By Karen Rundlet
Startup Quest is a new program in Broward that aims
to bring technology jobs and companies to South Florida.
You've heard about this kind of thing before, right? Well, it isn't
your typical incubator or accelerator, where entrepreneurs push their ideas,
construct a product or application, and seek funding, all the while with
financial support from mentors or investors.
Startup Quest, being offered by the state's Workforce One agency but open to any Floridians, is about giving a team of educated, motivated, underemployed or unemployed residents an idea based on patented or patentable technology that's been sitting on the shelf at a Florida university or research agency. Participants have 10 weeks to study the idea and commercialize it, led by mentors with experience starting and growing technology companies. Best case scenario, they build companies and create jobs for themselves. Or they spend two and a half months networking and refreshing their business knowledge and gaining new skills. We hope.
It surprised me how educated the participants were. Seventy-six ercent of the class had a Master's degree; another 8 percent had a PhD or specialty degree. The average age of the class of about 160 people is 51, and about a quarter are veterans. Participants don't need a background in technology. The day I visited the session at the Signature Grand in Davie, I met folks from academia, an engineer, someone from the corporate world. Project Manager Mike O'Donnell assured me that real estate agents, insurance agents, a dentist and even social workers were in the mix. I even spotted and greeted a former Miami Herald journalist.
One of my longer conversations was with Ronald Herbas, 42 years old, who moved to South Florida from Chicago to work for a startup. Less than a year into it, funding ran out and Herbas was unemployed. Herbas says other markets are pulling at him, but he'd like to stay in South Florida. I've attached some audio of Herbas' conversation .
My complete story aired on WLRN 91.3 FM. Here is a link to it.
Startup Quest will offer two more cycles of the program next year. Because this is a government funded project, success will be formally measured. Read a story explaining the program and its origins here.
Startup Quest mentor Samuel Salomon Levy, CEO of Agnos Consulting, above, pitches the technology he selected from NASA (extended range RFID and senor tag) and his idea for a company built on it to participants during the first session of Startup Quest. Below, mentor Jason Milgram, founder of Linxter, discusses his technology from Nova Southeastern (statistical model for predicting falling) with Jody Rifkind of Hollywood. Photos by Marcia Halper of The Miami Herald.
Karen Rundlet is a business reporter for WLRN/Miami Herald News. Follow her on Twitter @kbmiami
Posted Oct. 9, 2013