Congratulations to Cloudomatic for the release of Flow.cloudomatic.com
The team is moving along at breakneck speed, we look forward to the operation creating the market for downtown.
Summer Program
Summer Program planned for July- August. Come join the Incubate Miami environment to learn the essentials in developing a startup. Meet great people, enjoy development opportunities, meet your next investor. For more information email juan.porras@incubatemiami.com .
Incubate Miami Ribbon Cutting 4/21/10 (Miami Herald Coverage)
BY BRIDGET CAREY
BCAREY@MIAMIHERALD.COM
Technology start-up companies have a new resource with the opening of Incubate Miami on Wednesday in downtown Miami. The ribbon-cutting ceremony at 3 p.m. honors the 12,000-square-foot facility that has opened itself to tech start-ups, giving them temporary office space and on-site help with launching their business.
Five companies have already moved in to the Incubate Miami office at 200 Southeast First St., Suite 601. It is a partnership of the private firm Digiport and the Enterprise Development Corp. of South Florida, which supports emerging science and technology companies in Miami. Its purpose is to grow a tech-based industry in downtown Miami, attracting investors and adding new jobs. The idea was conceived by Marc Billings, CEO of Digiport, a technology services facility.
Miami Mayor Tomas P. Regalado will be at the ceremony, as well as Jane Teague, executive director of the Enterprise Development Corp, and Alyce M. Robertson, executive director of Miami Downtown Development Authority.
Companies that are already in Incubate Miami include ACC Hall and Associates, Cloud-o-matic, Helper Village, Hermosa Marketing and KRAA Security.
For more information on flexible lease terms and startup assistance, go to incubatemiami.com.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/20/1588942/small-business-incubator-to-open.html#ixzz0lfuRlvW7
TEDxBrickell and Startup Weekend Miami coming March 18-21, 2010
March 18, 2010
Miami welcomes its first TEDx event March 18th, 2010 at the Miami Tower in downtown Miami. The event will highlight individuals in the City contributing to society in great ways. We look forward to continuing the events for years to come in support of our great and evolving Magic City
March 19-21 2010
Startup Weekend recruits a highly motivated group of developers, business managers, startup enthusiasts, marketing gurus, graphic artists and more to a 54 hour event that builds communities, companies and projects.
Founded in 2007 by Andrew Hyde, the weekend is a concept of a conference focusing on learning by creating. It is known for its quick decisions, ‘out of the box’ thinking (oh no, the buzzwords are attacking!), unique facilitation technique and letting the founders show what they can do. The program has already met with success in Miami, Toronto, New York, Hamburg, Houston, West Lafayette, Miami, DC and more.
The participants that attend a Startup Weekend decide what they want to tackle over the weekend and come out at the end with several developed companies or projects. Attendees are responsible for bringing the same desire and passion to the project and walk out of the room with the task at hand, in a short 54 hours. Sound intense? It is.
A typical weekend might go something like below, although most weekends find their own schedule that works best:
6pm Friday: Everyone gets together; figures out who else is there; what would be interesting to build. 7pm: Pitches start (if you have an idea for a product you pitch it to the group). 8pm: Teams start breaking off (generally about nine teams will form during the weekend, creating nine products or companies). 9pm: Hopefully teams have solidified their concept and created an elevator pitch (even a simple one) by now. 10pm: Break off to a bar or coffee shop to continue the discussion and attempt to paper prototype out their application.
9am Saturday: Crowds pour in; work starts on development. Noon: Lunch.
3pm: More coding, business plan development, and a special guest (music, vc, sponsor etc). 6pm: Special guest drop-ins and pitches from the teams. 9pm: Gut check on the product; basic prototype building; group get-together for drinks and to talk about the products everyone is working on.
9am Sunday: The day’s work starts again. Noon: Projects are being developed; live website with signup is possibly set up; more special guests drop in. 6pm: Sink or swim time for those looking for a weekend launch. 9pm: Presentations from each company; what worked, what didn’t, what could go better and contacts are exchange for those continuing in the future.
What do Attendees get?
Startup Weekend provides an unprecedented level of networking, team building, learning, and life changes for its attendees and their communities. Don’t forget that there will be 6-7 meals and drinks provided. There is a reason that most attendees come back for every event – it’s just plain fun and provides amazing opportunities you can’t get anywhere else. Sometimes a company emerges, sometimes one doesn’t, but every time people leave with more experience, insight, knowledge, friends, and resources than they came with
Enterprise Development Corp. expands with Miami incubator
Section Image
Published Friday, November 20, 2009 8:00 am
by Bill Frogameni
The Enterprise Development Corp. of South Florida (EDC) is opening a 12,000-square-foot technology incubator in downtown Miami to nurture startup companies.
