Tech sector godfather pulled back in to industry

In several ways, Tom Wallace is the godfather of the burgeoning Tampa Bay tech startup scene. He’s had lots of successes, a few failures and tells great war stories about the business. He loves to mentor young up-and-coming entrepreneurs and, significantly, recently had a Michael Corleone “just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in” moment.

Wallace, 59, is also driven, partially, by the vision of making sure Florida flexes its muscles in early stage funding for myriad tech companies for generations to come. He oversees that mission as managing partner and chairman of the board of managers for Tampa-based Florida Funders, which calls itself a hybrid of a venture capital fund and a crowd-funding platform. It’s invested more than $10 million in a dozen or so companies statewide, from an augmented reality firm to an LED lighting company.