Investing In Florida Technology

Jason Calacanis is an entrepreneur, author, podcaster, and angel investor. He’s invested in more than 150 companies, including four multi-billion dollars “unicorns.” His story of investing in Uber is the stuff of investor legend. He’s also built and sold multiple companies for tens of millions of dollars and hosts the popular podcast “This Week in Startups” where he and a rotating group of guest experts bring you the weekly take on the best, worst, and interesting stories from the world of...

Jason Calacanis is an entrepreneur, author, podcaster, and angel investor. He’s invested in more than 150 companies, including four multi-billion dollars “unicorns.” His story of investing in Uber is the stuff of investor legend. He’s also built and sold multiple companies for tens of millions of dollars and hosts the popular podcast “This Week in Startups” where he and a rotating group of guest experts bring you the weekly take on the best, worst, and interesting stories from the world of...

All successful founders, entrepreneurs, or business people have two things in common: integrity and persistence in always getting better at what they’re doing - and these are two traits that most angel investors look at when they’re considering to financially support a startup. That’s exactly what our guest today focuses on – finding people that he knows he could trust and that are willing to go the extra mile for their business. Jeff Vinik is a man wearing many hats and throughout his...

All successful founders, entrepreneurs, or business people have two things in common: integrity and persistence in always getting better at what they’re doing - and these are two traits that most angel investors look at when they’re considering to financially support a startup. That’s exactly what our guest today focuses on – finding people that he knows he could trust and that are willing to go the extra mile for their business. Jeff Vinik is a man wearing many hats and throughout his...

Ryan Nece’s journey to becoming a venture capitalist is unlike any we’ve ever seen. As a former NFL linebacker, Ryan defied the odds to become successful after retiring from the professional sports world. Now, he is the Managing Partner at Next Play Capital, founder of the Ryan Nece Foundation, and co-founder at StraightCast Media. Throughout this episode, Ryan shares how he bucked the trend, refusing to undergo extreme financial stress like many other retired athletes. Instead, he treats...

David Goldberg’s trajectory into venture capital is a unique one. Directly after graduating from Law School and Business School, David worked as a criminal prosecutor, and eventually transitioned to global investment banking. During this time, he started his own men’s fashion company and sold it in 2013. This launched the rest of his career as an investor. In this episode, David shares his journey to becoming a successful investor over the last 6 years, including his biggest mistakes and...

Peter Mallouk is a little different than most investors interviewed on this podcast. Peter isn’t really an angel investor, but he is qualified as an investor. Peter is the President of Creative Planning, which provides wealth management services to clients. They manage roughly $48 billion among clients throughout all 50 states. In this episode, Peter shares insights into how he became an investor, how he handles his clients’ wealth, what role the timing of markets plays in his strategy. He...

Chris Sullivan has always been passionate about the restaurant business—starting from the time bartending and waiting tables. Chris co-founded Outback Steakhouse, which started as a one-story restaurant in Tampa, FL and has now over a thousand locations in 23 separate countries. In this episode, Chris shares his story and every step he took to find the success he has today. He goes further to share advice for other founders, how his vision for business shifted to focusing on angel...

Scott Gorlick is a native of southern Florida, where he also became one of the first 100 employees to work at Uber. After working at Uber for 6 years, launching their platforms, and scaling their operations globally, he moved to the east coast to spend time investing and advising great startups. In this episode, Scott shares some of the insights and lessons he learned as part of the team at Uber, and what his transition to angel investing was like. He explains a few of his top lessons...

Angel investing is part art, part science. Oftentimes you trust your gut when deciding to put your finances, effort, and time into a company. In the early stages, you partner up with friends and family, and you choose your investments based on whether you like those people or not. But, as you move further down the spectrum, it becomes more science. In today’s episode, Steve and I discuss how to choose the companies you want to financially support, and also, some of the red flags for angel...

Currently, Miami is mostly seen as a town to party in or a town for so many other industries that are not tech. These perceptions are about to change, as more talented people are turning their attention to this delightful place. On today’s episode, I am joined by Alexis - one of the co-founders of Reddit, who is an important player in the angel investing area, and Andrew – the founder of Papa, a Florida-based company. Alexis invested in Andrew’s business, and they are sharing with us their...

The investments industry is wrought with decisions—and they’re never easy to make. Stuart is a native of Tampa, Florida. He moved around, went to school at UVA, but eventually made his way back home to Tampa. Ever since then, he’s been an active investor in technology companies. Some of his investments were incredibly successful and some were not. Each investment he made, however, provided him with new, valuable experience to learn from for the future. On today’s episode, Stuart shares...

Sometimes the most thrilling investments are ones that will disrupt society. Disruptive investments—such as investments in transformational technologies that utilize applied artificial intelligence—oftentimes turn out in one of two ways. They can soar—like Apple or Microsoft—or they can tank. Today’s guest, Jake Seid, says that when downturn happens, you can’t lose your momentum. Sometimes the best companies are built after these downturns—don’t forget that. Jake is the managing director...

Investing in your first business can be incredibly daunting. There are so many unknowns and so many what if? questions running through your head. It’s the same situation for both the entrepreneur and the investor. Entrepreneurs and investors alike have a goal in mind—and they need the other person in order to get there. It’s risky, but sometimes it’s totally worth it in the end. Today’s guest is Zach Coelius. Zach has worked on both sides of the story. He is a four-time entrepreneur, but...

Have you ever played with the idea of investing? Are you an entrepreneur searching for an investor? What’s stopping you? Here at Florida Funders, our goal is to scour the state of Florida, searching for the very best early-stage technology companies to find, fund, and help build up. We are dedicated to changing Florida from the “Sunshine State” to the “Startup State,” making this a great place to start and build a business. On today’s podcast, we talk to Alex Sink. Recently, Alex...