"If you have an overcomplicated solution, it’s probably because you’re solving an overcomplicated problem."

— Josh Abe on solving the right problem when designing

Featured Growth Story: Austen Legler

Role: Director of Marketing

Organization: Immertec

Hometown: Bradenton, Florida

Tactical advice on building a startup: Be patient with yourself, embrace failure and be willing to make mistakes.

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Bunker Labs Tampa: Chapter Launch Party
Launch Event Featuring Guest Speaker Lauren Weiner, WWC CEO
Presented by Bunker Labs Tampa
Thursday, September 26 at 5:30PM - 8PM


Build a Cognitive IoT App in Just 7 Steps
Workshop Led by Chris Tyler of IBM
Presented by Ethereum Tampa Bay
Thursday, September 26 at 7PM - 9PM


Intro to TypeScript
Free Crash Course Hosted by Dylan Attal of Bank OZK
Presented by Suncoast Developers Guild
Wednesday, October 2 at 6:30PM - 8PM


BarCamp Tampa Bay 2019
User-Generated Conference Focused on Tech, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Presented by Technova Florida, Inc.
Saturday, October 5 at 8AM - 5PM

A Tampa Startup Aims to Train Doctors with Virtual Reality
Tampa Bay Times • In an effort to eliminate travel and opportunity costs when training surgeons, Immertec developed a virtual reality platform that allows medical professionals to train live from anywhere in the world. On the Immertec platform, surgeons can join operating rooms in real time and watch the procedure, with varying camera views, as if they were performing the surgery themselves. Earlier this week, they announced that they received investment from PAR Inc.


Downtown Developments Raise Tampa’s Prospects
Financial Times • Tampa Bay's growth story is gaining national attention. Last week, Lindsay Fortado shared the latest advancements developing in Tampa, including the recent opening of Tampa's new outdoor food hall Sparkman Wharf and Jeff Vinik's plan to boost the entrepreneurial economy with Water Street and Embarc Collective.


Business Accelerator Aims to Drive Florida-Israel Links
Financial Times • StemRad, a startup that develops and manufactures personal anti-radiation wear, was also highlighted in the Financial Times last week. The startup is a Florida-Israel Business Accelerator alumni that gained traction in the US thanks to the help of the accelerator.

Company: Proof Network Ventures

Elevator Pitch: A technology and data-driven solutions provider for beverage alcohol brands, wholesalers and retailers.

Position: Customer Success Manager

Position Highlights: Proof Network Ventures is seeking a fantastic Customer Success Manager who can take charge of its customer success team and foster positive relationships with its clients. If you are passionate about finding unique ways to make customers happy while solving their problems, you're a perfect fit for this position. This role requires very applied knowledge of customer support best practices and will have high-level visibility and interaction with Proof Network's leadership.

Apply Here

Top Takeaways from Embarc Collective's First-Ever Founder Summit
Last week, Embarc Collective held its first-ever Founder Summit for current members. This exciting event featured seasoned startup operators from around the nation to provide helpful insights on how to build bold, scalable, thriving ventures. In this recap post, we share the top takeaways from the event that any startup can use to help their company grow. A special thanks to Frank Gruber of Established, Scott Lopano of Engage Ventures, Christy Brown of Loeb.ATL, Monique Villa of Mucker Capital, Elias Torres of Drift and Jeff Vinik for sharing lessons and learnings with our members.


How Community Content is Driving Marketing in the SaaS Ecosystem
As the SaaS industry grows, clear leaders are emerging in the space with marketing success stories driven by community content. Community content is produced by your product users, which includes reviews, testimonials, photos, videos, guides, even poems. By having community content at the center of your marketing strategy, it provides customers with peer support and highlights a network customers can rally behind. In this post from OpenView Partners, they share how SaaS companies can create systems to encourage community content and how to spin this content to your competitive advantage.


Take Our 2019 Community Survey

We want to hear from you, Tampa Bay! Take our 2019 Community Survey. Your responses help us develop insightful reports that we share with the broader community.

Take the survey here.

RAISE Forum Applications Now Open
The RAISE Forum is accepting applications from post-revenue startups seeking funding between $500K and $5M. Eight startups will be selected to present to active, accredited investors at the November event.
Deadline September 27
Apply Here


CEO Global Conference Speaker Applications
Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization's Global Conference attracts nearly 1,000 collegiate students from around the world. Apply to speak to build your personal brand and share your subject matter expertise during breakout workshops.
Deadline September 30
Apply Here


Tampa Bay Innovation Center Entrepreneurship & Investment Challenge
This 12-week program prepares early-stage technology ventures to scale a company through workshops, mentorships, coaching, peer groups and access to investors and customers. This is a free program and they don’t take equity. Pre-seed to Series A early-stage tech startups that have raised less than $2M in capital, product is post-MVP, and that have two or more team members are encouraged to apply.
Deadline October 7
Apply Here