Hey Orlando – INNOVATION is in our DNA. Let’s unite and embrace it.
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Hey Orlando – INNOVATION is in our DNA. Let’s unite and embrace it.

Orlando has long been recognized as a top destination for tourism. But in recent years our community has focused on highlighting other prevalent aspects of our economy. Understandably so. We have so much more to offer and as the Orlando Economic Partnership proclaimed years ago, “most don’t know the half of it”. The Orlando metro…

17 Startup Lessons Parenthood Can Teach
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17 Startup Lessons Parenthood Can Teach

Recently my wife Lindsay and I were blessed with our greatest adventure yet…becoming parents.  In our case we were blessed with a two for one deal and had twins! A beautiful boy and girl. Our journey to parenthood wasn’t easy, we “tried” for over 5 years, followed by a complicated pregnancy which included my wife…

007 Ways to Digitally Spy on your Competition

007 Ways to Digitally Spy on your Competition

In business it is often said that only the strong survive.  The businesses that adapt to their environment the most effectively greatly increase their chances of surviving, or better yet thriving. But so do the companies resourceful enough to learn from them. Developing trade secrets, creating innovative offerings, and tracking market changes can take a lot of time,…

Will infrastructure projects and tax reductions improve the economy?
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Will infrastructure projects and tax reductions improve the economy?

Over the last seven years, I have had the opportunity to work with and get to know Chris Gibbons, the founder of Economic Gardening. Economic Gardening is an entrepreneurial approach to economic development that focuses on growing second-stage companies within communities across the country, as compared to traditional economic development initiatives that focus on recruiting…

1,000+ Startup & Growth Companies Analyzed – Ideal Criteria for Success
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1,000+ Startup & Growth Companies Analyzed – Ideal Criteria for Success

When I was in college at the University of Central Florida (Go Knights!) I was introduced to many leaders in the community who had been very successful entrepreneurs that transitioned into successful angel investors and/or venture capitalists. I had the opportunity to pitch many of these investors during business plan competitions. You could think of these competitions like SharkTank, before…

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Global Entrepreneurship Week is Almost Here: Orlando is Ready! (BIG EXCHANGE)

Have you caught the entrepreneurship bug yet? If not, now is the time…literally! Global Entrepreneurship week is kicking off this upcoming Monday, November 17th. Whether you are currently an entrepreneur, or aspire to become one, it is time to partake in the festivities with fellow entrepreneurs around the world…in other words it is time to get…

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Two Proven Resources to Help You Better Understand Yourself and Others

We all interpret the world in a unique way based on our past experiences, education, attitude, dominant thoughts, needs and goals. These factors act as a lens and shape our perception of what we experience which cause us to respond to people, events, and stress differently. Each of us also has natural character traits that…

11 Sizzling Success Lessons from the Founder of 4 Rivers Smokehouse (BBQ)
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11 Sizzling Success Lessons from the Founder of 4 Rivers Smokehouse (BBQ)

The UCF LaunchPad always seems to have something cookin! Yesterday I was on campus for a lunch meeting and happened to walk through the Student Union. I decided to stop by the UCF LaunchPad, a center championing entrepreneurship on campus, to say hello and am glad I did. I was informed that John Rivers, the…

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Bootstrapping to over $1 Million in Sales: Happy 5 Year Birthday Brand Advance

Today five years ago I decided to start Brand Advance. At the time I had a tech start-up with two other founders and we ran into some challenges raising capital. Investors in the Orlando area, like many other places around the country, were deploying their capital in real estate and buying up everything they could…