Mayor Francis Suarez - Bringing Silicon Valley to Miami!
This article is part of Fintech Leaders, a newsletter with over 13,500 dreamers, entrepreneurs, investors, and students of financial services. I invite you to share and sign up here: Substack
In today’s episode, Ryan Zauk and I had the absolute pleasure of hosting tech’s most beloved mayor of 2020, Mayor Francis Suarez of Miami.
For those not familiar, last year numerous prominent VCs and founders began a great migration to Miami. Then on December 4th, Mayor Suarez responded to a tweet from Founders Fund Delian Asparouhov…
…And the rest is history. In the following months, Mayor Suarez went on a tweeting blitzkrieg (and is still going) fielding questions about the city, openly engaging with business leaders to see what they need, and sharing his vision with everyone he can. He’s also endeared himself to the crypto community, connected founders & investors, helped foster new communities, brought in serious VC muscle, and spoke with every major publication you can think of.
How does Mayor Suarez describe December for him?
“Like going up to a beehive, shaking it, then watching them all come out.”
See some quick highlights below of just the last few months:
Softbank and Marcelo Claure dedicating $100M to Miami startups
And an endless list of VCs and Founders committed to making the move (highlighted by Keith Rabois and David Blumberg)
In this 15 minute episode, we cover a great deal including the past, present, and future of Miami, his big ideas for crypto, how he’s been investing in tech long before 2020 (500 Startups, iTech), his commitment from Softbank, and more.
Ryan and I left the episode convinced — Miami is not having a moment, it’s starting a movement. Vamos!
Previous Stories You May Enjoy:
Laura González-Estéfani, Founder & CEO of TheVentureCity — From Miami to the World!
Driving Innovation for Inclusion – Irene Arias Hofman, CEO of IDB Lab
Noah Kerner, CEO of Acorns - Leveling the Investment Playing Field
M&A Special — CB Insights buys Blockdata with Founders Anand Sanwal and Jonathan Knegtel
Anish Acharya, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz - Doubling Down on Fintech
Did Fintech Save Minority-Owned Businesses in the PPP? With NYU’s Dr. Sabrina Howell
Entrepreneurship Lessons with Brian Requarth, Co-Founder of VivaReal & Latitud
—
Miguel Armaza is Co-Host of the Wharton Fintech Podcast and Co-Founder of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas.
Ryan Zauk is an MBA Candidate at The Wharton School, where he runs the Wharton FinTech Podcast. He currently works with the US International Development Finance Corp looking at technology impact investments in developing markets. After graduation, Ryan will join Morgan Stanley’s Menlo Park Office working with the world’s largest technology companies. He has a passion for music, media, and all things FinTech. You can reach him at rzauk@wharton.upenn.edu or on Twitter.