Alex: Building Community at Wave

Alex Jeannite is a 2020 FSU Tech Fellows who is interning at Tampa Bay Wave.

This week I’m looking at how Tampa Bay Wave is working to build the entrepreneurship community, which I think they actually do quite well. The reason why I say this is because of the amount of programs they have and how open they are to the public. Tampa Bay Wave is actually really open in allowing just everyday citizens to come into the space and see what it’s about and I think that’s pretty important in order to encourage engagement. For example, what if you want to learn how to box, but you know nothing about boxing. Wouldn’t you be more inclined to try, if there is a willing teacher to help you learn? The same goes for entrepreneurship in the community.

I mention Tampa bay Wave’s openness to the community because I feel as if they not only provide a place for first-time and veteran entrepreneurs, but also just those in the community who need either guidance or a mentor. Tampa Bay Wave is a place you can walk into with an idea in your head and leave with a blue print in hand and connections behind your back. I think this helps build the community because if you nourish your citizens then they will in turn nourish the community, ya know.

A recent event from Tampa Bay Wave titled “Supporting Diverse Startups to Build Thriving Ecosystems”, as part of its TechDiversity Accelerator, was open to the public and essentially talked about, as the name implies, diversity in the tech sector. Personally, I really loved the event because it was refreshing to see someone like me in a field I really love. The TechDiversity program isn’t like “oh hey we hire people of all kinds because we just do that”. It talked about the importance of diversity and how companies can benefit from diversity. I genuinely feel as if that was a great event for the community. It showed its residents that they can not only bring their ideas to the table but also gain something much more