Inc. Magazine . highlighted three Endeavor companies, as well as the Endeavor Miami office as key players in Miami’s transformation into an entrepreneurial destination. The article, published in the July/August issue, explores the growth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Miami area over the past few years, the factors that have facilitated it, and some challenges that remain for upcoming start-ups and entrepreneurs looking to scale.
The article credits a large and ambitious immigrant population and an abundance of affordable and collaborative working spaces as two of the driving factors behind the surge of entrepreneurial activity, stating, “Immigrants, limitless co-working spaces, and a dash of the good life makes the No.13 Surge City an entrepreneurial hotbed.” The article points to the $39.76 average direct leasing rate per square foot of office space and Miami’s status as the number one U.S. metro area in percentage of immigrant entrepreneurs as of 2017 as supporting data.
Inc. recognizes Wyncode, a coding and web development bootcamp founded by Endeavor Entrepreneurs (EE’s) Johanna and Juha Mikkola, and Nearpod, an edtech platform founded by EE’s Felipe Sommer, Emiliano Abramzon, and Guido Kovalskys, as critical components of the Miami talent pipeline. Wyncode is helping to embolden individuals with the technical skills they need to fill roles in tech companies in Miami and around the country, while Nearpod is working to help teachers develop more interactive and engaging lesson plans through tech-enabled learning tools. The article also features Boatsetter, founded by EE’s Jaclyn Baumgarten and Andy Sturner as an upcoming “company to watch,” recognizing the potential of the peer-to-peer boat sharing platform.
While illustrating the exciting development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Miami — tech sector jobs in Miami have grown 40% from 2012-2018 — the article also indicates obstacles remain. Although access to funding in Miami has increased significantly, much of it is going to seed and series A funding rounds; investors in growth stage companies and scale-ups remain few and far between. Further, access to talent remains a challenge in Miami. Many highly skilled individuals are still drawn to New York or Silicon Valley for higher pay or more prestigious experience at tech giants such as Google or Facebook.
Endeavor, which opened its first U.S. office in Miami in 2013, seeks to address these challenges precisely. In Miami, Endeavor has worked to identify scale-ups and provide strategic support to increase access to capital, talent, and mentorship, which are critical to creating an ecosystem that can facilitate sustained economic growth. Recent research conducted by Endeavor Insight found that scale-ups have the unique ability to create an outsized impact on economies, particularly in Miami. Larger, high-value, entrepreneurial companies in Greater Miami are significantly younger than those found in most other U.S. metropolitan areas, indicating significant capacity to keep growing. In fact, national data suggests that if 100 of these young companies grow larger, the high-paying jobs they create would increase the average income of the 6 million residents in Miami by more than $1,000 per person and expand the size of the entire economy by nearly 4 percent.
This recent Inc. article provides a birds-eye view of Miami’s entrepreneurial activity and some key players in the ecosystem’s transformation. You can read the full article here, and access Endeavor’s latest research on the region here, to get a more in-depth look at Miami’s competitive advantages in entrepreneurship.
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