5-2021: Tech Diaspora Acceleration
"Well that escalated quickly!...:
Welcome to the (on time-ish!) May 2021 edition of "collage art storytelling with tweets." about the technology industry’s reshuffling around the United States and the world post pandemic.
This episode chronicles the events of April 2021.
This guide in general will skew towards Miami (where I live currently) but also include Austin and Atlanta (where I also have lived and have knowledge of) among others.
For the previous episode checkout out 4-2021 Tech Diaspora Acceleration
Lead Tweet:
A lot of investors are saying they're seeing more & better deals now than ever.
My theory as to why: The SF Bay Area monopoly on startups was rate-limiting the industry.
COVID blew that up. And now we're seeing a spring of 1,000 flowers blooming.
SF/SV was the rate limiter.
4-2-2021
i too hope that nobody forgets they got wealthy because they made great things
Josh Elman 🇺🇸 @joshelman
Just did our Q2 @Zumper kickoff after a record Q1 🚀
I announced 2 new hubs we are launching right now. We're hiring up in each, hit me up!
🌴 Miami
🏖️ Los Angeles
Our logic below (1/4)
Excited about watching @jackabraham and @rabois’ journey to make OpenStore the largest Miami based company ever built...good luck...you’re gonna have a lot of competition but I know you’re up for it.
Jack Abraham @jackabraham
Since location and network have become mostly unbundled (in some circles), where you live is not as big of a (professional) decision as who are the 10-20 people you chat with most in digital space.
Erik Torenberg @eriktorenberg
☀️ Drop #1: Miami Tech with @rabois ☀️
COVID-19 showed that there is no longer a single center of gravity in tech.
On Deck is partnering with @rabois to help builders forge relationships in the city that's becoming an emerging startup hub: Miami
when I first got into tech in 2012, the center of tech was in Palo Alto
but, a bunch of weirdos decided they couldn't afford Palo Alto & wanted a better quality of life, so they moved to SF
now, in 2021, all my tech weirdo friends are moving to Miami... wonder what happens next
4-5-2021
There are few things we’ll thank the pandemic for: but leapfrogging both full-remote and partially remote work setups (2-3 days/week in the office) in tech by a decade will surely be one of them.
Remember when companies used to say you have to be in an office to do your work
And then a global pandemic happened, and everybody saw that it wasn't true
Impossible to put the remote work genie back in the bottle
Sorry I know it's been a lot of Miami tweets, but 1 more
The balance of power in VC is shifting because of hedge funds now being the most active VCs
Tiger, Coatue, D1 etc & most of them are in Miami, making it a destination for founder fundraising trips
Thank you @snyatta and @marceloclaure for believing in me
I'm super excited to take on this role and leverage @SoftBank 's platform to continue building the Miami we all dream of🚀
And thank you @ndahlberg for being the biggest champion that #MiamiTech could ever wish for!
Nancy Dahlberg @ndahlberg
4-6-2021
Learn about Ethereum from the founder of the cryptocurrency himself @VitalikButerin⤵️
Amazing #CafecitoTalk with @VitalikButerin @CryptexFinance & @fintechfrank discussing Ethereum’s role in making Miami the Capital of Crypto🚀
Excited to welcome @eightsleep to the @SoftBank family! Proud to invest in our first Latina co-founded company through the SB Opportunity Fund. I can personally say I haven’t lost any sleep over this decision, my Pod Pro mattress doesn’t let me. hrld.us/2PzDW3f
4-7-2021
A lot of investors are saying they're seeing more & better deals now than ever.
My theory as to why: The SF Bay Area monopoly on startups was rate-limiting the industry.
COVID blew that up. And now we're seeing a spring of 1,000 flowers blooming.
SF/SV was the rate limiter.
4-8-2021
4-10-2021
4-12-2021
1/4 The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a long-term change in the way startups operate. We’re many months into this shift but there’s a lack of data Founders can use to inform their decisions. Our Founder Success Team ran a workplace re-entry survey to help:
It was such a pleasure hosting investor and founder @DavidSacks for a #CafecitoTalk
We talked about what he sees in the “burgeoning tech scene” in Miami and what it could mean for the next decade in our City.
