Best resources for Florida entrepreneurs
When I moved down to Florida I knew no one. Not a single person. And now, since so many people are making the move to Florida, I wanted to put together a list of the best resources for Florida entrepreneurs.
Florida Entrepreneurs – This is the community I've been building with my co-founder Nicholas Mohnacky. We currently meet on Clubhouse but do plan to start doing in-person meet-ups and events once COVID allows. I've written pretty extensively about the work we're doing too.
1909 – An incredible co-working/accelerator space located in beautiful West Palm Beach. Not only is West Palm Beach a great location, the 1909 office space is beautiful and open.
Tech Hub South Florida – Tech Hub South Florida is run by Nikki Cabus. She's been doing a lot of work to help bring the south Florida tech community together. She and her team are definitely people you should know. They bring a lot of value.
Product Hunt South Florida – Product Hunt South Florida is run by my good friend, Miriam Dorsett and I've been working with her as well lately planning a way to start hunting more South Florida companies. Definitely stay tuned for more news regarding the Product Hunt challenge we'll be announcing soon. Bottom line: we're looking to hunt five awesome startups/products from entrepreneurs based here in South Florida to help drive attention and bring awareness to what's being built down here.
The LAB Miami – The LAB Miami is another incredible co-working space located in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami. When I visited there a few weeks ago, there were already two new VCs who moved into the space.
The CIC – The CIC Miami is an offshoot of the Cambridge Innovation Center. It's another co-working location that's filled with interesting entrepreneurs.
FAU Tech Runway – FAU's Tech Runway is an incredible accelerator program located in Boca Raton. I'm personally working on getting involved there and I couldn't be more excited! The companies being built there are very cool.
Boca Code – What's being built by Todd Albert, Michelle Bakels, and Jonathan Sanchez at Boca Code is amazing. And the best part is, I get to watch it unfold all right in front of my very eyes as the school is located literally five minutes from where I live. Boca Code is a coding boot camp where they're teaching their students the tools and knowledge they need to succeed in the workforce as a developer. They are also taking on development projects as a way to help offset costs for students and also teach them real life development experience.
Refresh Miami – Refresh is a great place to learn about what's happening down in the Miami area. They have news coverage, job listings, and events.
TechLauderdale – TechLauderdale is another membership-based group down here for entrepreneurs. They put on many conferences and events including ITPalooza!
New World Angels – New World Angels is an angel investment group led by the awesome Ron Tarro. They mostly make investments in Florida-based companies.
Boca Raton Economic Development – The Boca Raton Economic Development team led by Jessica Del Vecchio is working really hard to provide value to entrepreneurs looking to move their businesses down here to Boca Raton. If you're interested in learning more, I'd be happy to connect you to them.
1MillionCups – 1 Million Cups is a free national event designed to educate, engage, and connect entrepreneurs. They have several chapters located in Florida, including in Miami, Tampa, Orlando, and Lakeland + more!
The Idea Center – The Idea Center is a support network for all Miami Dade College students and community members to make creative, innovative and entrepreneurial ideas come true. The center is run by the amazing Felecia Hatcher. Additionally, if you're into design thinking or want to learn more about it, reach out to Gustavo Grande.
Venture Café Miami – Another great source for entrepreneurs. Venture Café Miami hosts weekly events (on Thursday's) bringing together innovators from all over South Florida.
eMerge Americas – eMerge Americas is a great conference series hosted in Miami Beach. Last year they had talks by Alexis Ohanian (venture capitalist and co-founder of reddit), Linda Rottenberg (CEO at Endeavor), Kevin O'Leary (Investor and shark on ABC's Shark Tank), plus many more!
Endeavor Miami – Endeavor Miami launched in September 2013, with the support of the Knight Foundation and a group of world-class business leaders. It is the first U.S. affiliate of Endeavor, a global non-profit organization that has advised and helped scale more than 1,000 high-impact companies in 37 growth markets around the world. Be sure to check out the EndeavorLab as well, which is a great two month accelerator.
Miami Angels – Miami Angels is another great group that is comprised of over 120 accredited angel investors, many of whom have been entrepreneurs themselves. They typically invest in the post-launch seed stage of a business and host pitch nights once a month.
My goal with this post is to keep it continually updated with new resources added when I find them! If you have any recommendations, please feel free to reach out!
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