A growing talent pool and a deeper capital base have made the Tampa Bay area a better place for startup tech companies.
But the area still has a way to go to achieve its full potential, said Linda Olson, president and CEO of Tampa Bay Wave, a non-profit that services and houses growing companies.
“If we really want to be one of those hubs that’s truly competing on a national level for talent and capital we need to be thinking bigger. Much bigger, in terms of hundreds of millions of dollars going to startups annually. I don’t think we’re even close to that point right now,” Olson said at panel discussion on innovation in Florida.
Image: Kiki Roeder (left), chief product officer of Punctuate and co-founder of Startup Sisters USA, moderated the panel. Panelists were Linda Olson, Tampa Bay Wave; Michelle Bauer, Tampa Hillsborough EDC; Tammy Charles, Spark Tampa Bay; Marc Blumenthal, Florida Funders and Synapse; and Lakshmi Shenoy, Embarc Collective - https://stpetecatalyst.com