Check it out⬇️⬇️
4-14-2021
Applications are due today for Miami Tech with @rabois!
From Miami Swag to a session at Barry's to a Founders Fund party, the program will provide a full Miami experience.
Between the efforts of @FrancisSuarez and @rabois at the top and the efforts of @Bellumio, @chrisadamo_ and yours truely in the middle....
We've built a crazy slick recruiting funnel for #miamitech / #Miami.
Like you come to one happy hour & then boom you're all the way in 😁😏
4-19-2021
2/ But it’s way more than that. The city is alive in a way that Seattle and San Francisco are not. It doesn’t hate itself, nor is it guilting itself into abasement. It is vibrant, diverse and on the rise. Much as Silicon Valley was in the beginning of my career.
6/ In conclusion, I don’t think there is a better place for entrepreneurs on the planet right now than Miami. Moving here significantly increases your chances of success. If you can, do it
In my first 12 hours in MIA I've had dinner with the up & coming TikTok VCs
+ YC founders coming in to the FF office to do an IRL conference-room pitch deck walkthrough
Which is just so much more energizing than a Zoom meeting...
This is a great program with @rabois @beondeck @eriktorenberg @glen__allison @APompliano @lucy_guo @FrancisSuarez @m_franceschetti and many more!
@arrington Miami-Austin daily flights are going to be hot and full of commuting entrepreneurs, much like SF-NYC and SF-Pac Northwest used to be once upon a time.
The energy in #Miami reminds me of early 2010s SF.
Every cafe is packed with builders and tech founders, houses are being bought sight unseen, rentals are being snatched up.
The feeling that something new is being built is intoxicating.
@MattSlater @html5cat
Mayor @FrancisSuarez comes to a tech event and explains the value prop of Miami for tech and says
"My number one priority is low taxes"
Crowd explodes in applause
😂😂😂
4-20-2021
@brianbreslin @MiamiTechPod Happening all the time now, Miami is clearly a fundraising destination
Crossover funds + VCs means it's now the highest concentration of Series B/C/D leads
Will take some time to be the highest for Seed/Series A but possible...
Had a founder from Silicon Valley dm me about coming to Miami to raise VC funds for his startup. NEVER did I think Miami would be a destination for folks to come to raise money in. #miamitech @MiamiTechPod
SF is not dead. SV is not dead. But something special is very clearly happening in Miami.
It's not a zero-sum game.
Great to hear @FrancisSuarez talk about the future of Miami tech thank you to @JoinThe305 and @EndeavorMIA
4-21-2021
I’m so proud & excited to finally share that @deel has raised its Series C of $156 million led by @ycombinator Continuity & co-led by @a16z + @sparkcapital.
That’s 🦄 status, captain!!!
letsdeel.com/blog/deel-seri…
✊🏾
Michael Tavani @tavani
Since moving to Miami a few months ago, I've had a lot of fun exploring my new stomping grounds.
I wanted to share what I've found, so I wrote some field notes to give you a peek into what life is like here: devonzuegel.com/post/field-not…
Questions/additions welcome!
Remote Workers get paid $12K to move to West Virginia.
As Silicon Valley moves to the cloud, we see more of this @turingcom. 👩💻👨💻
Cities competing for great people is good.
We're already seeing Miami's amazing recruiting efforts with @FrancisSuarez.
cnn.com/2021/04/18/us/…
So many companies are about to find out a huge number of their teams have moved away from the cities their offices are in and that they would rather quit than go back
Big detail I forgot:
Seeing @FrancisSuarez speak positively about tech was actually meaningful
I founded my startup in 2013 and watched media & gov villainize tech more every year
I work really hard on stuff I'm proud of. Living somewhere where that's appreciated was appealing
4-24-2021
@rabois Every weekend I meet new founders or operators that just moved here or are visiting (many then stay). In the past two weeks I met more investors here than when I was flying to SF pre covid
4-25-2021
Brunch w @darian314 in Miami. 6 of his CEOs are in Miami now, including a new seed investment and a billion $ company.
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the unofficial start of the inaugural Miami Tech Week
I know of at least 100 founders, VCs etc all flying in
Reply here if you're gonna be in town this week so folks can know!
