With a visit by the Governor of Florida and even a chimpanzee from the local petting zoo, the Florida Venture Capital Conference put on by the Florida Venture Forum, held this past week in Naples, FL, did not disappoint.
Here’s the monkey…
And here’s the Governor…
For years now, this has been the key annual VC event in Florida. When I walked in on Monday night to the VC dinner, I saw nearly every VC with an office south of the Mason-Dixon and several other big named funds from Boston, NY, the mid-Atlantic and the Valley. The event was very well designed and I took a few notes:
- There was a lot of “unprogrammed” time. VCs like this – it gives us a chance to talk informally with a lot of people and set up meetings with local start-ups looking for funding.
- The event is fun – the moment you step into the event, you make a mental note to make sure to come next year. This is important for the VCs, yes, but just as important to the start-ups as they are assured to get exposure to a ton of VCs who really want to be at this conference every year.
- The selection of presenting companies was managed very well and those companies got a chance to showcase their company through the duration of the conference, not just at the presentations. This allows for follow up conversations between investor and entrepreneur.
- Everything was confined to a very small space and there was no reason to leave the resort.
Given the fact that so much activity in Florida is spread out between Tallahassee, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa and Miami, it’s a minor miracle that this conference was able to provide both a wide and deep exposition of start-up opportunities from across the state. Kudos to the Florida Venture Forum on a fantastic event!
Stay tuned…
P.S. I saw Allyson Eman at the conference. Allyson is the Executive Director for Venture Atlanta. Last year’s Venture Atlanta was an awesome event. I was impressed that she took the time to come down to the Florida VC Conference to take some notes of her own. Knowing Allyson, this year’s Venture Atlanta event will be even bigger and better.
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