In conjunction with my report marking the progress and challenges of efforts to build a tech hub, I gathered opinions from some of the leaders in the community. This week, I will run a sampling of the views expressed. What's your view? Please feel free to comment on this post or email me at ndahlberg@miamiherald.com
Today: What's our biggest challenge in developing a thriving tech/entrepreneurship ecosystem?
"Our young South Florida ecosystem has done a good job in bringing angel/seed financing to the table. But we still have a big gap in the Seed+/Series A capital stack that needs to be addressed quickly. Otherwise, many of the promising companies receiving initial funding will not find the funding to sustain themselves as they scale to self-sufficient businesses." - Joanna Schwartz, Earlyshares
"Inclusion. And it's not the traditional cause and effect, but I think investors have a limited scope for deal flow because the circles are very tight. The intellectual capital is here but it's not being equally supported by the financial capital. Food distribution and food deserts are big issues and we have farms in South Florida but yet it seems an outside company has to verify a good idea. Everything great isn't from California. All innovation and tech doesn't conclude with an app." -Michael Hall, Digital Grass
"We need to convince rock stars entrepreneurs to believe on the benefits of the Miami entrepreneurial ecosystem. This will be done by more and better collaboration between all the right parts of the ecosystem and once these entrepreneurs are here and we can link them with the rights partners (universities, investors, mentors, coworking spaces, etc.) the magic happens. I see magic happening in many different startups across Miami and South FL and I’m positive on the fact that we will see more and better local success stories during the following years." - Marco Giberti, angel investor
"The biggest challenge to South Florida is that while there are many amazing, wealthy smart people, there is also a large percentage of bullshitters that waste lots of time talking about doing things and investing money when in fact they have no intention to. The community needs to continue to police itself to protect entrepreneurs from individuals that lack the experience and capital to help build companies." -Brad Harrison, Scout Ventures
"Florida has everything an entrepreneur could ask for. The one element across the board that could have a higher velocity of maturity is the number of serious and well funded VC's present in the state. It would catapult the entire ecosystem." - Rodolfo Sacoman, AdMobilize
"Miami is behind other leading cities in recognizing social entrepreneurship as a vital part of the entrepreneurial system. Many people would embrace socially focused entrepreneurship if they could find local support, resources and capital." - Robert Hacker, entrepreneurship professor and advisor
Technical talent is #1. We need more companies started by exceptional technical founders. These will be the companies that build big businesses and change the landscape. I say this as a non-technical entrepreneur. I know how important it is. … But I’m really encouraged by the increasing number of people who are coming to Miami to start companies. People vote with their feet and the increased activities tells me something is definitely happening." - Patrick McKenna, HighRidge Global
"The remaining challenge is talent, but at this point it has become an opportunity. Out of the success of the entrepreneurial movement these past two years have come initiatives like Wyncode and Launchcode that are preparing coders at a fast rate and placing them in top companies. I think the next interesting challenge would be to get institutions like Singularity University and MIT Media Lab to set up satellite campuses in Miami. It is institutions like these that can think deep, big and long… this would bring depth to our new city." - Adriana Cisneros, Endeavor Miami
"There needs to be more emphasis on drawing in big name companies, drawing in more early/mid stage venture capital funds, and looking to address the infrastructure challenges that may slow or impact the growth we're seeing." - Brian Breslin, Refresh Miami"
Miami is not only rich in capital but also rich and diverse in culture. Our tech and knowledge economy will be stronger and more successful when a spirit of inclusion is embraced. More efforts must be made to activate portions of our community that are continually disenfranchised due to socio-economic and racial divides." - Tony Jimenez, Richmond Global
“At the present time, focusing on a single biggest challenge is less helpful that a general call for ‘More.’ We need more access to capital for the better-qualified teams, more entrepreneurial management talent in both the early and expansion stages, more service providers (attorneys, accountants, advisors) who are willing work with talented teams at deeply discounted rates in the early going. I see all of these elements are in place at the present time, we just need ‘more, more, more’.” - Rhys L Williams, New World Angels "
"The rising cost of rent / real estate and inadequate transit will start to hurt Miami in attracting future talent." - Mario Cruz, Watsco Ventures