The shilling of MIA today may make you feel the same as when you encountered the shilling of TSLA and BTC from 2010-2015.
If you were pessimistic while patting yourself on the back for being cautious/mature...how do you feel now?
4-26-2021
Had an amazing catch-up call with @_rpgbx from the @beondeck team! Super excited for their fellowship happening in Miami starting this week.
Love the receptiveness on ways we can connect fellows traveling here to the OG #MiamiTech community. Watch this space.
To all the newcomers here for #miamitechweek come meet the OGs in #miamitech Wednesday at 6pm at lagniappe, grab a table near the back and we’ll make some magic city connections. All are welcome ❤️ this is how we do it in #miami @volvoshine @FrancisSuarez @Bellumio @zebulgar
With the excitement around an impromptu Miami Tech Week, I want to invite all founders to join me and my VentureMiami team for a Cafecito Meetup tomorrow at 9am at City Hall.
Looking forward to meeting all of you while sipping on some Cafecito ☕️
RSVP➡️ forms.gle/g9Y6Ej2dZ6K1zX…
And there we are #miamitech see y’all tomorrow ❤️ @jdanjohnson @Bellumio @rjwile @FrancisSuarez @rabois @zebulgar @saif305 @melmedina305 @WhereByUs @tryletterhead @soulafloat
miamiherald.com/news/business/…
@harryhurst @Mr312 The twitter-verse orchestrated this one but hey, we're making the best of it.
I wrote a little breakdown for @refreshmiami that might be worth checking out:
4-28-2021
#MiamiTech is no passing fad. @FrancisSuarez @Bellumio @chrisadamo_ @matthaggman @MariaDerchi and many more have been building this for years and it’s amazing to see it working.
Demian @Bellumio
together we all managed to meme a tech conference into existence
memes rule the world!!!
well done folks, especially the locals that are helping lean into it
miamiherald.com/news/business/…
I posted some thoughts on @pairagraph about whether SF will still be the capital of tech post-COVID.
TLDR: I think SF's position is significantly weakened, & the future of tech will likely be distributed & in the cloud, & not dominated by a single city.
Just got back from Miami and I’m already planning a second trip.
A lot of folks polking fun on Twitter, but I have to say—that community is alive and thriving.
Thank you @pardesoteric for documenting #MiamiTechWeek !!!
Feat: @chrisadamo_ , @hi_rankin @a_zatarain @zebulgar @FrancisSuarez and yours truly....
wired.com/story/miami-te…
#Miami #MiamiTech
SF is finished as the capital of tech. Leo makes the case:
- Family & business unfriendly
- Advantages for tech dwindling
- Other cities becoming increasingly attractive
- Remote work here to stay
It's time to decentralize tech to the world, not concentrate it in one place.
Leo Polovets @lpolovets
4-29-2021
There are so many founders investigating Miami this week that 6 other VC firms were impelled to host events to complement Delian’s schedule.
Some news: @FirstbaseHQ has raised a $13m Series A led by @a16z
In the last year, 11,000+ companies with 20m+ employees signed up to learn how we can help them set up, support, and scale their remote team globally
A few reasons why this is so important
[ a thread ] 💻🏠🌍
• Remote is more cost-efficient ✅
• It leads to far higher productivity ✅
• It lets companies hire better talent ✅
• It increases retention of that talent ✅
• 90% of people want to work remote ✅
Remote-first companies dominate going forward
There’s a TON of people in Miami and had people in my DM’s wondering what to do.
So I built an UNOFFICIAL events page for Miami Tech Week today. If you hear of or want to host your own meetup, post it there.
Would love to get some niche meetups going!
4-30-2021
Bet on #miami panel with @beondeck. Thank you @FrancisSuarez @MelissaKrinzman @MariaDerchi @michaelsayman @rflipsey
The tech event last night in Miami proved that Silicon Valley has officially moved to Miami.
Founders - come here. It will be a competitive advantage moving forward.
Advice for founders considering Miami: come down and try it out. Rent a place but don't pack up your life just yet.
It's not all Barry's & drinks at Faena.
Founders I know here still put in long hours. The nature of VC is different & their experiences will differ from yours.
