I had an interesting conversation with a South Florida entrepreneur who built a very successful company that has been sold a few times now. At each juncture he could have exited but chose to stay and continue to contribute to the company and build his team, which now numbers hundreds. While that is not the typical course, he stayed because his job was still rewarding, and his team was still growing and having an impact as well as providing jobs for South Florida. I'll be writing more about him in a few weeks as he approaches yet another opportunity to exit. Will he stay or will he go? -- stay tuned! (Yes, that's a tease)
Exits are certainly up in South Florida. Since I have been covering startups and tech full time (about a year now), there have been a number of them -- off the top of my head, Mako Surgical, New Wave Surgical, .CO Internet, Choose Digital, BlueKite, Simplikate, Kwiksher, The Fresh Diet ... -- and I am sure I have missed a bunch. (I will be adding Exits to the categories on this blog soonest!). On the funding front, it will most certainly be a record-setting year, with the magic leap venture capital in South Florida will take in the fourth quarter. In fact, if Magic Leap's $542 million raise from Google and friends had come in any of the other quarters this year, Florida would be ranked number 4 (just behind the big three in venture: California, Massachusetts and New York) instead of 27th or thereabouts. But there have been other sizable South Florida raises, Technisys, of course, but several more are on the burner and should complete this quarter (yes, that is another tease).
Then at the Miami Open Coffee Club, I met an entrepreneur, David Kay of Video Rehearser, who said that he is finding that his age and gray hair is a detriment when talking to investors, even though he brings 40 years of technology and business experience to the table. Does youth and energy trump subject matter expertise? Charles Irizarry of Rokk3r Labs doesn't think so. He said Rokk3r looks for founders with experience starting up companies as well as experience in their industries. And Kauffman Foundation research finds that, year after year, each of the 35-44, 45-54 and the 55-64 age groups starts businesses are far higher rates than their 20-34 counterparts. That's good because a Venture Beat post argues that in the next generation of innovation -- robotics, etc. -- the expereinced entrepreneur will be in high demand. Lately I have also been seeing more young teams with one, shall we say significantly older co-founder that brings extensive experience, subject matter expertise and often a different network to the table.
By the way, Irizarry took part in a real-life role play about pre-launch strategy with Xavier Cossard of Plarity (and a Rokk3r portfolio company) -- both are pictured below -- as part of Miami Open Coffee Club's new format. Expect subsequent MOCCs to address post-launch strategies. Next up: marketing, says MOCC organizer Tito Gil: A session on marketing featuring Kairos and Jaques Hart of Roar Media. After the interview there is time for Q&A.
On Wednesday, I attended Women in Innovation at Pipeline, expecting a great networking event to meet people, as I already know and have reported on the stories of the panelists. It was a great networker, with 150 in attendance, almost all women. But I also enjoyed the panel discussion, in which all the women -- Christine Johnson (DiversiTech), Dawn Dickson (Flat Out of Heels), Fatima Lalani (Blo Blow Dry Bars) and Felecia Hatcher (Feverish Pops and Code Fever) and hosted by Paula Celestino (Kloset Karma) -- kept it real and were incredibly open and personal about their entrepreneurial journeys. While they all went through periods where they weren't sure their business would make it, they said doing what they needed to do to survive and eventually thrive was what women really rock at. Some lessons learned: Nurture your friendships and support network; there's no such thing as work-life balance as an entrepreneur but do set priorities, and trust your gut. They spoke from the heart -- refreshing -- and as one women noted in the elevator on the way out: When was the last time you were at a tech or entrepreneurship event where the overwhelming majority attending and on panels were women?
Highlight of a busy week: The packed official opening of the Miami Dade College's Idea Center, which will serve MDC's 165,000 students with an accelerator, workshops, a speaker series, an idea factory, a venture growth program and more. With so much support from the community clearly evident on Tuesday morning (below), the center is off to a great start.
Posted Nov. 1, 2014