04.17.2023

Featured Founder: Dr. Gino Collura of Streaming Advocate

Welcome to our Featured Founder series, where you’ll meet startup founders from Tampa-St. Petersburg who are building and scaling their ventures to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges. We interviewed Gino Collura of Streaming Advocate, licensed healthcare professionals that virtually accompany you to medical appointments & ask the questions you may not know to ask while following up with clear and concise visit summaries.

What were you doing previously and what inspired you to launch your company?

Previously, I had the privilege of being the President of Ultraviolet Living; a private-duty nursing company that served ultra-high net-worth families across the country. Our time working with these families exposed areas of care that are in grave need; patient advocacy and provider efficiency. Many of our patients (as well as their family members) would run into consistent challenges with understanding the care plan set forth by their physician, the appropriate questions to ask their physician as well as having clearly documented directions for care post-visit. This sparked the idea of Streaming Advocate. We knew that our patients were not the only ones dealing with this challenge so we did market research and found out that it is a widespread gap that exists in our current healthcare system. That spawned the idea of creating an app that is accessible to all and can help shorten the timeline with positive health outcomes, patient confidence, and provider efficiency.

What pain point is your company solving? What gets you excited to go to work every day?

Streaming Advocate is addressing the issue of patients feeling overwhelmed and confused in doctor’s appointments while ensuring efficiency of time for healthcare providers. All of our licensed healthcare advocates know what questions to ask providers to ensure patients as well as their families have complete clarity with their doctor’s orders. This is a really exciting part of what we do. Being digitally present in appointments allows us to ensure thorough communication between patients/providers while saving physicians time in answering questions and taking notes on the patient’s behalf. The opportunity to serve both patients and providers while influencing positive outcomes for all is a privileged opportunity that fuels us to push our mission forward.

Name the biggest challenge you faced in the process of launching the company. How did you overcome it?

The largest challenge I faced was balancing the initial technology and financial needs of Streaming Advocate while successfully operating Ultraviolet Living at the same time. Juggling both proved to be an arduous task but a very necessary one. Streaming Advocate would not be here if were not for the lessons learned in our time providing private duty nursing across the country. Additionally, having the right people that I trusted and relied on made all the difference. My executive leadership team did a wonderful job at maintaining a tight pulse on the daily operations of Ultraviolet Living while I was working on developing Streaming Advocate.

Where do you see your company headed next?

We are changing the way in which individuals across the country experience care. Our goal is to positively impact and scale empathy for patients, families, clinics, hospitals, and providers. Our next chapter will be filled with multi-lingual service, institutional advocacy at-scale, and international reach.

Give us a tactical piece of advice that you’d share with another founder just starting out.

Be exceedingly selective with who you bring into your camp. Being a founder means you are putting in EVERYTHING you got. All it takes is one wrong hire or partner to damper everything you have worked so hard for (especially in the early stages). Get to know each person at a base level outside of their professional accolades. It is VITAL that all of you share similar core values.

Why Tampa Bay?

I am privileged to be a fourth generation Tampeño. Building something that is firmly rooted in my hometown while extending our reach to the entire globe is very special. The support, love, and generosity that continuously displays itself within the local start-up community is a continued testament to the incredible character of our city.

04.10.2023

Featured Founder: Shane Whitlatch of Threshold 360

Welcome to our Featured Founder series, where you’ll meet startup founders from Tampa-St. Petersburg who are building and scaling their ventures to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges. We interviewed Shane Whitlatch, CEO of Threshold 360, virtual tour software that enables prospects to quickly explore your location and qualify the space.

What were you doing previously and what inspired you to launch your company?

I had met with the Chairman of Threshold 360 several years ago when they had contacted me about leading their sales & marketing efforts, but we were deep into the process of selling FairWarning and the timing wasn’t right. When they reached out in 2022, the timing was better as we were just selling Omnivore and I didn’t see myself staying with the larger acquirer. I love the size of the Threshold 360 team (small), I love the potential in that the technology can solve problems for many industries, and it was based in Tampa Bay.

What pain point is your company solving? What gets you excited to go to work every day?

We help our customers convert online viewers to in-person visitors at a rate that is double to what they are currently using (static 2d images), and we do it fast and very affordably. Excited to go to work? It’s really 2 things: we have a chance to grow and with that comes the growth and success of the current (and future) team, and we are serving some really cool brands in our customer base ranging from KOA to Snowbird to Legoland, and even Embarc Collective!

Name the biggest challenge you faced in the process of launching the company. How did you overcome it?

Getting the team aligned to the right North Star goals. This isn’t as simple as saying “We are going to grow 10x”. I had to take time to learn about our Culture, the capabilities of our Team and the tech, listen to Customers, and set those goals that the Team can believe in and also stretch us a bit. It also means that not everyone makes it through the journey.

Where do you see your company headed next?

We dominate in our core market (160 customers in the Destination Marketing industry – think Visit Tampa Bay and VSPC), and we can solve those same problems in many other industries and in many countries. Technically there is a play in AR and video that I am excited to see us execute on.

Give us a tactical piece of advice that you’d share with another founder just starting out.

It’s hard, but you really have to humble yourself and listen to what your customers are saying in voice or in their actions. If you can solve a problem better than anyone else can – and it is a problem worth solving – the rest is execution. Founders and leaders are smart and it is hard for us to close our mouths and truly open our minds and be empathetic. Doing so uncovers opportunity and also builds trust – and that is immensely valuable.

Why Tampa Bay?

