Palm Beach Tech’s 1st Meeting, in May 2015
In 2012 I was first inspired by the idea of building a tech community; In 2013 Startup Weekend began my journey; on July 7th of 2015 Palm Beach Tech was officially founded; and today we celebrate our 2nd Birthday!
My story was simple… I wanted to build the Palm Beaches into a tech hub. At the time, we weren’t focused on the technology, startup, nor entrepreneurial capacities of Palm Beach County. Today, that’s different thanks to our efforts and the commitment of our community.
In the early days, it was me on a laptop at Subculture Coffee meeting with board members, startup founders, and technology executives. And I put a lot of miles on my Hyundai too.
In two years since, we’ve accomplished so much together:
Association: Today we count 2671 People & 127 Companies as members, with many beyond that involved in our programs.
Coworking: Developed a 3,500 square foot coworking space, thanks to the generous $150,000 in grants from the Knight Foundation, City of West Palm Beach, and Achieve.
Meetup: Had 1,787 attend 22 Meetups, with keynotes from PayPal, Uber, Magic Leap, TEDx, & 500 Startups, among many others.
Web Monday: Partnered with the oldest tech event in the Palm Beaches, working with Aaron Wormus (aguyonclematis) to bring monthly workshops downtown.
Mentor Day: Launched in 2017, our newest event has already matched 47 founders with 12 mentors once a month.
Team: With Brian Dapelo, Stephanie Buzano, and the best interns in the world, our awesome team has grown exponentially, while expanding our impact to the community.
The Spring 2017 Palm Beach Tech Team
We started with a crazy idea encapsulated into a 6 page plan researched with caffeine, and written by an eternal idealist. And Palm Beach Tech would be no where without you, our community!
So Happy 2nd Birthday all you crazy, brilliant, amazing people – and thanks for helping my dreams come true! I sure hope I’ve helped you along the way.
In Service,
-Joe