I received a fair amount of positive feedback on my pitch at Gazelle Lab Demo Day, on November 17th, 2011, so I thought I’d share here as well. I hope this helps you understand a bit more about why we started this project. A big thanks to Elizabeth Markie at weimagine.
On behalf of Gazelle Lab, welcome to Demo Day!
This morning, I’d like to share with you how we got here, what we’ve accomplished, and then ask you for three simple things.
There has been a lot of discussion across the US lately about how entrepreneurs create jobs, and should during this economic downturn, yet little talk about how to execute at the ground level.
So, six months ago, noted technology attorney Brent Britton, entrepreneurship and innovation professor Bill Jackson, serial technology entrepreneur John Morrow, acclaimed technologist Marvin Scaff and me, Daniel James Scott, decided to run an experiment to foster an entrepreneurial community, build a seed-stage funding pipeline and most importantly… create jobs.
In order to conduct this experiment, we needed a laboratory for firms that have high potential to create a lot of jobs… commonly identified by the term “gazelle”… some famous examples of “gazelles” being Apple, Facebook and Google.
So Gazelle Lab was born.
Well… We had a name, and needed a model, so we borrowed one of the most successful economic development engines in the world… TechStars… and brought it home to Tampa Bay.
If you are not yet familiar, TechStars was founded during the Summer of 2006 in Boulder, Colorado – to a population of less than 100,000 – and has since grown to create hundreds of new jobs at that location alone.
Now keep in mind that in terms of population, the Tampa Bay region is larger than half the states, almost on par with Colarado, and, as a true point of comparison, we have more students enrolled in higher education within a 2 hour drive of where you are sitting today than enrolled in the entire state of Colorado.
Yet, in the last 5 years, our state’s total seed-stage VC investments are less than what the TechStars Boulder companies have raised.
A gap in the market? For sure. A market pain? We are in agony!
So the five of us began recruiting, and guess what? Something unexpected… something astonishing… something awesome happened…
We climbed to 10 strong as we added investors.
Then 15 as we added primary mentors.
Then doubled as we painstakingly selected the 6 teams of founders you will see today from the 100 applications received.
Then doubled yet again as we added students, partners and mentors to the mix.
And all of a sudden we had a vibrant, cohesive, cross-pollinated community – tied to virtually every existing program in Tampa Bay – working together to foster the entrepreneurial ecosystem, develop a funding pipeline and most importantly… create jobs.
How does Gazelle Lab work? It’s like a bootcamp for startups, where access is the currency.
Our companies have had access to some of the top mentors in the Tampa Bay area, continuous media coverage, and ability to build relationships with the often mysterious angel investment community here in the state of Florida and beyond.
To date, this access has helped these startups create new jobs, develop new seed-stage capital funding, and has created tremendous intangible value for our startups and our community… in short, doing what we set out to do.
And it is important to note that we’ve been able to build into, instead of on top of, the existing infrastructure.
Our pipeline sources include corporate refugees, university students, and other community programs such as BarCamp, Wave and Startup Weekend.
We are excellent feeders into such growth programs as Tampa Bay Technology Forum, Tampa Bay Innovation Center and Florida Venture Forum.
Gazelle Lab spearheaded such community initiatives as St. Petersburg and Tampa Entrepreneurship Month, we are working with Marc Canter on his Digital Cities project, and we are coordinating student pitch competitions including the one you will see this afternoon.
So as you can see, we are working to be great community partners.
And that is why magic is starting to happen… new, non-competitive programs for startups are appearing every day, and we are doing our best to have Gazelle Lab support them all, which we can only do with your help.
What do we need? Just three things.
First, help us spread the word. As of this announcement, our application is officially now open for our next cadre. Companies: Apply, deploy and employ… do it today.
Second, give of your time. Contact us to inquire about being a program partner or mentor.
Third, invest. Gazelle Lab is looking to become a permanent fixture in Tampa Bay, and we are looking to raise a $3MM fund. This investment is essential to the continuation of the Gazelle Lab program over the next five years.
And one more thing… we are proud to present our first group of Gazelle Lab founders for your consideration.