"To add value to their organizations and advance their careers, [accomplished professionals have] chosen not to blend in but rather to stand out, by shining a light on their differences and mobilizing their identities."

— Sandra E. Cha and Laura Morgan Roberts on the benefits of bringing your whole identity to work

Featured Growth Story: Gabe Higgins

Role: Co-Founder & COO

Organization: BlockSpaces

Hometown: Clearwater, FL

Tactical advice on building a startup: Start getting your hands dirty as soon as possible no matter how rudimentary your idea is or how few resources you have.

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Palm Beach Tech Hackathon
Smart Cities & Hurricane Relief Projects
Presented by Palm Beach Tech
Friday, October 4 through Sunday, October 6

BarCamp Tampa Bay 2019
Workshop Events Focused on Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Presented by Technova Florida, Inc.
Saturday, October 5 at 8AM - 5PM

The Future of Jobs in Tampa Bay
Panel Discussion Focused on Job Automation
Presented by Emerging Leaders of Tampa Bay
Thursday, October 10 at 5:30PM - 7:30PM

2019 BioFlorida Conference
Three-Day Conference with a Pitch Competition Focused on Life Sciences
Presented by BioFlorida
Sunday, October 20 through Tuesday, October 22

Real Estate Tech Firm Ideal Agent Launches $3M Capital Raise
St Pete Catalyst • Ideal Agent, a Tampa startup that uses artificial intelligence to recruit top real estate agents, has begun a capital raise with a total of $1.5M already committed from local business leaders. The technology product connects home sellers with top-rated agents at commission rates as low as 2 percent, which is 75 percent less than the traditional commission a home seller pays. The funds will be used to grow its team, advertise, and further build out its technology.


Painting with a Twist Selects SiteZeus to Help Make Intelligent Growth Decisions
PR Newswire •  Location intelligence platform SiteZeus has signed Painting with a Twist as a new customer to understand cannibalization in the sip and paint category as it continues to maintain its category-leading status and ramp up franchise development. With 320 studios in 39 states, SiteZeus will provide Painting with a Twist the tools to make better, data-driven decisions with timely accuracy as they enter their next phase of growth.


The Tale of Tallahassee and a Blockchain Task Force
Florida Blockchain Business Association • Last week, Tampa-based BlockSpaces headed to the inaugural meeting of the Blockchain Task Force in Tallahassee. Led by government and industry representatives, the task force brings public and private sector expertise together to develop Florida's cryptocurrency policy and a master plan for how to implement it.

Company: PandaDoc

Elevator Pitch: A document automation software as a service with built-in electronic signatures, workflow management, a document builder, and CPQ functionality.

Position: Director, Product Marketing

Position Highlights: PandaDoc is looking for an experienced SaaS marketing professional to lead their product marketing as they continue their rapid growth. This person will own feature launches, product launches, and market launches for PandaDoc, and they'll train, mentor, and manage existing team members within the Product Marketing team.

Apply Here

Everything You Need to Know About Email Marketing Click-Through Rates
Email marketing can be an extremely powerful tool for startups looking to grow their customer pool. With a clear understanding of some basic email marketing best practices, you can turn click-throughs into conversions and generate more leads. In a recent guest post, our partners at Bayshore Solutions explain everything founders need to know about email click-through rates — from industry-standard averages to factors that can impact and improve the performance of your email metrics.

The Secret to a Great Planning Process—Lessons from Airbnb & Eventbrite
Q3 has come to a close, which means most founders are preparing for annual planning. Effective planning without consistency usually yields poor results. Alternatively, consistency without strong planning will make it hard to determine where to push the needle. Lenny Rachitsky, a former product lead and Head of Consumer Supply Growth at Airbnb, and Nels Gilbreth, former Head of Global Revenue Strategy at Eventbrite, share their secrets to great planning including a framework you can adopt for your startup with ways to challenge your current planning habits.

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.

Tampa Bay Innovation Center Entrepreneurship & Investment Challenge
This free 12-week program is focused on preparing early-stage technology ventures to scale a company through workshops, mentorships, coaching, peer groups and access to investors and customers. Pre-seed to Series A early-stage tech startups with less than $2M in capital, post-MVP, and that have two or more team members are encouraged to apply.
Deadline October 7
Apply Here


Florida Aerospace Capital Forum Pitch
Early-stage Florida-based aerospace companies that are selected will present to active equity investors and compete for $100k total cash prizes at the 2nd Annual Florida Aerospace Capital Forum on November 6, 2019 at the GuideWell Innovation Center at Lake Nona in Orlando, Florida.
Deadline October 16
Apply Here


YMCA Synapse Challenge
$7,000 will be awarded to challengers who can develop a software solution that will enable the YMCA of the Suncoast to modernize their manual data tracking methods into digital methods that manage and analyze members' health data. Deadline October 18
Apply Here