JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Not only is starting a business an AD-venture -- venture capital is critical to getting an idea off the ground.
That’s our topic on This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition.
Matthew Chang with Chang Industrial and Timothy Gibbons, the editor of the Jacksonville Business Journal, are guests on the podcast. They are partnering with the Jacksonville Venture Competition, scheduled for March 12 and 13 at EverBank Stadium.
It’s an early-stage funding competition and conference.
“So what we’re doing is bringing great Jacksonville startup companies. We’re also bringing funders such as venture capital and Angel investors together,” Chang said. “And then all the supporting cast around the community, the big corporates that are interested in innovation. We focus on nonprofits and we’re trying to elevate the mission of nonprofits.”
Chang and Gibbons said the conference has an emphasis on the empowerment of women and diversity. Gibbons described getting investors and innovators in the same place in Northeast Florida as a challenge, for unknown reasons in the past.
“I’ve covered technology stuff in Jacksonville for going on 15 years,” Gibbons said “And you would hear stories throughout the years of the local entrepreneur flying to Boston for a venture capital conference, sitting on a plane next to a guy from Ponte Vedra flying to the same conference.
“Guy had a company. Guy B was a funder, and they had to go to Boston to connect. And the idea of bringing that here or of actually having the good local ideas that we have to get funded here locally starts growing an entire ecosystem,” Gibbons said.
The Jaguars are hosting the competition, and have partnered in several events to inspire and assist entrepreneurs.
“We’re going to platform nonprofit voices, female voices in the space, and then also minority voices. We’re also going to teach some one-on-one on early startup investing. So if we have a gap in the city of not enough startup investors. We’re going to be educating on what that is. And that component is led by Venture South, who is the lead investor partner,” Chang said.
To learn more or purchase tickets, visit jaxvc.com