"To be an entrepreneur requires great optimism, and a very strong belief in how much customers will love your product. Unfortunately this same attribute can also lead entrepreneurs to believe that customers will beat a path to their door to purchase the product. This frequently causes them to grossly underestimate the cost it will take to acquire customers."

— David Shok on startup failure from incorrectly calculating the cost of customer acquisition

Founder: Theo Harvey

Company: SynsorMed

Thoughts: Focus on the key things that will get you traction in the marketplace. Everything else, outsource.

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Suncoast Developers Conference
A Free Virtual Conference to Highlight Tampa Bay's Developers and Technical Development
Presented by Suncoast Developers Guild
Saturday, August 1 at 10AM ET

The Art of the Possible: Virtual Tradeshows & Booths
A Virtual Workshop on How to Bring Your Live Event Experience to a Virtual Tradeshow Booth
Presented by Bluewater
Friday, August 7 at 1PM ET

LGBTQ+ in Tech Summit
Virtual Summit on Increasing Diversity in the Entrepreneurial and Tech Community
Presented by Accenture
Tuesday, August 11 at 1PM ET

Disrupt the Bay
A Virtual Summit on Healthcare with Expert Panel Discussions and a Technology Showcase
Presented by Disrupt The Bay
Thursday, August 6 through Friday, August 7

Charles Barkley Foundation and SynsorMed Announce Partnership to Aid Black Americans Affected by Coronavirus
Cision • Embarc Collective member company SynsorMed, a provider of remote patient monitoring (RPM) and chronic care management (CCM) solutions for healthcare organizations, has announced a partnership with the Charles Barkley Foundation launching the Save Our Selves (S.O.S) Council, comprised of Black influencers, technologists, healthcare professionals and policymakers to improve access to health resources for Black Americans.

Unique Program Provides Free Photos for People Left Jobless by Pandemic
Today • Embarc Collective member company SpotMyPhotos and other national brands including Headshot Booker, Canon, and Brookfields Properties participated in a nationwide initiative last week that helped provide free professional headshots to 10,000 unemployed Americans.

As Education Shifts Online, Tampa Tutoring Startup Expands into K-12 with FPL Partnership
TBBJ • Knack, an Embarc Collective member company, is partnering with Florida Power and Light (FPL) and Community Partners of South Florida to provide tutoring, MacBooks and Wi-Fi hot spots to K-12 students in need. The $50K initiative will launch in South Florida counties, including Miami-Dade and Broward.

JA ACE - Academy for Collaborative Entrepreneurship
Junior Achievement • Junior Achievement has partnered with Embarc Collective to cultivate a pipeline for future entrepreneurs. The new JA ACE Classroom will be located at Embarc Collective and will allow JA to deliver entrepreneurship and its opportunities to nearly 1,000 young people annually.

Home Improvement On-Demand App HOMEE Raises $4.5M
Tampa Bay Inno • The Tampa-based home repair on-demand app, HOMEE, has raised a funding round with strategic partners. The company's total investment is now up to $34.5M. The latest round will go towards the company's continued expansion across the US.

Company: Peerfit

Elevator Pitch: A digital platform for employers, insurance carriers, and brokers to offer wellness solutions to their clients and employees.

Position: Security Engineer

Position Highlights: Peerfit is looking for a Security Engineer to join its team. The Security Engineer assists the Infrastructure team with navigating the security programs and tools the employees use on a daily basis. This is a cross-functional role that handles security tasks and requests internally for Peerfit.

Apply Here

For early startups to be successful, it is important for them to understand how to calculate relevant marketing metrics that help inform their business strategy and financial planning. This week we've compiled resources to help you better understand your Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) and Lifetime Value (LTV).

🛍️ The Ultimate Guide to Calculating, Understanding and Improving CAC in 2020 - a comprehensive guide from Hubspot on how to manage CAC and LTV early in your business and how this looks per industry

✍️ SaaS CAC Ratio: What Should it Be? - a guide to help you determine the CAC for your SaaS business

📣 How to Reduce CAC, Boost Retention & Increase Sales with Channel Partners - a playbook on leveraging channel partners to grow your SaaS business and lower CAC

Cost to Acquire New Customers (CAC) and Their Lifetime Value (LTV) with Wilson Hung (Kettle & Fire)
In this episode of the Growth Machine Podcast, the Director of Growth for Kettle & Fire, Wilson Hung, shares insights from his tweetstorm and article about the relationship between the cost to acquire new customers and their lifetime value.

Listen Here

Financial Literacy For Kids - Synapse Challenge
Synapse has announced a challenge calling for a solution to develop a digital financial education platform based on the concepts and characters in "The Four Money Bears," book developed by certified financial planner and author Mac Gardner. Challenge participants are required to submit a working demo with supporting documents.

Deadline: September 1

Apply Here

Florida Venture Forum Call for Presenters

The Florida Venture Forum is calling for outstanding private companies from within and outside the State of Florida to apply to present at the 2020 Early Stage Capital Conference. Selected presenting companies with a focus on technologies in one or more commercial market will be eligible to compete for the Accelerating Innovation (AI) Award, offered by Space Florida. The AI Award offers cash prizes totaling $100,000 to eligible Florida companies, and out-of-state companies seeking to establish a presence in Florida or have contributed via the supplier network to the advancement of the space program in Florida.

Deadline: September 17

Apply Here

McDermott Rise Project

The McDermott Rise Project was launched to combat inequality and promote fairness while helping bridge the gap for Black founders and founders of color. The program will provide free legal and business services to 20 Black founders and other entrepreneurs of color to help them launch and scale their endeavors. Early-stage and emerging companies that have an innovative plan to solve an important problem are encouraged to apply.

Deadline: Rolling

Apply Here