"Achieving big goals is a team sport. Having one set of cross-functional OKRs aligns everyone, no matter their role, with something to work towards."

—Michael Williams on why OKRs work

Founder: David Aylesworth

Company: CēVē

Thoughts: Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. Assess your skills and knowledge, and look for resources to help fill in the gaps!

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Connecting with USF's Research and Innovation Expertise

An Overview of the Florida High Tech Corridor Program

Presented by USF Connect

Tuesday, February 23 at 10AM ET

Product Discovery Coffee Chat

Session on User Engagement Strategies to Validate Product Value

Presented by Tampa Bay Innovation Center

Thursday, February 25 at 2:30PM ET

21 Startups to Watch

Featuring a Fireside Chat with Steve MacDonald, MyMatrixx Founder

Presented by Tampa Bay Inno

Friday, February 26 at 11AM ET

Tech Startup Leasecake Gets Investment to Expand Beyond Real Estate

OBJ • Leasecake, an Embarc Collective member company, closed a $3M investment led by Las Olas Venture Capital to expand service to any business that rents or owns commercial real estate and to double its employee count this year.

A Tampa Fintech App Saw Explosive Growth After GameStop Stock Drama

Tampa Bay Inno • Grifin, an Embarc Collective member company, enables users to buy stocks where they shop in an easy, automatic way. When Robinhood halted purchasing GameStop stock, Grifin's users started to promote the app as a reliable alternative, leading to an 1,800%+ jump in users. Download Grifin for iOS.

VantEdge Partners Chooses SiteZeus to Accelerate Growth for its Brands

SiteZeus • VantEdge Partners, which has 264 stores including Dunkin’, Taco Bell and Jamba Juice franchises, is leveraging the SiteZeus AI platform to use data to drive decisions related to market planning across its restaurant portfolio.

Company: Raven Spatial

Elevator Pitch: Raven Spatial democratizes location intelligence by creating the world’s first on-demand drone and smartphone imagery platform and leveraging the ubiquity of consumer drones and smartphones around the globe.

Position: Swift iOS Developer

Position Highlights: The Swift Developer will develop our mobile app, paypixl. paypixl allows drone pilots to create digital portfolios and company profiles that are map-discoverable by customers seeking drone pilots in specific areas. 

Email Resume

This week at Embarc Collective, we are hosting a refresh session on the Objectives and Key Results (OKR) framework to ensure that the startups we work with focus on what matters most to growing their venture.

🗒️ reWork by Google: Set Goals with OKRs - A condensed overview on how to set up the OKR process within your own organization.

➕ S.M.A.R.T Goals Template - Measurable outcomes are more effective in achieving goals.

✅ What Matters - The comprehensive online companion to John Doerr's OKR master guidebook, Measure What Matters.

Driving Alignment with OKRs

Workboard CEO and OKR Podcast host Deidre Paknad appears on the Build Podcast by Drift to talk about why OKRs matter, how to use them, and how to get the doubters on board.

Listen Here

TechCrunch Early Stage Pitch Off

Pitch on TechCrunch's main stage on Day Two of TC Early Stage in front of VCs, TC Editors and the entire event audience. Free to apply and free to participate if selected. Applicants may be contacted for other TC opportunities if eligible.

Deadline: February 21

Apply Here

10K Entrepreneurs: Investing in the Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow

10KE is enabling college students to pursue their entrepreneurial ambitions by providing $1,000 grants to 50 students. Students can use the grants for their own startups or to help cover expenses during an internship at a startup.

Deadline: March 15

Apply Here

Growing our region's startup community takes all of us. Here are quick ways you can help Embarc Collective member startups:

• 💲Ready to land your first data science job? Prepare with Dataquest.
• 💰Are you are college student or professional with student loan debt? Defynance would like to speak to you as they conduct customer discovery interviews.  If you can help, email Defynance.
• ✈️ Wanderseat's Mistake Fare Tool helps you find the best deals on flights. You can download for iOS or Android.