the businesses of South Florida need to coalesce into a true community with a shared commitment and identifiable leadership.  For those wanting to see the technology industry of the region boom, that coalescing of the business community will be the most critical leading indicator that will distinguish what happens now compared to all the previously failed cycles of similar optimism for the growth of a real regional tech community.

 Doug Poretz of Palm Beach Gardens has been a communications advisor to senior executives for more than four decades. He has extensive experience in community-building and played a leading role in making Northern Virginia a center of excellence for the global IT industry.

Read Doug Poretz's last viewpoint on Starting Gate here.

 

Prize news: $100 Startup winners

The $100 Startup Competition, sponsored by Books & Books, the Coral Gables Chamber, FIU and LAB Miami, took place Saturday at Books & Books. Contestants were judged on their ideas for a business that could be launched for $100. And the winners were:

1st Place, $300 and Coral Gables Chamber Business Membership: Ilya Fonarov, Hospital Patient Advocate Referral Service
2nd Place, $150: Edwin Rosario, P.E. After Hours - Structured PhysEd After School
3rd Place, $100: Tom Ordonez, Miami Code School for Kids
Honorable Mention: Susan Krupnick-Gregorie, e-Portfolios for Performing Arts Students

Congratulations to all 

 

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/the-starting-gate/2012/11/vote-now-2-south-florida-businesses-are-finalists-for-small-business-challenge.html#storylink=cpy

View of Miami’s tech and life science community from national perch

By Bill Hunter

Wexford Science + Technology entered the Miami market in 2009 in collaboration with University of Miami with the goal of developing a privately-funded research campus adjacent to the Miami
Health District. Following positive experiences developing University-affiliated research parks in cities across the US, including Philadelphia, Chicago and Baltimore, we made the decision to invest in Miami because we viewed South Florida as a market with near limitless potential.

Miami offered a committed research-driven partner in UM; a diverse business base and international connectivity that other US markets lacked; a largely untapped, decentralized tech and life science community with no real competing real estate product; and a strong quality of life quotient that appeals to companies from around the world.

 Our goal in developing the University of Miami Life Science & Technology Park (UMLSTP) was to provide a South Florida hub for research-driven companies and startups from the US and abroad, offering a bridge between academia and industry. The Park would also be an economic engine, creating much-needed jobs and adding a new dimension to the regional economy.

 Nearly five years after making the decision to enter Miami, we view the competitive landscape as largely unchanged and the UMLSTP as a center of activity for technology and life science firms and entrepreneurial startups. New-to-market tenants entering the market – and existing companies looking to grow here – are considering the Park as a viable location.

The Park’s first building is more than 70% leased, our Miami Innovation Center is home to shared office and lab space for more than 20 early-stage companies, and special events hosted at UMLSTP – such as this year’s successful AT&T Hackathon – are bringing together the local community.

UMLSTP is also proving to be a platform for commercializing the research underway at UM and its affiliated institutes, with Dr. Richard Awdeh’s Cirle being a recent example of a spin-off company poised for growth following the news that the company has entered into a research partnership with Bausch & Lomb.

So what’s our perception of Miami’s tech and life science community now that we’ve been on the ground – and what can be done to accelerate its emergence as a hotspot for innovation?

Miami needs more physical places where companies can collaborate and grow. Cities such as Boston and San Francisco have excelled in this area. Miami has made strides with facilities like LAB Miami, the Miami Innovation Center, and the NAP of the Americas, but there is room for more growth. Creating affordable places to work and share ideas is particularly important in the ongoing quest to prevent ‘brain drain’ by retaining young talent.

Public sector financial resources are thin. The fund setup by Jeb Bush with the goal of laying the framework for a biotech infrastructure that would lure new companies has been fully allocated. There are one-off incentive opportunities for creating jobs and relocating to select markets (the partnership between Launch Pad Tech, Miami-Dade County and the Miami Downtown Development Authority is a current example), but Florida lacks a cohesive strategy for luring new blood through business attraction funds. This puts Miami at a competitive disadvantage by comparison with other cities.

The private sector is devising initiatives intended to fill the gap. Programs and organizations like TekFight, the Americas Venture Capital Conference, BioFlorida, and the Florida Life Science Visionaries Conference are galvanizing Miami’s innovative minds and showcasing our innovation to the world. The Knight Foundation has set its sights on helping Miami’s tech landscape mature and a Tech Conference of the Americas has been proposed by industry leader Manny Medina. Miami will benefit from additional collaborations within private industry – and in partnership with the public sector.

New York City Michael Bloomberg toured the Miami Health District in 2007 and proclaimed, “All the good ideas aren’t in New York. That’s why we’re here.” Three years later, Mayor Bloomberg launched the New York City Bioscience Initiative and pledged more than $20 million in seed money for tech and life science startups. It turns out there is already precedent for Miami serving as a national role model.

 Bill Hunter is the Regional Director of Leasing with Wexford Science & Technology responsible for marketing and leasing the UM Life Science & Technology Park nationally and globally. Bill can be reached at whunter@wexfordequities.com or (305) 298-4578.

