Week 7: Improvements

In my last post, I mentioned all of the strengths of Tampa Bay’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, like low living cost, supportive organizations, and diverse community. These things are just a few aspects that appeal to startups, whether local or not, and even creates various opportunities in the Tampa Bay area. Of course, there is always room for things to improve. Tampa Bay’s ecosystem lacks in the angel investors and venture capital, especially for early stage startups.

Having access to capital in addition to support for entrepreneurs, will lead to better deal flow providing an increase in startup activity, capital investment, and job creations. This is not unknown issue in the community. This has been discussed by not only the entrepreneurs, but startup experts. The Entrepreneurial Support Organization have acknowledged that and are pulling their resources together to provide that aid for the startups and entrepreneurs. The Wave hosted an event in early June for Female Tech Entrepreneurs to learn about Funding Options that I was able to attend and met multiple entrepreneurs who businesses are in early stages.

Overall, I would say there is a way to go with having established venture capital in Tampa Bay, but the community is taking active steps in getting closer to that goal.