创建启动协同作用

The Space Coast boasts more engineering talent per capita than Silicon Valley or any other region in the United States. With this vast potential, how can we create more high tech jobs and strengthen the local economy?

陆地上的启动催化剂正在答案。由知道如何建立公司并挖掘东南投资界的序列企业家组成，非营利组织有助于早期公司获得资金，资源和创造就业机会。

“投资界一直在看着太空海岸作为一个突发的地区，”田间肯德的首席执行官和联合创始人说。

在early summer of 2015, Buehler and co-founders Mark Mohler and John Vecchio brought entrepreneurs together at events. No suits and no ties were allowed at these events which drew talented artists and technologists together at Derek Gores Art Gallery each month. The result, Buehler said, was a very strategic campaign to “bring brilliant and diverse minds together to collaborate, build companies and grow jobs.”

Early traction and support from Derek Gores led to increased community exposure to serial entrepreneurs in the county. Following a talent matchmaking event at the gallery, Bud Deffebach joined the board in September
last year and purchased a space for entrepreneurs to collaborate 24/7.

This support is essentially derived from the deep industry knowledge of Groundswell mentors. “At Groundswell, we have serial entrepreneurs that are from the Space Coast and believe in the talent here. They invest their time because they want to see this place grow. They want to make this a place that attracts talent and retains talent long term,” Buehler said.

The team and its growing network aim to strengthen the support infrastructure available to early stage entrepreneurs. “We’re looking to foster a culture of giving first in the startup ecosystem,” Buehler said. “Helping a startup before they
have capital or customers does yield longer-term profitable gains. Either you get what it means to help the next Bill Gates or you don’t.”

启动生态系统

启动生态系统需要正确运行的东西。它需要我们覆盖的指导。但最重要的是，它需要资金。“陆地是一个非营利性，将公司与资源和资本联系起来。地德斯维尔不采取股权或所有权。Buehler解释说，它的使命是制定初创企业成功和共同的经济胜利的传统。

Of the investment capital that is available in the United States, only one percent goes to Florida. In order to build a strong startup ecosystem while offsetting the scarcity of local venture funding, access to mentorship is vital. “With the cost of living and lifestyle that is available on the Space Coast, we really feel we can grow successes that attract more investment dollars here.”

陆地是可用的资源之一，并不能设计用于与该地区的现有资源竞争。为了使创业社区茁壮成长，他们需要一个稳定的管道资助。“空间海岸上的所有现有实体都代表了该管道的一部分。“当我们与所有这些组织合作时，我们可以在全国范围内具有真正具有竞争力的所有组织，”Buehler说。

DROPLIT’S STORY

Droplit was one of the first companies to benefit from the services of Groundswell. Droplit originally intended, and still plans, to launch “Droplit Home,” a platform that allows users to connect to their home from anywhere, anytime, with any device.

Droplit secured funding from four local “angels” and
普雷斯顿高级副总裁普雷斯顿高级副总裁普雷斯顿高级副总裁，一家风险投资公司 - 这是不可能的。现在，该公司已将其焦点转向DropLit.io，是一个控制智能设备的开发人员平台。

“It all centers on this notion in the Internet of Things, which is the idea that everything with a power switch is getting connected to the Internet,” Tesvich said. “It’s really hard to do all that stuff on the software level. We make the software moving parts between whatever the user is looking at, or the application, and whatever connected devices that application needs to be able to control and monitor.”

Buehler and Vecchio met with Droplit’s founder, Bryan Jenks in June of 2015. Droplit was anemic on the business side, so Tesvich jumped on board as co-founder. Vecchio introduced Jenks and Tesvich to his contacts across the industry, opening conversations for Droplit. “The Groundswell team essentially helped us evolve our business model to suit what the market needed. As a startup you’re banging your head against the wall trying to solve these problems. Once we were put in the right direction, it clicked,” Tesvich said.

Tesvich described Groundswell’s “no ask” approach as rare. “We’ve had a lot of people who ‘want to help,’ but they always want something in return, and they’re not up front about it. John was not at all like that. He purely wanted
to help us succeed. Investors are really open to giving back, and most of them genuinely want to see founders succeed. Groundswell got us that funding we needed to make our vision a reality.”

Droplit is one of seven companies that Groundswell has helped receive funding on the Space Coast. Before Groundswell, Droplit was operating with four team members. Today, they have nine. “There’s been a solid doubling of our team size as a result of Groundswell and funding. The talent density here is really high,” Tesvich said. “In Melbourne, we can dilute ourselves less and get a lot more runway out of it.”

Tesvich said a company’s network counts for just about everything at its early stages. “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know. In Florida, there’s not a hugely strong network like the connection density that you have in the Valley, New York or Boston. As a young business, it is really important to get involved in the community, and that’s where Groundswell steps in.”