 

 

 

Susan Amat: What will it take to build a world-class startup ecosystem?

By Susan Amat

A few weeks ago I was asked by the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness to host a roundtable discussion about challenges that South Florida entrepreneurs encounter. As I began the list, I wanted to focus on great representatives of our community — people like Devon Rifkin of the Great American Hanger Co., Zalmi Duchman of The Fresh Diet, David Lekach of Dream Water, Nicolette Moreno of Open English, Natalia Diaz of Green Roks and Patrick Tardieu of Bogosse. My list for a closed small event ballooned to 38 names before I realized it. Being able to identify so many entrepreneurs who are playing on national and international stages and choosing Miami as their home was truly a joyous moment.

 We covered many topics at the roundtable over a two-hour period: funding, healthcare mandates, import tariffs. The energy in that boardroom was palpable — 20 entrepreneurs who really cared about making things better for others in their own startup journeys. After the roundtable, we spent the next hour talking about the future of Miami.

As I shared the details of Launch Pad Tech, generous offers of support came quickly. Of course I wanted to drag everyone in to my new endeavor but ultimately that won’t help us reach our goal. If we want Miami to have a world-class startup ecosystem, two main things must occur:

1. We must have a world-class support system for our entrepreneurs.

2. We must have world-class entrepreneurs.

So how do we get there?

The South Florida business community will play a vital role in Miami’s transformation into the tech hub of the hemisphere, but quality control will be the key. Support for entrepreneurs includes everything a startup needs to assess feasibility, develop, pilot, structure, build and grow the business.

I was in another region in Florida recently where they boasted about having many lawyers willing to support the scene. Over the following days it was evident that there were dozens of corporate and transactional lawyers who were lovely people with little to no experience or understanding of technology licensing or investment. A new friend of mine is a lawyer in Palo Alto who has worked on more than 3,000 emerging growth transactions, mostly in tech — that is all he does. When it comes time for me to bring in a lawyer, I am going to protect myself and my company and I have not yet found that kind of experience locally.

 A similar issue occurs as a founder seeks engineers, both designers and computer scientists, to build products. Many entrepreneurs don’t even know the best language in which to develop their solution, counting on a friend who is “good with computers” to make decisions. Those suggestions often lead to disastrous outcomes and force the entrepreneur to start again from scratch.

 Entrepreneurs don’t need advice from people who are well-meaning, they need access to thought leaders. If I am helping a startup that has a solution for the airline industry, I am going to beg Art Torno, a vice president of American Airlines, to meet with the team, and then hope the team impresses Art enough that he will further connect them to more experts.

 To build and maintain a world-class support system for entrepreneurs, the best and brightest have to be willing to share their knowledge and experience. Florida is notorious for low levels of civic engagement (we rank No. 48 of 50 states, according to the Graham Center for Public Policy). A cultural shift must occur so that mentoring and volunteering become a regular part of a citizen’s schedule. And let’s be honest about our expertise: If you don’t know something, say you don’t know. We have to celebrate excellence and stop tolerating mediocrity.

Entrepreneurs must demand excellence as well, for themselves, their team and all those with whom they associate. Entrepreneurship is lonely — it is all you, all the time, and it is easy to feel desperate for help from anyone who offers. Calibrate your gut so that you have a long-term plan and avoid scams and fraudsters. Ask lots of people lots of questions and review those answers with a critical lens, revisiting your mission to ensure consistency.

The best thing entrepreneurs can do to help Miami is focus on their businesses. They have to build successful, high-growth companies to show it can be done, and only then will I beg them to mentor and invest in the next generation of startups.

Will the best minds in our business community please step forward and volunteer time to help our entrepreneurs create the next great Miami success story? And entrepreneurs: No one else is making your business a reality — your future is in your hands. Head’s down — get back to work!

This is a very special time to be in Miami. I hope you will join us in supporting and nurturing the job creators who will breathe new life and opportunity into our community. And maybe next time successful South Florida entrepreneurs are brought together, we will fill a stadium instead of a boardroom.

Susan Amat is the co-founder of The Launch Pad and the founder of Launch Pad Tech. She loves Miami. Follow her on Twitter at @susanamat.

Launch Pad Tech Community Program

Although the application deadline for the first class of the Launch Pad Tech Accelerator has passed, there is still time to apply for its new Community Program. Twenty-five companies will be selected to participate and will receive free structured programming, mentoring and low-cost work space. The 25 companies do not have to be in the three verticals (tourism/hospitality, healthcare and creative) that startups participating in the accelerator must be in.

The deadline for applications to the community program is Nov. 23. To apply or for more information, go here: http://launchpadtech.co

 

View: Miami-to-Boston move shines light on importance of centralization

By Grant Deken

Tech is an increasingly discussed topic in South Florida. The recent “Great Debate” highlighted increasing meet-up attendance, new accelerator programs, and more seed funding for startups. In a different tone a South Floridian founder discussed the difficulties of tri-county travel.  As a startup co-founder who moved from Miami to Boston this year, I’ve noticed some key factors behind what’s driving Boston’s startup culture and what entrepreneurs and business leaders could consider as they work to define and grow Miami’s tech community.

