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America’s Wunderkind Mayor on Miami 2.0, ‘Silicon Beach’

ttty2 5y ago
43-year old Miami Mayor Francis Suarez fired back 2 minutes later: "How can I help?". The venture capital intelligentsia from Menlo Park to Austin to Boston were calling it the "tweet heard round the tech world" Miami's now standard-bearing, marketer-in-chief. printed T-shirts with the phrase, "How Can I Help?", started a YouTube talk show, appointed a 'Venture Capitalist-In-Residence' and pledged to hire the city's first chief concierge technology officer. Miami has been repeatedly out-flanked by other cities like San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, and Boston when it comes to attracting tech talent and start-up companies. Miami is becoming known for being everything Manhattan and San Francisco are not. Softbank's recent $100M commitment to seed Miami's tech start-up scene is no small long-term investment either. Suarez says Miami's 2.0 'now' moment has far less to do with how the pandemic scrambled America's real estate market and more to do. with the fact that Miami as a start-ups ecosystem is becoming everything that Manhattan and. San Francisco. are not, he says. "In Miami, we're offering an alternative" Miami and Florida's long-standing low-tax, low regulation structural advantages notwithstanding, Suarez doesn't discount that COVID-19 was key to kickstarting the city's 2.0 boom. "Miami has always been a city of booms and busts. But now in part due to the pandemic we're becoming recognized a truly global hub of innovation, ideas, and commerce like Hong Kong or Dubai," says Suarez. "We have a simple formula here in Miami. We want to reduce taxes to the lowest point possible. Second, we want to increase police funding, not decrease it. And third we want the best quality of life of any city in the world," he says. Miami Mayor Suarez sees the Magic City as a business, technology, and financial ecosystem that looks a lot like Silicon Valley. Infrastructure, education, affordable housing, and climate mitigation must be top priorities, he says. "Miami is poised to be the next capitol of capital," says Suarez. "The next generation of game-changing companies -- the next Googles, Facebooks and Microsofts -- are going to be born here in Miami" . The mayor's vision for the 'Magic City' is 5, 10, 20 years from now. Mayor Francis Suarez's goal for Miami 2.0 has always been to grow the city's new ecosystem organically. "Nothing about that first response to Asparouhov was plotted at all," recalls Suarez. "My only political ambition is becoming a two-term Mayor of the City of Miami and being the best Mayor I can be for my residents," he says. "The pandemic provided that catalytic moment that could synthesize all these macro forces into a vision for the future that everyone else would understand," he adds. The mayor says he's still focused on the present while playing coy on the future.
rektide 5y ago
Does anyone have any advice for someone considering moving to Miami? Where would I want to live? Hard in these COVID times but where does one connect with the local tech culture? What other questions should folks be asking? Very low on the list of pertinent questions, but, can I live on a sailboat? :)
- bobbygoodlatte 5y ago
  Midtown & Brickell are great on the Miami side. Sunset Harbor and perhaps South of 5th have some tech folks on the Miami Beach side. Sounds like some of the offices for venture funds are opening up in Wynwood, on the Miami side. Hope that's useful!

43-year old Miami Mayor Francis Suarez fired back 2 minutes later: "How can I help?". The venture capital intelligentsia from Menlo Park to Austin to Boston were calling it the "tweet heard round the tech world" Miami's now standard-bearing, marketer-in-chief. printed T-shirts with the phrase, "How Can I Help?", started a YouTube talk show, appointed a 'Venture Capitalist-In-Residence' and pledged to hire the city's first chief concierge technology officer. Miami has been repeatedly out-flanked by other cities like San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, and Boston when it comes to attracting tech talent and start-up companies. Miami is becoming known for being everything Manhattan and San Francisco are not. Softbank's recent $100M commitment to seed Miami's tech start-up scene is no small long-term investment either. Suarez says Miami's 2.0 'now' moment has far less to do with how the pandemic scrambled America's real estate market and more to do. with the fact that Miami as a start-ups ecosystem is becoming everything that Manhattan and. San Francisco. are not, he says. "In Miami, we're offering an alternative" Miami and Florida's long-standing low-tax, low regulation structural advantages notwithstanding, Suarez doesn't discount that COVID-19 was key to kickstarting the city's 2.0 boom. "Miami has always been a city of booms and busts. But now in part due to the pandemic we're becoming recognized a truly global hub of innovation, ideas, and commerce like Hong Kong or Dubai," says Suarez. "We have a simple formula here in Miami. We want to reduce taxes to the lowest point possible. Second, we want to increase police funding, not decrease it. And third we want the best quality of life of any city in the world," he says. Miami Mayor Suarez sees the Magic City as a business, technology, and financial ecosystem that looks a lot like Silicon Valley. Infrastructure, education, affordable housing, and climate mitigation must be top priorities, he says. "Miami is poised to be the next capitol of capital," says Suarez. "The next generation of game-changing companies -- the next Googles, Facebooks and Microsofts -- are going to be born here in Miami" . The mayor's vision for the 'Magic City' is 5, 10, 20 years from now. Mayor Francis Suarez's goal for Miami 2.0 has always been to grow the city's new ecosystem organically. "Nothing about that first response to Asparouhov was plotted at all," recalls Suarez. "My only political ambition is becoming a two-term Mayor of the City of Miami and being the best Mayor I can be for my residents," he says. "The pandemic provided that catalytic moment that could synthesize all these macro forces into a vision for the future that everyone else would understand," he adds. The mayor says he's still focused on the present while playing coy on the future.

rektide 5y ago

Does anyone have any advice for someone considering moving to Miami? Where would I want to live? Hard in these COVID times but where does one connect with the local tech culture? What other questions should folks be asking? Very low on the list of pertinent questions, but, can I live on a sailboat? :)

bobbygoodlatte 5y ago
Midtown & Brickell are great on the Miami side. Sunset Harbor and perhaps South of 5th have some tech folks on the Miami Beach side. Sounds like some of the offices for venture funds are opening up in Wynwood, on the Miami side. Hope that's useful!