Entrepreneurship in Miami

As entrepreneurship expands in Miami, weekend pitch competitions have become the norm.

If you have never been to a pitch competition, the open mic-esque events give not only hopeful founders the opportunity to promote their company, but also give interest-piqued investors a chance to fund businesses before they turn into the mega entities their founders are confident they will be. Given, many of these events (especially the small ones) are bearded 20-somethings hawking cardboard ideas while emphasizing buzz words and phrases like: synergy, cloud computing, and giga-beta-instabook.

But what makes the events worth attending are that they are still places to see innovation at the budding stages. And, as dot-com history has proven, what has started as a stale idea and a shaky pitch can--with enough tenacity and capital backing--lead to a solid company with genuine potential.

Though I hardly have free time, when I do, I try to attend pitches because I am all about people pushing themselves to turn imagination into reality (#peace #love)... well that, and because there's usually free wine and cheese (#winenot).

The pictures below are from a recent event hosted by Wyncode at The LAB Miami.

Technology is the future. Well, at least when it comes to well-paying, well-liked jobs.

Legitimately, think about your ideal company to work for; the one that turns 9-5 into a fantasy world where you are the employee king (or queen). If your dream employer mirrors the rest of the country, there's a good chance the company that makes your mouth water is Google, Facebook, Apple, or one of several other hip, new, technology-heavy companies. (If not, are you aware that most of these companies have a cafeteria where employees eat free?)

Now take a moment to go to the website of one of those companies and see what kind of job postings they currently have listed (if you're too lazy, just look below).

This is a screenshot of the three most recent jobs listed on Facebook--there were another 347 that were almost identical to these. Nowhere on the page did I see a requirement like: "Girl Who Studied American History in College" or "Recent Graduate That is Still Unsure What Skill-sets He Has."

Most of Facebook's jobs and many of the jobs at other top companies, require computer/software engineering skills. They do not care if you rowed crew in college (especially at Facebook) or had an internship with Boston Consulting Group. They want you to be able to rock CSS, Java, C++, Ruby on Rails and then they pay you close to six figures, feed you delicious foods, and give you perks unimaginable at other places for doing so. Therefore, if you are looking to secure a career that is high paying and equally high in-demand, you need to learn to code.

There are currently three main ways to learn code:

Major in computer science in college

Geek out on the internet and try to teach yourself

Enroll in a coding workshop that teaches you all the basics, quickly

For a start-up, networking events are great way to introduce fellow businesses to your company, but also a way to introduce them to the double-sided waffle maker you purchased with your second round of seed money.

During my first shift in the office, after going over company culture, one of my co-workers casually told me, "Remember not to eat breakfast on Wednesdays." Confused, I responded:

"Why not?"

"Because man, there are waffles. So... many... waffles."

I was hoping to use the summer as a time to pull back on my over-eating, but after my co-worker explained the blueberry-infused batter and maple syrup that I would soon enjoy, I began to imagine myself fully immersed in nothing but a mid-week waffle bliss. And, with each day in the office, I anticipated it more. I could not escape the thought of it--just walking to the water cooler I would overhear imaginary conversations like: "Dude, people just don't understand how good these waffles are. The first time I bit one it I started crying," and "There's a rumor that they're making freedom waffles next week--and that's awesome because we live in 'Merica... where we are free to just eat waffles and make beautiful websites."

Okay, I might be exaggerating my love for waffles and their ability to hi-five my taste buds, but how often do you get to work at a hip, start-up that also feeds you breakfast?

When Wednesday finally arrived, I made sure to be at the office at 8:40am (20 minutes before we open). But even then, the office was packed with people networking like I had never seen before. 20-somethings in skinny ties and Converse kicks were forging relationships between their companies, the first graduating cohort from Miami's Wyncode were presenting their start-up pitches, and our own coders had already morphed into sous chefs adorned with aprons and smiles. It was the epitome of a great networking event--marketing managers were throwing out words like "synergy" and "joint venture," all while the girl from our design department was chopping Fiji apples.

I believe this sort of event highlights what start-ups bring to the table: literally, they brought waffles to the table, but more importantly, they brought the idea that networking events--or all events for that matter--do not need to be a bunch of suit-clad people in a hotel lobby. People are most likely to open up and engage when they are comfortable and this event brought in people from several sectors and helped them all find comfort--both in business and in food. Waffle Wednesday taught me to worry about engagement and a great time--great networking would follow.

Every spring copious amounts of college grads prep and prim their resumes hoping for the most prestigious summer fellowships and internships. Computers across the country literally overheat as 20-somethings update their LinkedIn accounts and add buzz words to their adjective heavy cover letters in attempts to get in at Goldman (you may replace Goldman with any other highly competitive summer internship... maybe Pinkberry Ice Cream Shop or Todd's Pizza Palace). 

Given, my LinkedIn account is well-groomed and I would be lying if I tried to say my MacBook has never sweat under a late night summer submission deadline. But, this summer at least, I was less concerned with finding the right name brand internship(s) for a resume and more interested in finding the right internship(s) for my long-term goals and ambitions.

Thankfully and humbly, I was able to secure two fantastic internships this summer: I will be working both as an aide to one of the most highly regarded congresswomen in our country and as a fellow for the Teach For America Summer Startup Program. These positions highlight the duality of my interests and passions--I want to use entrepreneurship to inspire, intrigue, and positively influence society, but I also want a deep, and layered knowledge of the political structures that can hinder or help social entrepreneurs. Therefore, I hope to gain a vivid understanding of tech innovative while a part of LiveNinja.com, while equally expanding my political acumen as an aide in a congressional office.