Get People Together, Now!

A Boston journalist covering startups once wrote that great things happen when smart people bump into each other. The phrase resonated with enough people that it eventually found itself written on one of the kitchen walls at the Cambridge Innovation Center (known in Boston as the CIC), the 16 floor home to 450 startups, VC firms, consulting firms, and technology companies. Each week there are events covering a variety of topics including growth hacking, programming, and workshops for fundraising to help founders overcome challenges and meet others dealing with the same issues. Most of Boston’s startup programs can be found in Kendall Square in Cambridge, the tech hub located next to MIT. Google, Amazon, VM Ware, Microsoft, TechStars, Dog Patch Labs, Matrix Partners, Highland Capital, and hundreds of other startups, venture capital firms, incubators, and large tech companies are within a stone’s throw of each other.

Centralizing where everything is happening makes it easier to get people together. This is tough for South Florida because it’s so spread out, but it’s an important component for building a startup community. The programs, events, and workspaces downtown need to provide enough value to overcome the issue of commuting while also creating a sense of a community. After all, we drove 25 hours to become a part of one.

Get Academia Behind the Movement

Boston’s universities support entrepreneurship in big ways. MIT’s Media Lab, Harvard’s Innovation Lab, and Babson’s #1 ranked entrepreneurship MBA program all provide students with the resources to build successful startups. South Florida universities can play a critical role in building Miami’s tech  community by enabling students with the tools to build startups. University of Miami’s Launch Pad has been leading the effort to date. With more students considering entrepreneurship as a viable career option, other universities need to adapt. Stanford has a dedicated course for startups (Computer Science 183) taught by legendary entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel.  Startups are motivated as much by academia as they are by stories of successful exits and blockbusters.

It’s also hard to build software without software developers. This is one of the biggest reasons for our decision to move to Boston. Ironically, the problem isn’t so easily solved. Sure there are more engineers in Boston, but there are equally as many startups competing for talent. Ensuring Miami’s universities have strong computer science departments will pay dividends to the city.

Playing to Your Strengths

Boston isn’t without its own flaws and Miami has a number of benefits for founders. The biggest factor without a doubt is the cost of living. Boston is incredibly expensive like its larger counterpart New York. Corporate taxes are also significantly higher in Massachusetts. Additionally, Miami’s proximity with Latin America –- both culturally and geographically –- offers unique opportunities for entrepreneurs who want to disrupt emerging markets.

Grant Deken is the co-founder of Knowyourbank, a funded, Cambridge-based early-stage startup creating a breakthrough online service that's changing the way people discover banks and financial products.

A (short) message from your host

Dear readers,

Thank you for reading The Starting Gate! I appreciate the growing traffic and submissions!

As you may know, our vision here at Starting Gate is to be a community blog. We welcome guest posts. These can be viewpoints, posts with tools and resources for entrepreneurs, personal stories about entrepreneurial journeys, etc., that are useful for the entrepreneurial community at large. Email me with your ideas at ndahlberg@miami.com (please put Starting Gate in the memo field).  See the categories Guest Post and Views for past contributions.   

I also want to capture more of your startup stories and key milestones. Let me know your significant news -- funding rounds completed, product launches, expansions, new contracts, etc. -- and I will do my best to get it noted. And do keep me posted on smaller news developments too. I'd like to keep your company on our radar, but please know it is impossible to write all the great stories out there immediately. Again, email ndahlberg@miamiherald.com with Starting Gate in the memo field. What should the email contain? Your news development, first and foremost, and then a little about your back story if I don't know you and a snapshot of where you are now in your company development (when launched, where based, milestones reached, number on your team, contact info, etc.).

What you may not know, this blog is a labor of love. While I am very lucky to be a business editor and writer for the Miami Herald (and coordinator of the Herald's Business Plan Challenge) and to have this blog hosted on miamiherald.com, I do this blog completely on my own time.  That's another reason why community submissions are very important to keeping Starting Gate robust (plus you don't want to read me all the time)!

While I may advance upcoming events from time to time, that's not Starting Gate's focus and there are lots of sites that do this very well: I refer you to miamitechevents.com, miamitech.org and the Miami StartupDigest for starters. I am not a technology writer so I won't be covering BarCamps, Codecamps and the like or writing product reviews (nor would you want me to), but I will cover more general entrepreneurship events from time to time. I also welcome guest posts from events, such as the dueling posts from the recent Startup Weekends in Miami and Boca and others I have welcomed from hackathons and Lean Startup Machine. 

Thank you again for reading, and let me know suggestions you have for improving the blog and making it the most useful to you and the community at large. 

Sincerely yours,

Nancy Dahlberg

ndahlberg@miamiherald.com and @ndahlberg