The center, called Incubate Miami, will offer discounted rent to young tech companies. The benefit for companies occupying the incubator will be twofold, explained Jane Teague, EDC’s executive director: The rent is cheap and the proximity to other tech companies offers synergistic opportunities.
“Incubation is a proven economic development tool for companies in early stages, when they’re particularly vulnerable,” she said.
The EDC currently works with several startup companies at the Florida Atlantic University Research Park. EDC shepherds young companies for the first couple years of their lives – helping them shape business plans, recruit talent and court potential investors. EDC, funded by both public and private sources, does not charge for its services.
The Miami incubator is slated to open Jan. 1.
Tenants will sublet from an affiliate of Digiport, which offers data connectivity and collocation services. Teague credits Digiport President Marc Billings with conceiving the Miami incubator. Billings approached her in April, she said, and the idea of expanding EDC’s physical presence in downtown Miami made sense.
Billings said he hopes the incubator will help spur the tech sector downtown and make the area more vibrant.
“There’s really a significant vacancy right now in income generated through tech companies,” he said.
Incubate Miami’s $156,000 budget will come from Miami-Dade County, Teague said. Miami-Dade’s contribution is more than double the $75,000 it gave to EDC in 2009, she noted.
Juan Porras, currently a project manager for EDC and the Florida Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research (another program EDC oversees), will be the onsite project manager for Incubate Miami.
The Miami tech incubator is another sign of EDC’s growth. Despite the recession – or maybe because of it – EDC’s overall budget and level of activity are up, Teague said.
EDC has worked with 11 percent more entrepreneurs in the first quarter of the fiscal year begun July 1 than at the same time last year, Teague said. EDC worked with 297 entrepreneurs in 2009, up 7 percent from the 278 the organization saw in 2008, she noted.
The upward trend is partly because people tend to hang up their own shingle when they lose a job, Teague said, but also because confidence is returning to the economy.
EnContext Media is one of the startups that sought EDC’s help in the last few months. The Boynton Beach-based company is working on a product that would allow video content providers – whether online or on television – to encode video with advertising software.
President and CEO Jean Touboul said the goal is to allow someone viewing a video to click on a TV star’s earrings, for instance, and be taken to an online outlet that lets them purchase those same earrings. Everything in the video would hypothetically be for sale.
EDC has helped introduce EnContext to potential investors, Touboul said, and the company is hoping to move into the technology incubator at FAU next month.
EDC’s budget for 2010 is also up a notch, to $484,000 from $468,000 in 2009, Teague said.
So far, no companies have committed to the Miami incubator, but there’s been a high level of interest, she said.
One startup considering the move is Yaibi, which is developing social communication and collaboration software for educational settings. Currently based in Coral Gables and planning a March 15 product launch, the company could benefit from being near other startups, co-founder Sebastian Merizalde said.
“It’s a great environment, a great concept,” he said.
Photo by Mark Freerks
Jane Teague, Marc Billings and Juan Porras at Enterprise Development Corp.’s Incubate Miami offices.
Incubate Miami signs lease for 3,500 Sq. Ft.
Incubate Miami is proud to announce the signing of a 3,500 Sq. Ft. commercial lease at 200 SE 1st Street for use in incubating young technology businesses in Miami. The location includes offices, workstations, conference area, kitchen as well as high speed internet, telephone systems and data center infrastructure. Providing low cost, easy leasing terms with the option to expand as needed, the space is ideal for companies seeking.
Also on site at the 200 Building are Level3 Communications, Cogent Communications, Digiport Technology Center, XO Communications, ATT, Verizon.
Digiport launches Incubate Miami at 200 SE 1st Downtown Miami
Digiport announces downtown Miami incubator program for technology companies. In conjunction with commercial real estate landlord 200 SE 1st Street, Digiport is now taking applications for start up technology companies to be housed at the Digiport and 200 SE 1st Street facilities. Business models that focus on hosted applications in media, healthcare, transportation energy and travel related sites are encouraged. Qualifying business plans will be provided low cost access to colocation, internet service and flexible office solutions. Incubate Miami seeks to expand the base of technology innovation in the downtown Miami business district providing technology, legal, management and finance consulting support to assist in this program. For media contact please contact press@digiport.com Attn: Andi Fuentes
Incubate Miami starts with support from local groups
This week marks the launch of the Incubate Miami program. We will be providing multiple layers of support for entrepreneurs to take concept to commercialization of new technologies creating thought leadership, job growth and expansion in downtown Miami. Participating in the project are the Miami Downtown Development Authority www.miamidda.com , Enterprise Development Corporation www.edc-tech.org, Digiport www.digiport.com and Gordon- Diaz Balart Public Relations www.gd-b.com, Groundwork Equity www.groundworkequity.com and the landlord of the 200 Building property. In the coming weeks we will publishing lists of target technologies, lists of available resources and list of shovel ready projects for technical teams looking for good projects to develop.
