Investing In Florida Technology

Curious as to how military training prepares you for the world of entrepreneurship? If you’ve ever found yourself at a crossroads in your career and felt that you just aren’t being offered anything to your liking, have you ever thought of striking out on your own? Entrepreneurship is a complicated and humbling experience, but it also allows you to be your own boss and create the business you’ve always wanted to work for. What happens when a former Army officer and member of the White House...

Have you ever wondered what it takes to develop true staying power in an industry as quick and variable as tech? If you’re serious about making it in the tech world, there are certain attributes that will set you apart from the pack. Curiosity, humility, and the ability to see patterns are invaluable for anyone, but are absolute prerequisites for successful entrepreneurs. Couple these with a shrewd eye for team building and a knack for playing to your own strengths, and you may be well on...

Being a successful angel investor requires a lot of work and commitment. At Florida Funders, our goal is to make it easier for people and increase their chances of finding the right opportunities for them. Being in this arena for over 25 years, we’ve learned valuable lessons on how to maximize the probability of great returns, and we’ve compiled these best practices into what we call “The 5 Ds of Angel Investing.” In this episode, Tom Wallace talks in detail about these five important...

At Florida Funders, we are helping early-stage companies get access to capital from investors through an online process and crowdfunding. We’re all about learning best practices and getting better at angel investing, and the purpose of this podcast is to interview some of the best and brightest and most successful investors and entrepreneurs to learn from them and get better in the process. After interviewing a handful of people on the show and finding out what makes them tick, what...

What started as a friendship between two women cheerleading for the Buccaneers ended up in Next Path: a growing company providing hiring solutions for companies that see people as their competitive advantage. In today's episode, Ashley Jarocki and Stephanie Markese share with us how they went from cheering on the same line together to making a leap of faith and starting their own company in the staffing world. Stephanie Markese always wanted to be a dentist until she realized that she...

When you hear about a new idea, how can you be sure it’s good or bad? As an investor, you have to be a calculated risk-taker. Of course, there’s the due diligence that can help you decide whether the business that’s presented to you is worth funding, but you still need a dose of courage to financially support an idea Netflix is one of those successful businesses that weren’t short of ups and downs – and in this episode, you will hear the story of Netflix seen through the lens of one of...

Just like Florida is known for strawberries and tourism, LA is currently most famous for Hollywood – but things are gradually changing. The technology landscape is constantly growing and although LA has become a huge market, it still feels young. This means there are, yet, a lot of opportunities for angel investors to practice the art of venture capital in the right way, and grab their share of the market. Adam Struck is a Floridian but he is currently living in LA with his family....

Just like Florida is known for strawberries and tourism, LA is currently most famous for Hollywood – but things are gradually changing. The technology landscape is constantly growing and although LA has become a huge market, it still feels young. This means there are, yet, a lot of opportunities for angel investors to practice the art of venture capital in the right way, and grab their share of the market. Adam Struck is a Floridian but he is currently living in LA with his family....

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...