Startup ecosystems can be difficult to navigate for newcomers, which is detrimental for local startups and community growth. Understanding the resources available to you as a founder is one of the most productive activities possible, and will increase an entrepreneur's chance of success. The Startup Ecosystem Canvas seeks to provide local entrepreneurs with a clear list of resources for every stage of their startup journey, and outline a basic framework for communities to map their ecosystem.
With applications now open for the Florida-Silicon Valley Founder Institute, we are excited to release the updated South Florida Startup Ecosystem Canvas (now version 5.0). It's a crowdsourced list of the entrepreneur resources available in the South Florida area, and it was compiled by the Florida-Silicon Valley Founder Institute and local leaders James Irvine (Cofounder, 305 Works ), Roxette Miranda (Co-Founder, 305 Works ), Alexander Loveyko ( IP, Entertainment and Internet Attorney) and Alfredo Ferrari (Investor & Entrepreneur - Lyfx).
More input is needed, so please leave your comments on this collaborative Google document, and it will be considered for the next update.
The list has been included in text version below, for searchability.
Startup Stages
There is no one right way to build a technology company, but for the sake of simplicity we have outlined a basic, common, sequential framework.
1. Idea Stage
This is where new entrepreneurs get inspired, learn best practices, develop skills, validate ideas, and begin to build their team and product.
Inspire
- South Florida Startup Media: Centralized local information, listings, and news. (i.e. startup blogs/ publications/ lists/ FB groups/ newsletters)
- South Florida Inspirational Startup Events: Open, inclusive, beginner tech events that often focus on ideation. (i.e. Startup Weekend, idea fairs, and inspirational meetups)
Educate
- Best Practices Startup Events: Beginner knowledge-sharing events. (i.e. beginner events that serve to educate more than inspire, like 1 Million Cups, Startup Grind, Startup Founder 101, etc).
- Bitcoin and Financial Education
- BlackTech Miami
- BridgesUnite
- Broward Ruby Brigade
- eMERGE Americas
- Miami Machine Learning Meetup
- Miami Software Development Meetup
- Miami Startup Founder 101
- Miami VR
- Refresh Miami Meetup
- South Florida Startup Founder 101
- South Florida Women in Agile
- Startup Grind Fort Lauderdale
- Startup Grind Miami
- Training & Feedback: Skill & Idea development events and bootcamps for entrepreneurs. (Ex. bootcamps and comprehensive training programs, like Founder Institute, General Assembly, Lean Startup Machine, code camps, etc)
- 4Geeks Academy
- Access Silicon Valley Miami
- Action Design Miami
- Atlantis Coding School
- Code Fever Miami
- Covalence
- EcoTech Visions Digital Citizen Bootcamp
- Founder Institute
- iLabStartup
- Ironhack
- LaunchCode
- Lean Startup Machine Miami
- Leadership Hollywood
- Miamitech.Works
- MIT Enterprise Forum of South Florida
- Rokk3r Labs
- SCORE Broward
- SCORE Miami-Dade
- Startupbootcamp FinTech Miami FastTrack
- Sun Training Center
- SUP-X
- Techlaunch.io
- The Venture Mentoring Team
- UM Coding Boot Camp
- Wyncode Academy
Validate
- Team Formation: Events and Resources for finding co-founders and early teams in the Miami area. (i.e. events or other resources that facilitate early-stage recruitment and cofounder matching)
- Ask a Startup Lawyer
- Biz to Biz Networking
- BizNest Networking
- CoFoundersLab
- Entrepreneurs and Business Professional Networking Miami
- FounderDating
- FoundersCard
- Miami Entrepreneurs Network
- Miami Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners on the Move
- Network After Work
- Network and Social Fort Lauderdale
- Tech Beach
- TopCofounder
- vBeers South Florida
- South Florida Product Workshops: Hackathons & resources to help build your first product. (i.e. hackathons and other builder-focused events and resources)
2. Launch Stage
In this stage, entrepreneurs establish and formalize the company, develop the product, get feedback from customers, and prepare for the next step.
