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Gulf Coast area entrepreneurs recently engaged in the fifth annual Ignite Tampa Bay.
Ignite began in Seattle in 2006 and has since spread globally. The idea is simple: Speakers get 20 slides that automatically advance every 15 seconds. The goal is to enlighten the crowd.
Ty Mathen, CEO of Tampa-based UpValet, shared how he pulled himself out of a “dead end job” by getting in shape, selling his possessions and immersing himself in the tech community. Kevin Jenkins, a senior analyst at Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., talked about how to be 500% more productive by getting in a “flow” state of mind, and management consultant Dino Eliadiss spoke about how fear feeds the “big hairy monster.”
Some spoke about their inspiration. Brian Divito explained how life eating hospital food motivated him to start Wazinit, an app that identifies ingredients by barcodes. Cloud and security engineer Andre Spivey referenced his son during a presentation on the importance of considering autistic kids when developing technology. High school junior Nikhil Sharma impressed the crowd with FLASTEM, a startup focused on bringing robotics and computer programming to K-8 programs in Pinellas County. Asked the 15-year-old Sharma: “Who says the creator of the next big app can't be a 10-year-old?”
Others went more abstract. Investor Christine Mendonca, founder of Shore to Shore Advisory, gave a talk on why people should start eating more lionfish. The invasive species can reduce the reef population by more than 70% and each fish lays more than 2 million eggs in a lifetime, she says.
Joe deVilla, a consultant for telecomm company GSG, comically presented why the Internet memes “Florida Man” and “Florida Woman,” are actually heroes. “It's OK that we've become 'a draining pipe for weirdos,'” deVilla said. “California is prospering and profiting because of weirdos.”
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