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Startup Rant: Myths, Metrics & Models

I found this video of a talk a gave at Kauffman’s 1M Cups in Tampa a while back. It is a short riff on my BarCamp talk “Stupid Shit Startups Say,” which I toned down a bit for a more generic crowd. The theme was the same; emerging tech ecosystems are full of misinformation and well-meaning but poorly qualified advice on what startup founders need to know and do when building a new tech venture.

Fighting the urge to “fake it until you make it” and focusing on solving real problems with scalable products produces real companies with honest, mature founders. As a tech community fighting for credibility on the global stage, we should expect and support nothing less.


Sorry, the audio isn’t very good, I tried to clean it up but the camera was in the back of the room with no external mic. If you turn on captions, you will get 90% of the presentation. I look forward to giving this talk again in person someday, probably at another BarCamp. In the meantime, good luck with your startups, and please don’t say stupid $#!+.

Startup Tampa Bay – Nov. 8th

Startup Tampa Bay’s webcast from @BuddyBrewCoffee this week highlighted some of the many events that will take place this year during Kauffman’s Global Entrepreneurship Week. This year marks the 6th year GEW has been celebrated in Tampa Bay and every year more and more people are exposed to the breadth and depth of our grass roots tech community. The #EDI2 program created by Hillsborough County is just one example of how far we have come in recognizing and supporting technology-based economic development opportunities.

Events currently scheduled for this year’s GEW include:

GrowFL – Seminar, New Laws for Angel Investing and VC – Nov. 18th
USF Connect B.E.A.T. Startup EXPo & Tour – Nov. 19th
Co-Founders Lab @ TB WaVE – Nov. 20th
StartUp Grind Tampa Bay – Nov. 21st
TB Innovation Center Tech Talk – Nov. 22nd
Startup Weekend Tampa Bay – Friday Nov. 22nd – Sunday Nov. 24th