Start
- Establish: Startup law firms & banks that specialize in helping new companies
- Amerantbank
- Akerman LLP
- Bank of America
- BankUnited
- BB&T Bank
- Blilie Law
- Chase Bank
- Citibank
- City National Bank of Florida
- CORPLaw
- Greenberg Traurig
- Holland & Knight
- HSBC
- Malvin Feinberg
- Minott Gore PA
- Salmon Legal Group
- Shutts & Bowen
- SunTrust Bank
- TD Bank
- The Campbell Law Group
- The Funes Law Group
- TotalBank
- Wells Fargo
- Yormack & Associates
- Workspace: Co-working and flexible workspaces (note: “official” office space goes in 3.1.a. Infrastructure)
- Axis Space Coworking
- Building.co
- Büro
- Center for Social Change
- CIC
- CityDesk Miami
- CoLab Workspaces
- Creation Station Business Coworking Hub
- General Provision
- Innovation Hub at Broward College
- Keyworking
- MADE at the Citadel
- Miami Shared
- Minds Cowork
- Moonlighter
- Pipeline Workspaces
- Quest Workspaces
- Serendipity Labs
- Starthub Miami
- TamboWorks
- The LAB Miami
- The Rocket Lounge
- The Venture.City
- WeWork
- Tedge Networks
Develop
- Formalize: Accounting, CPAs, development, and HR resources for early-stage startups.
- All Star HR Consulting
- Appworks
- Bette Hochberger, Inc.
- Cenango
- CTI Consulting
- Daszkal Bolton
- Digital Valley
- Eleva Solutions
- Fabricant & Company, PA
- Fajardo and Associates
- Frankel Interactive
- Gerstle, Rosen & Goldenberg, PA
- Harless and Associates
- Kunin Associates
- OUwebs
- Polanco Media
- PROTECH
- SDSol Technologies
- Siegerman & Company
- South Florida Web Design Studio
- Steven Douglas
- TECKpert
- Vavrinek, Trine, Day & Co., LLP
- Prepare for Seed: Startup incubators and advanced mentorship. (i.e. advanced knowledge sharing, later stage events and resources for startup TEAMS)
Launch
- South Florida Seed Accelerators: Seed funding mentor programs (Techstars-style programs that provide funding)
- Pitch & Demo Days: Showcases for local startups to present to investors (i.e. demo days for companies seeking seed investment)
3. Growth Stage
Here, a startup proves their utility, receives recognition, and scales up. This usually requires funding, angels, VCs, and ways to connect them to startups.
Recognition
- South Florida Investor Networking: Events and groups that connect professional investors (venture capitalists and angel investors) with founders.
- Major Tech Media: Mainstream business press and tech media. (i.e. major local or regional publications that frequently champion local businesses)
Funding
- South Florida Angel Investors and Micro-VCs: Early and Seed-stage investors
- Andre Miranda
- Andrew Carton
- Brian Canida
- Damian Voltes
- Daniel Echavarria
- David Zwick
- Dean Heller
- Fernando Campos
- Gonzalo Costa
- James J. Geddes, Jr.
- Jonathan Mirabito
- Joshua Greenman
- Juan Pablo Cappello
- Logan Lenz
- Marco Giberti
- Patrick Girardin
- Peter Kellner
- Peter Livingston
- Rolv Heggenhougen
- Sanjay Kamlani
- Shalin Madan
- Steve Repetti
- Thomas Marchesello
- Tony Lopez
- W. Jeffrey Brown
- South Florida Venture Capitalists: Series A investment and beyond
- AE Industrial Partners
- Antares Capital
- Athenian Venture Partners
- Banyan Investment Partners
- Bayside Capital
- BIG Capital LLC
- Blue Equity
- Boyne Capital
- Brockway Moran & Partners
- Caerus Ventures
- CoreCo Holding
- Empire
- Enerfund
- Green Egg Ventures
- Harren Equity Partners
- H.I.G. Capital
- Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors
- Krillion Ventures
- Las Olas Venture Capital
- León, Mayer & Co.
