By Norberto “Tito” Gil
The entrepreneurial ecosystem in South Florida is unrecognizable from where it was just 5 years. So many impactful initiatives, leaders, incubators, developers, and successful startup stories have empowered the community and made it clear that being an entrepreneur is a viable career path.
One of my missions in creating MapYourStartup.com is promoting all of these relatively new resources that now exist in our community and connecting people to these resources.
In less than two months since launching I’ve received numerous testimonials about how the community is using our site. From using it to learn about the startups in general, or hearing about the registered meet-ups for the first time, to someone using our site to learn about – and subsequently sign a lease with - Pipeline Brickell. I even got a note from someone in Boston that uses our site to feel connected while visiting Miami.
If you haven’t done so already, please register your startups, meet-ups, associations, etc on our site. The more involvement we get from the community, the more we’ll be able to give back.
This is what the South Florida entrepreneurial ecosystem looks like on our site:
MapYourStartup.com – The Numbers
151 – Companies in the startup ecosystem, including meet-ups, startups, investors, co-working spaces, etc.
115 – Startups in South Florida. Not surprisingly, most (55) are technology companies and they represent a nice mix of industries ranging from entertainment to fashion to healthcare to music. Based on your feedback, we should be adding sub-categories in the near future. This will make it even easier to search for companies by industry.
106+ - Jobs available JUST within the startup ecosystem. Want to work for a startup, check out the companies that are hiring! This section will also be enhanced in the near future as well (thanks for your feedback everyone).
18 – Marketing/Advertising/Social Media companies registered, with 13 in Miami-Dade.
13 – Startups in Coral Gables, more than any other area so far.
10 – Co-Working spaces registered, including 6 in Midtown, Brickell, and Downtown combined. Will these spaces - along with other factors (incubators, living near work, public transportation, etc) - cause this area to be the startup epicenter of Miami? Or will the pricier cost of living/operating prove to be a deterrent for startups?
7 – Investors
4 – Meetups, including Refresh Miami, App Dojo, Planet Linux Cafe, and Front-End Developers of Miami.
I’m looking forward to seeing what the ecosystem looks like after another two months. We’ll be making some enhancements to the site soon (sub-categories, and some tweaks to the job section and few other exciting additions). In the meantime, please continue to share your feedback on how to improve the site via email (ideas@mapyourstartup.com), Twitter @mapyourstartup) and/or Facebook (/mapyourstartup).
MapYourStartup.com was created by Norberto “Tito” Gil (@titogil), who is shown in the photo above, and Rokk3r Labs (www.rokk3rlabs.com). Norberto “Tito” Gil, an entrepreneur with a
background in finance, is dedicated to further connecting the entrepreneurial ecosystem in South Florida, where he grew up.