The next Google? Shutterstock founder — a new Miami resident — wants to build it here
Another tech heavyweight is planting his flag in Miami. And he wants to build what he hopes could someday be the next Google.
Photo-sharing website Shutterstock founder Jon Oringer moved to Miami Beach from New York in the fall. He and business partner Edward Lando are part of the wave of techno-optimists who see Miami as mostly virgin territory to build the next superstar startups.
“When we decided to base ourselves in Miami, the question was, can we create a Google-sized company here?” Lando said. It’s a moonshot, to be sure, he said, and requires a Silicon Valley-type network effect to produce.
“But I think with the influx of new and local talent, you could create a company of that size.”
The two have been encouraged by Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, self-appointed pied piper for tech. Suarez has found himself the talk of much of the tech world as he took to social media to try to recruit companies to relocate or open new offices in the Magic City. On Friday, Suarez laid out more details of his vision to accelerate Miami’s tech ecosystem.
“We’re not going to tax them to death,” Suarez said of companies contemplating a move. “We’re going to make sure that they have an opportunity to thrive and create an ecosystem that’s going to serve our community and make for a better city of Miami.”
Oringer was already familiar with the area — he kept a space at the Continuum building South of Fifth from 2007 to 2012 — and had long contemplated making a permanent move south.
COVID-19 sealed the deal.
“With COVID, we got used to living and working out of our house, so we were looking around the country for the right place that would make sense, that would have indoors and outdoors,” Oringer said. “And on the work front, this is an up-and-coming tech scene. Our sweet spot is starting companies from absolutely nothing, and Miami has exactly that. It’s having a ‘zero to one’ moment. And the mayor has been very supportive — it’s the perfect time to start businesses here.”
According to the Real Deal, Oringer, said to be New York’s first tech billionaire, and his family purchased a $42 million, 20,000-square-foot estate on North Bay Road that was once owned by baseball superstar-turned-entrepreneur Alex Rodriguez.
Oringer founded Shutterstock in 2003 and managed to keep the company growing amid the rubble of the dot-com bust. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012, and today is worth more than $2.5 billion. Oringer stepped aside as CEO last February, taking on the new title of executive chairman.
The new venture he will build in Miami is called Pareto Holdings; the group will build and invest in multiple startups. Pareto is named after 19th century European political economist Vilfredo Pareto, who remarked that 20% of one’s efforts leads to 80% of all desired results. Or as Oringer’s business partner, angel investor Lando, says, “Most of what people do every day is not very important, [but] a few things lead to all interesting outcomes.”
It’s the principle that guides tech investing: Most bets on a given startup will not pan out — but every once in a while an Uber or Airbnb will arise that becomes a world-beater.
Oringer and Lando admit Pareto is just getting off the ground, mentioning two companies, so far, that will open or relocate here: Smartrr, an e-commerce platform; and a telemedicine company still in its infancy.
“We are launching companies that do one of a few things: Improve the human condition; fix a problem we encountered building another company; fascinates us and won’t let us go until we do it; is a great fit for the founding team we pair up with,” Lando said in a followup email Q&A.
They declined to state exactly how much they plan to initially invest in the effort, saying one startup might require hundreds of thousands of dollars, while another might take millions. They said they hope to create thousands of jobs over the next decade while hiring as many locals as possible.
“Miami is clearly open for business today,” Oringer said in a followup email. “It’s international, vibrant, and business friendly. It’s also a very livable city with rents that are manageable, people that are ambitious, and a government that is willing to help.”
This story was originally published January 11, 2021 at 10:36 AM.