- Lloyd Jones Capital
- Marc Bell Capital
- Medina Capital
- Miami Innovation Fund
- Ocean Azule
- Peninsula Investments
- Pensam Capital
- Pine Tree Equity Partners
- PMA Venture Capital Group
- Richmond Global Ventures
- Rokk3r Fuel
- Seagrove Capital
- Southern Cross Group
- Star Capital Fund
- Starwood Capital
- Sun Capital Partners
- Tamiami Angels
- Thesis Ventures
- Validor Capital
- WM Partners
- White Wolf Capital
Growth
- Infrastructure: Office space, HR, local business insurance. (i.e. office space/ HR/ insurance providers for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)
- 1BC Consulting
- 42Floors
- All City Insurance
- Allstate
- Ascendo Resources
- Brokers Insurance Group
- Enterprise Development Corporation
- Farmers Insurance
- Hiscox
- Instant Offices
- Liberty Mutual
- LiquidSpace
- LoopNet
- National Insurance and HR Consulting Group
- Nationwide Insurance
- OfficeList.com
- Regus
- Search Office Space
- South Florida Recruiters
- Southeast Insurance Group
- State Farm
- The Hartford
- South Florida Startup Scaling: Growth accelerators and tech consultants. (i.e. programs and business consultants for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)
4. Florida Startup Success Stories
Successful homegrown companies that have raised significant institutional funding, employ a large workforce, or have achieved liquidity.
- 71lbs
- Arteza
- Boatsetter
- Boxes
- Brightstar Corp
- Burger King
- Cano Health
- CareCloud
- CarePredict
- Chewy
- Citrix
- ClassWallet
- DataCore
- Home61
- iraLogix
- JetSmarter
- Kairos
- Lennar
- LiveNinja
- Magic Leap
- NovoPayment
- MDLive
- Nearpod
- Oasis
- Open English
- OrthoSensor
- Papa
- Shipmonk
- Skyscanner
- Taxfyle
- Willing
- YellowPepper
Supporters
To facilitate the steps, every ecosystem needs strong supporters.
1. Tech Evangelists
A list of potential advisors. Successful local founders who lead the ecosystem & frequently mentor newbies. (i.e. Local leaders who have taken a leadership position, speak at a lot of startup events, mentor all the programs, etc.)
- Aaron Chavez
- Alex Loveyko
- Alfredo Ferrari
- Ana Paula González
- Anabella Aguilar
- Andres Moreno
- Andy (Andres) Alterini
- Barry Stamos
- Bob Nelson
- Brent Csutoras
- Brian Breslin
- Candice Galek
- Chad Van Horn
- Christine Johnson
- Connor Cranston
- David Bensoussan
- Dieter Kondek
- Eddie Pinero
- Enrique Triay
- Eric Archuleta
- Esteban Reyes
- Ethan Wall
- Humberto Alexander Lee
- James Irvine
- Jerry Katz
- Juan A. Meza
- Jill Hellman
- Karina Besprosavan
- Ken Godskind
- Lascelle Sweetland
- Leandro Finol
- Mark Volchek
- Michel Triana
- Michael O'Donnell
- Michael Vargas
- Mike Dannheim
- Nancy Dahlberg
- Neil Steinhardt
- Nestor Villalobos
- Peter Solomon
- Randy Wood
- Rob Delman
- Robert H. Hacker
- Rodolfo Novarini
- Rose M. Short
- Roxette Miranda
- Russell Rosario
- Sally Outlaw
- Scott Eddy
- Sean Sullivan
- Spencer Lyon
- Stuart Ross
- Tara S. Demren
- Teresa Egaña
- Terri-Ann Brown
- Tim Hasse
- Will Weinraub
2. Government
Public startup programs, grants, and other services that facilitate local economic development.
- Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce
- Doral Chamber of Commerce
- Ft. Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce
- German American Business Chamber - South Florida - Miami Chapter
- Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance
- Greater South Florida Chamber in Broward
- Hollywood Chamber of Commerce
- Innovation Florida
- Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce
- Miami-Dade County Information Technology Department
- Miami-Dade Beacon Council
- SBA South Florida District Office
- South Florida Chamber of Commerce
- South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
- The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce
3. Talent
Major local business or tech universities and employers that attract and retain local talent.
- Local South Florida Universities (Universities with prominent technical or business programs)
- Barry University
- Broward College
- Florida Atlantic University
- Florida International University
- Johnson & Wales University
- Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University - EMBA
- Miami Dade College
- Miami International University of Art & Design
- Nova Southeastern University
- St. Thomas University
- The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale
- University of Miami
- Local Employers (Major technical employers, like Microsoft or Google or large local companies, with large local offices)
Learn more about the Startup Ecosystem Canvas here, and leave us your thoughts on the South Florida Canvas on this collaborative Google document (This is just a DRAFT, and more input is needed!)
Are you looking to build a startup in Florida? Then apply to the Florida-Silicon Founder Institute today