My wife and I met while I was in Grad School at USF and Tampa Bay has been home for us for our 29 years of marriage. I have been a part of 5 Tampa-based tech companies since 1996 (MTS, OpenNetwork, FairWarning, Omnivore, and now Threshold 360), and it probably sounds silly but I can’t imagine being anywhere else or working for a Company not based here. It hasn’t always been easy growing tech companies based here and I sure haven’t done it to the scale of Arnie or Brian, but I learned from Kurt Long in the 17 years or so that I worked for him of the value in building a business based in Tampa Bay. We can live outdoors year-round, our new grad hires can have a shot at living on their own (getting harder though), our Universities are producing better and better graduates, and c’mon – I live in St. Pete and my office is in downtown Tampa. Is that really a question?

04.04.2023

Meet the Newest Batch of Startup Specialized Freelancers

A startup founder’s most valuable resources are time and team.

With this in mind, Embarc Collective delivered its second Freelancer Program to train Tampa Bay’s most promising freelancers in the nuances of “startup speak”—with the goal of better serving the needs of high-growth startups in the region.

We are excited to share our newest cohort of vetted, startup-specialized freelance talent added to our Freelance Talent Directory. This cohort brought together a diverse set of specialties from design to people & talent to product & development.

Quality of support matters when you’re growing quickly. Equipped with the skills and specialties to work with high-growth startups, we encourage you to leverage this network for your project-based work or as an extension of your startup team. Get to know them here:

Design and Creative

Imani Lee at Imani Lee Creative | imanileecreative@gmail.com

I’m a freelance videographer and photographer with a core focus on clarifying, capturing, and crafting your startup’s story through cost-effective digital media services.

Luke Luber at FiveFive9 | Hello@FiveFive9.co

559 is an agency that specializes in product design, art direction and marketing for startups and VCs. We help companies grow by creating beautiful, user-friendly products.

Nicolas Gomez at Arcadebox Creative | nicolas@arcadeboxcreative.com

We understand the challenges of launching a startup and the importance of having a powerful brand to attract customers and investors. From branding strategy and positioning to visual identity and marketing materials, we ensure your brand and messaging are consistent across all platforms.

Phil Smith at Go Time Design | phil@gotimehq.com

Go Time delivers amazing designs extremely fast (product, web, brand). Great for early-stage startups that haven’t hired a designer yet. Great for product teams that need an extra design resource.

People and Ops

Alexis Prieto at Startup HR | alexis@startuphrandtalent.com

Startup HR partners with early-stage startups to develop, manage, and enhance their organization’s HR & Talent function. Our services are designed to fit the size, stage, and needs of your organization, and range from hiring to termination, and everything in between.

Heather McBride-Morse at Quantified Talent | heather@qualtifiabletalent.com

We don’t just help you run your business, we provide the needed talent advice and execution to build upon your most important asset, your people. Providing talent expertise in pre-growth and growth-stage companies from executive recruiting; creation of Mission, Vision, Values: and talent assessment for use in board decks and investor pitch decks.

Michael Freed at Michael Freed Bookkeeping | michael.freed@maka.social

Michael provides QuickBooks help including setup, reconciliation and maintenance for startups and small businesses.

Sushil Cheema at Supreka Coaching | Sushil@supreka.com

I provide executive coaching services to high-level leaders and startup founders so they can better manage their time, build their confidence, and strike better work-life balance.

Product and Dev

Jose Laureano at LABORATIO | jose@laborat.io

We work with startups that require software development services in a fluid capacity. Our team has years of experience working together which makes it a snap to be onboarded into your idea or product.

Pablo Chois at KO4 Consulting | pablo@ko4.consulting

KO4 Consulting empowers startups to take control of their products, especially at an early stage. We can help you create automated workflows, identify technical needs so you can set a budget, build the right team, translate business requirements into technical requirements, set realistic goals, and deliver new features faster with minimal risk.

Startups, investors, and community builders—Refer and share the Freelance Talent Directory here.

Freelancers—sign up to be notified about our future program dates here.

04.04.2023

Featured Founder: David Mauerer of Convee

What were you doing previously and what inspired you to launch your company?

I was working at Teamwork Commerce that built retail software for mid-market/enterprise brands. Did that for over a decade! On my way to work each day, my wife would ask me to drop off the returns each day. I hated doing it, it was so time-consuming and just annoying. I wanted a driver to just come to my doorstep and do it for me

What pain point is your company solving? What gets you excited to go to work every day?

As a parent of two rascal toddlers, I know the challenges of being able to make it to the store. I wanted to build an app that made it convenient to return and convenient to get to the store. We have a long way to go but I get excited about helping people. From the returns standpoint, helping people spend time on the things they want to be doing. With local delivery that is just now launched, I want to help local brick-and-mortar stores leverage their inventory and fulfill their local customer’s needs.

Name the biggest challenge you faced in the process of launching the company. How did you overcome it?

I think it was a leap to quit my job and do this on my own. It’s been eye-opening but I think I made the right decision (I guess we’ll find out)! In the end, I had to scratch that itch.

Where do you see your company headed next?

It will be a milestone when we have 1000 users so that’s the next immediate goal, and then I want to launch Orlando. Not sure we’ll get to Orlando by the end of this year, but fingers crossed.

Give us a tactical piece of advice that you’d share with another founder just starting out.

Do as many user interviews before building your product, also figure out a solid distribution strategy early. We have achieved decent word-of-mouth but it lacks true virality in that the user’s friends don’t download/use the app immediately (that’s partly due to our product). Also, use your friends/connections/anyone to put your idea through its paces with real $.

Why Tampa Bay?

Getting in early on a growing market is always a good idea.