Mayor Suarez’s ‘cafecito’ city hall meetup attracts throngs seeking Miami tech momentum

More than 100 techies and investors heeded the call of Twitter, turning up Wednesday morning for chat and caffeination outside Miami City Hall in Coconut Grove for Mayor Francis Suarez’s first public “cafecito tech talk.”

The event came together almost overnight, as word of an impromptu Miami Tech Week began gathering steam on social media Sunday and continued over the next 48 hours.

Entrepreneurs — many maskless, thanks to newly relaxed COVID guidelines — queued for a cup of the promised cafecito from a larger-than-life cup-shaped kiosk and gathered under a tent to hear from Suarez. Decked out in a “How Can I Help” Miami tech T-shirt and cap and flanked by his Venture Miami team, Miami’s mayor said Miami was now out to show the world that the city was the place entrepreneurs should be if they want to build a scale company or launch a startup.

“That immigrant energy, that desire to never fail under any circumstances, that desire to come to a country that opens its arms to everyone and gives them an opportunity to be successful in the future — that is quintessential Miami,” Suarez said.

Suarez continues to be a primary conduit channeling the otherwise diffuse energy among tech and finance professionals from across the country flocking — or fleeing — to Miami amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are looking to take advantage of the city’s low taxes, less restrictive COVID regulations, and a local ecosystem they say is more embracing of free enterprise than that of other large cities.

Wednesday, visitors from places including California, Detroit, New York, and London mingled with longtime Miami tech ecosystem players, all looking to capitalize on the momentum Suarez has been able to generate almost entirely via social media since December.

Stephen Dyksen, software engineering manager at Pray.com, a content platform for the faith-based community, said he began renting an apartment in Miami a week ago after living in Los Angeles.

“Miami as much as L.A. has a lot of promise, especially with all the venture capital coming here,” Dyksen said. “Where the money goes — that’s a good way to track how a city is doing.”

That new money has benefited Arturo Malave, who since at least 2017 has been building Boatrax, a vessel management app, in South Florida. He said he has received three or four calls per week in the past three weeks from investors — a rate far greater than at any time in the past five years.

“What’s happening right now is amazing, especially on the investment side, which has always been a problem for startups here in Miami,” Malave said.

Several other events are slated for the week, including a happy hour Wednesday evening hosted by longtime Miami innovation fixtures Natalia Martinez-Kalinina and Chris Adamo; a bike ride to mark the launch of a new cycling startup hosted by local entrepreneur Demian Bellumio; and a Thursday happy hour hosted by a new local tech booster group called the Shrimp Society.

Tania Lea, legal representative for MiamiDAO Corp., a digital rights organization, has been living in Miami for three years. She said she had no idea where the movement was heading — but that she welcomed it.

“It’s something a lot of people wouldn’t have seen coming,” Lea said.