Innovation and Florida are in the same sentence at Synapse, a company that’s deploying a methodology to connect all business personas within a multifaceted ecosystem. Brian Kornfeld, co-founder and Head of Operations at Synapse, is featured on this episode of Social Business Engine and shares the inspiring story behind the company’s impact on innovation in a region that isn’t widely recognized for such.
Brian explains the three key elements to Synapse, and shares why the timing has never been better for innovation and entrepreneurial ventures to flourish in the Tampa Bay area. He also offers insights into the 2019 Synapse Innovation Summit and what’s to come for the company’s future. This conversation includes examples of innovative companies in Tampa Bay and is key to understanding why Florida is a hotspot for entrepreneurship and innovation.
Synapse: 3 Platforms Uniting the 8 Business Personas
Synapse was born out of a desire to create a connected business community in the Tampa Bay area to accelerate innovation. It’s improving the brand of the city by joining innovation and entrepreneurship while boosting the economy.
Synapse has three main platforms: publishing, web platforms, and live events. These three platforms cohesively focus on the eight personas Brian and his team believe are critical to business growth:
- Entrepreneurs
- Investors
- Government Agencies
- Service Providers
- Large Scale Corporations
- Talent (people)
- Educational Institutions
- Entrepreneurial Incubators
The Tampa Bay business community has been energized over the past decade and its growth shows no signs of slowing. Synapse is helping to overcome the stigmas of “no money, no talent, no customers” that has plagued the area. Brian shares his passion for Synapse and its goals in a way that may convince you to relocate to Tampa Bay, or expand your business footprint in the area, so be sure to listen.
Using Live Events and a Powerful Digital Platform to Achieve the Synapse Vision
Synapse’s two largest platforms – web and live events – seek to achieve two main goals: enabling connections in the local community and attracting people to the Tampa Bay innovation ecosystem. The web platform is an online community that spans the geographical distance that separates businesses across the state of Florida, not just in Tampa Bay. The platform is free to join and offers members multiple ways to connect with other members including: 1 to 1 connections, innovation challenges sponsored by local businesses, articles and videos, local events, jobs and internships, topical discussions and more.
The idea behind the Synapse web platform is to make it easy for anyone in the local business community to thrive by providing an ecosystem that encourages collaboration and innovation whether you’re starting a new business or you want to expand your current business in the area.
The second annual Synapse Innovation Summit was held in March 2018 and brought over 3,200 attendees to Tampa Bay and injected an unprecedented level of energy and buzz into the local entrepreneurial sphere. Brian explains that “It made a dent in the universe” in Tampa Bay and his team is already planning the Synapse Innovation Summit 2019.
Future Goals for Synapse and the Innovation Ecosystems in Tampa Bay
Brian’s biggest goal for Synapse in the coming years is to accelerate the community feel of the innovation ecosystem that exists in Tampa Bay. He wants to engage “The other 90%” of the community that’s not currently connected to Synapse.
Hosting corporate innovation challenges, bringing in world-class speakers for the Synapse Innovation Summit, and producing better research results on smaller budgets are all goals the Synapse team is focusing on.