Middleton Magnet High School in Tampa was the site for the formal introduction of Hillsborough County’s Economic Development Innovation Initiative (EDI2). Commissioner Mark Sharpe (@MarkSharpeFL) championed this initiative to focus more of the region’s economic development efforts on our emerging tech community. The Commissioner along with Economic Development Director Lindsey Kimball and EDI2 Project Manager Stephanie Cvetetic have listened closely to the community and responded with a program that recognizes the value of having experienced tech entrepreneurs leading this type of grass roots economic development effort.
The county is now accepting applications from programs and events in Hillsborough County that are designed to foster growth and advance the skills of the Tampa Bay tech community.
The deadline for the first wave of applications is July 31st. The application form can be downloaded from the Hillsborough County Office of Economic Development web site.
Inkwood Books was the host venue for this week’s #EDI2 Tech Community Webcast.
Highlights from this weeks webcast included:
Kickoff ceremony for EDI2 at Middleton High School on Tuesday June 25th @2PM Startup Grind is coming to Tampa Bay – look for launch event in August, venue T.B.D.
Qualcomm Tricorder X-Prize entry by local tech founder Tracey Ingram
This past Friday at Startup Weekend Tampa, the winner of the 2012 Startup Weekend (EXMO), officially launched the long awaited public beta of their event scheduling and management app.
The EXMO mobile app makes events easier for organizers and more enjoyable for attendees. Organizers can offer a simple to use planning and notification tool to conference or meeting attendees that can be accessed from any smart phone running Android or iOS. By connecting conference goers before, during, and after the event, organizers are able to provide a better experience for their attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors. The organizer platform which is a SaaS app accessed from EXMO’s main web site allows for very intuitive creation and promotion of an event and provides useful analytics to measure how attendees use the app to keep tabs on selected sessions, speaker info, sponsors and last minute changes or updates to the agenda. This insight into agenda usage is not only useful during an event, but think of how helpful it will be as a benchmark for planning future events or providing the executive management team a quantitative after action report.
I feel the EXMO application, while suited for any size conference, is going to be a huge hit with corporate meeting organizers and tech savvy events like Startup Weekends. Whether you have a shareholders meeting or the annual president’s club and sales award retreat, the organizers task of herding cats will be much easier with EXMO’s simple and efficient event management app.
It was great to see an alumni of the local Startup Weekend come back and engage the very community that gave them their initial start. As a once avid conference attendee and occasional speaker, I have used several of the first generation mobile conference apps many of which are clunky derivatives of the traditional printed conference agenda. The EXMO mobile app is a clean, social media aware experience that meeting attendees will wish they could use for all of their planned events. Follow their progress on Facebook or on Twitter.
On the road again, the weekly #EDI2 discussion on building a stronger tech ecosystem visits the @USFConnect Technology Incubator.
Mark Sharpe – @MarkSharpeFL
Joy Randels – @Joy_Randels
Ken Evans – @StartupMonkey
And from @USFConnect
Paul Sanberg, Ph.D., D.Sc., Sr. VP Research & Innovation, Pres. USF Research Foundation
Valerie Landrio McDevitt, Assistant VP – Patents and Licensing
Dr. Kerriann Greenlaugh, Founder and CEO of @KeriCure
Suzanne Schwitalla, Founding President, Ability Worldwide
Mazen Hanna, Chief Science Officer, Thar Pharmaceuticals
Back @BuddyBrewCoffee again, this week’s #EDI2 webcast featured some new faces discussing availability of tech talent in Tampa Bay and other perception barriers to starting and growing tech companies.
This week’s Startup Tampa Bay participants included:
Peter Radizesk – @RadInfo
Tyler Pitchford – @TampaHackers
Commissioner Mark Sharpe – @MarkSharpeFL
Heather Kenyon – @TheTBTF
Fritz Eichelberger – @Fritz_Hostspaces
This conversation hit on some important points regarding the development of Tampa’s startup tech ecosystem with our native talent being our #1 asset. But when the topic turned to existing tech companies, the panel makes the all too common mistake of highlighting local services companies such as Tech Data, TriBridge and Jabil rather than dealing with the fact that Tampa is not know for tech products. Unless we tackle that issue and start tracking some more meaningful economic development metrics, we will be supporting the illusion of success rather than actually making an investment in changing our economic DNA.
The weekly economic development and startup tech webcast took a field trip to the @CigarCityBeer tasting room for a chat with owner Joey Redner.
There are striking similarities between how Joey researched and started his successful brewing business and how startup founders develop new products. He did a great job summing up the key components to building a successful startup business:
a. Frustration with the current market offerings
b. Market experience with what a solution looks (tastes) like
c. Technical expertise & resources to produce and test your idea
d. Perseverance to solve the problem and create a better product
e. A supportive micro-community of people that deeply share your passion (Beer Geeks)
f. HPRCs – Happy Paying Referenceable Customers
Evolving a great idea into a sellable product requires a mix of innovation, instinct, and basic business discipline. My mission is to help early-stage founders understand start-up challenges, build their confidence, and establish their credibility. I’m not here to put lipstick on your pig or offer any silver bullets for venture funding; just grassroots experience blended with a little attitude and the occasional flinging of poo.
