Have you seen that viral video clip of the life-size whale splashing down in a school gym? One of the talented content writers at our SEO company in Florida came in the other day and showed it to us. It’s amazing! The whale is huge! You can see the kids and the teachers react when it looks like a big wave of water is going to drench them.
That handy bit of technology comes from a tech startup called Magic Leap.
“Flush with venture capital funding from the likes of Alibaba and Google, Magic Leap Inc. founder Rony Abovitz is attempting to marry the real world with the imaginary,” Jonathan Levin reports in Sun, Sand, Unicorns: Making a Case for Florida’s Tech Scene. “Don a pair of his mixed-reality goggles and — according to the hype — fire-breathing dragons may appear in your living room and life-size whales could swim through your school gymnasium.”
In the piece, which ran on Bloomberg.com, Levin goes on to say, “The company isn’t based in a West Coast tech hub, but balmy South Florida. So is JetSmarter Inc., the chartered aircraft-hailing company backed by rapper Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter and members of the Saudi royal family, and Chewy, the online pet supplies retailer acquired by PetSmart Inc. for a reported $3.35 billion.”
Yup, that’s right – entrepreneurs are finding South Florida has a warm welcome and an attractive climate for startups.
“The South Florida region is quickly making waves in the international startup scene. That’s right – a location most known for its sun and beaches is becoming a home to more and more startups every year, and the number of tech companies only continues to rise,” says the Founder Institute, an idea-stage accelerator and startup launch program that has helped launch more than 3,100 companies across 200+ cities and six continents.
Livability.com analyzed more than 2,000 American cities in search of the 10 Best Cities for STEM Workers. A South Florida standout better known for its nightlife, beaches and art deco architecture made the list. “If asked to use four letters to describe Miami Beach, most people would go with either ‘surf’ or ‘sand.’ But this coastal community is working hard to add ‘STEM’ to the list,” the say.
“Led by employment within the medical profession, nearly 13 percent of all the jobs in Miami Beach are STEM-related. And with a median income of more than $80,000, those jobs pay nearly twice as much as the city’s overall median income,” Livability reports.
Miami Beach is not an island unto itself, though. Many of those who have taken notice of the growth of the STEM industry in South Florida – especially in terms of tech startups – talk solely in terms of Miami. Some may cast their gaze as far north as Fort Lauderdale. Those of us on the ground here know that that is only one part of the picture.
South Florida is a wonderfully diverse area. And, as savvy entrepreneurs know, diversity can fuel success by bringing people with differing ways of looking at the world together to nurture new ideas and address challenges.
And that’s just one of the many things South Florida has going for it. As Levin pointed out, “For Florida’s governments and business chambers, tech and venture capital are among the latest targets in a push to convince entrepreneurs and investors that they can do their jobs from anywhere nowadays — so why not Florida, where the winters are warm and state income tax is non-existent?”
The cost of living in south Florida is lower than it is in areas traditionally associated with tech startups – especially if you venture beyond Miami. Our Florida SEO company has its headquarters in Boca Raton, which is located in southern Palm Beach County. Prices here are much better than what you might find in California’s Silicon Valley or in New York.
And after a busy day at our Boca Raton SEO company, we can enjoy balmy winter evenings. We can (and do!) head to any one of a number of beautiful beaches (how many other affordable SEO companies in the country can say that?). And you wouldn’t believe the food and entertainment scene that we enjoy as South Florida SEO company.
In other words, if you’ve heard the buzz about the tech scene here in South Florida, everyone here at our South Florida SEO company will happily tell you it’s all true.
