A Catalytic Moment
With startups blossoming, investment capital has catching up to do BY T.S. STRICKLAND
There has been a lot of focus in recent years on growing Tallahassee’s startup ecosystem. Accelerators, incubators and pitch competitions have proliferated. Now, as the country lurches out of a suffocating pandemic, the city may be approaching a turning point where years of patient effort will produce a gush of innovation and growth. However, even as resources expand and the pandemic subsides, experts say one crucial ingredient — money — remains scarce. Rick Kearney puts it succinctly: “Tallahassee is an investment desert,” he said. Probably few folks understand the plight of local entrepreneurs as well as Kearney. Mainline Information Systems, the company he founded in 1989, became one of the top IT firms in the state and remains one of the capital region’s brightest success stories. He has been showered with awards recognizing his philanthropy and business acumen and once made the cover of Inc. magazine. Through all these successes, he’s remained loyal to his hometown, and he believes it has the potential to spawn many more success stories. Before that can happen, though, something must be done to bridge the capital divide.
Quiet, patient money
Investors do exist in North Florida, but they are few; deal sizes tend to be small; and the nature of the opportunities they seek doesn’t always conform to the typical tech startup. Robert Blacklidge knows this firsthand. The self-described “serial entrepreneur” recently became the director of entrepreneurship at Domi Station, an organization that provides education and mentorship to local startups. Before coming to Tallahassee, Blacklidge 48
| 2021 Tallahassee Innovation & Technology
Because much of the wealth in Florida is tied to real estate, communities, including Tallahassee, need to educate themselves about investing in technology, according to Robert Blacklidge, the executive director at Domi Station.
