New venture by former FIU director and Suarez adviser wants to help connect the dot-coms
Saif Ishoof is known as one of Miami’s top connectors — and the longtime Florida International University director of engagement now plans to capitalize on his extensive network in the new venture he is launching to work with companies interested in Miami’s tech boom.
Ishoof’s new firm, Lab22c, will advise tech and tech-adjacent clients in Miami and elsewhere seeking to connect to the city’s booming innovation ecosystem. The firm will help companies pinpoint promising local founders and startups, build up company culture and find opportunities to grow.
“We’re helping funders, founders, institutions and leaders unlock value and scale in Miami,” Ishoof said.
He is launching the firm alongside his wife, Amira, and longtime chief of staff, Tania Alonso.
Ishoof is also stepping down from his role on Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s Venture Miami tech advancement team. In a statement, Suarez said he initially tapped Ishoof to help advise the Venture Miami Team because Ishoof had already established himself as a well-respected leader in Miami’s innovation community. He called Ishoof a “changemaker.”
“During his time leading Venture Miami, Saif helped countless founders, funders, talent, community folk and institutions,” Suarez said. “His leadership created true impact on Miami’s journey to become the ‘capital of capital.’ ”
A native Miamian of Guyanese descent, Ishoof attended Gulliver Prep and Georgetown University before graduating from the University of Miami School of Law.
We reached out to Ishoof to discuss his new venture, which already has partnerships in place with Miami-based firms CareerKarma and Founders Fund-backed OpenStore. Below is an edited transcript of our Q&A. It has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Miami Herald: What is the origin story of Lab22c?
Saif Ishoof: In essence, I’ve been thinking about this venture for 22 years. I’m an immigrant from the Caribbean, and when I reflect on this moment as a Miami native, having embarked on a journey over the last two decades — during that period of time, I’ve had opportunity to learn, grow and prepare for this moment.
In my career, I’ve gone the gamut: I’ve been a founder, a lawyer, a business executive, a nonprofit leader, a higher-ed leader, and public administrator. And one consistent thread is, I’ve been a participant and witness to Miami’s exponential growth and innovation ecosystem over the last 20-plus years. I’ve seen the challenges and opportunities, and I like to say it’s been a slow brew for me to create this opportunity. There’s now a role for an agile team to really lean in and be a strategic resource both to companies already here and folks new to market. So a slow brew of two decades seeing South Florida from many different angles. Against the backdrop that this idea has been brewing, now the question is, ‘Where can we add value?”
Miami Herald: What is the vision of the company?
Saif Ishoof: We’re going to be focused on the day-to-day of founders and funders, tackling their highest level priorities. We live in a time where there’s an ocean of capital and liquidity, but a desert of talent. Against that backdrop, we’re going to be helping them engage and understand what’s happening in Miami’s rapidly evolving innovation ecosystem. So for existing businesses, it’s how to get plugged into this phenomenal momentum, or understanding the world that exists beyond their walls. Or, how to harness the power of technology to ensure their businesses don’t get disrupted so they can thrive and compete.
And then if you’re a new-to-market founder who has made their way to South Florida and has only been here for a few months, or going from a world where you’ve had a distributed team, it’s going to be about building strategic partnerships for talent here. If you don’t know the Miami landscape, we can say here are the bootcamps to look at, or what other education opportunities there are. So the essence of our focus is going to be, on the one hand, new-to-market companies, and then for longtime native businesses, how do they start to make strategic investments so they too can be part of what’s going on.
MH: How do you plan to tap into your years of experience at FIU?
SI: We have to close the gap between campus and career. We need to do that at a rapid degree of scale. We need to get more adult learners in our region to access these opportunities. How do we make sure there are more robust pathway and pipeline programs? Whether it’s the Talent Development Network, or a paid internship, we need to ‘10x’ that. There are a lot of businesses arriving, they want to hire locally, they’re curious. We want to be dot connecting new-to-market businesses.
One of the companies that I’m going to have an opportunity to support is CareerKarma, which just closed a consequential Series B round. So we’ll be doing some work in helping CareerKarma build meaningful bridges — not to displace our local institutions, but bring in more employers who need to be able to access talent. Thinking about our talent ecosystem. we need to ‘plus’ that up by 1,000%.
MH: One criticism of the Miami tech movement is that it remains too exclusive. How can its windfall be expanded to others in the community?
SI: We can’t be Polyanna-ish about the challenges that exist out there. Folks that think those of us championing this excitement about South Florida may be missing that subtext, but we’re completely aware of how challenging this is going to be to make sure everyone gets in. We need to set some moonshot goals, get the Miami metro area to ‘upskill’ one million people in the next decade.
I want us to be nudging, prompting conversations, to have one million more learners. That means all-in; every single player needs to embrace a role in making that happen. Those are bold challenges. But when Mayor Suarez talks about Miami being the ‘capital of capital’ it’s also going to require human capital if we want to be really strong stewards of place — to think about the version of Miami that welcomed my family 45 years ago
MH: What are the defining features of Miami tech at this point?
SI: It’s culture, culture, culture. When Mayor Suarez speaks about Miami being the capital of capital, you can look at the Pitchbook data, look at corporate announcements arriving, look at Miami Hackweek, the social capital stuff is clear, human capital also playing a role, but Miami’s core competitive advantage is culture, culture, culture. It’s happening in multiple spaces in our community; if someone comes here for the first time, it’s showing them they need to have a Caribbean patty, or a guarapo on Calle Ocho, or Guyanese food. Diversity, equity and inclusion is not kids table at Thanksgiving, it’s a core competitive advantage of who we are, it’s the reason why we’ve posted all these wins.
Where does that grit hustle come from? It’s because we’re the offspring of survivors of the Holocaust, or of individuals who overcame ghost of Jim Crow, or survived horror of Castro’s Cuba, or families like mine that have had to flee regimes from the Americas, plus people who are descendants of tribal folks like the Tequesta, that’s our DNA.
eMerge Americas partnering with Florida Funders, Panoramic Ventures, and Algorand on Global Startup Showcase
eMerge Americas, the group behind the annual tech conference has announced a Global Startup Showcase, where participants will have a chance to win more than $400,000 in investments. The winner will receive $250,000 from Florida Funders, $120,000 from Panoramic Ventures, and $50,000 investment from eMerge Americas. The showcase is being presented by Algorand, a blockchain focused on decentralized finance.
eMerge Americas will select 100 startups within three stages (University Stage, Early Stage and Late Stage) to participate in a multi-week program that will culminate in a grand finale pitch competition taking place April 18-19, 2022, at the annual eMerge Americas global tech conference.
Separately, eMerge Americas announced this week that Hong Fang, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Okcoin, would join Serena Williams as a keynote speaker at the April conference.
OpenStore moves into Wynwood office
OpenStore, a new Miami-based startup that allows entrepreneurs with Shopify businesses to sell their companies and receive liquidity for what they’ve built, has officially moved into new offices at The Gateway in Wynwood. Co-founded by Keith Rabois, general partner at tech venture group Founders Fund, and Jack Abraham, founder and CEO of startup and venture studio Atomic, OpenStore announced in July that it raised $30 million in Series A funding, with a valuation of $250 million. OpenStore’s goal is to offer instant liquidity for ecommerce entrepreneurs.
