Arman Hunanyan's entrepreneurial pursuits began in earnest last year, when he started pitching at tech events designed to give entrepreneurs an audience. Just a couple of months ago, the 15-year-old visited Credo Conduit on North Orange Avenue for a networking event, Empowering Connections: Black Orlando Tech Connect. "I pitched to eight professionals who said they were super excited to become community supporters for my app — but only two of them followed up."
Arman recently launched a business that may become his life's work, but the young entrepreneur has found he has a lot to learn about building a business. "I believe in my idea, but there are a lot of other things that go into it."
He's one of many young founders in Orlando who have had a great idea but needed some help in starting and running a business. For many, that's whereOrlando Tech Community stepped in to help.
In addition, many STEM teachers now are sharing the core skills entrepreneurs need to become successful, assisted by the textbook Enhancing Entrepreneurial Mindsets Through STEM Education. The idea is that teachers will use this information to show young students how to build a business.
One outcome of this new STEM initiative has taken root locally at Olympia, West Orange and University high schools in the form of a new class called “Learn to Start,” offered by Orange County Public Schools during the 2022-2023 school year for the first time.
Last year, Arman was a freshman at Olympia High School and took the class, which "is basically about, ‘How do you solve a real world problem?' And one problem I thought of is that I needed to figure out what my future career will be. I’m not the only one.”
As part of the class, Arman and his data scientist mother, Tatsiana Sokalava, planneda future platform called Career Scoops that harnesses national jobs data coming from Occupational Information Network and the Bureau of Labor Statistics to help match teens to professions. That was in the fall of 2022. Now, Arman and his mom are building it.
A key element of Career Scoops is short-term mentoring based on career matching results: Arman hopes to build a roster of advanced professionals in every possible field who agree to 30-minute virtual meetings with students using the platform. This will allow a student matched with a particular profession to ask questions of a mentor and explore that profession without risk. In this case, risk is defined as enrolling in, paying for and investing time in training or education that doesn’t lead to a job that’s optimized to the individual.
Arman also needs to find funding and bring his product to market. The question is how?
The "Learn to Start" class sparked his idea and taught fundamental principles of entrepreneurship, but the heavy lifting is in connecting with Orlando's tech community so he can uncover the resources he will need to move forward.
Arman isn't the only young person locally trying to find their way in a tricky startup landscape.
Kelly Shea, a 20-year-old entrepreneur, grew up watching "Shark Tank." “I always wanted to invent something and start a business but didn't really know how.”
During her freshman year, the University of Central Florida student took a 45-minute drive to meet her boyfriend’s family for the first time and packed face wash in her travel bag, attempting to lock the twist top first. “When I got there and opened my bag, it had opened up and spilled all over my clothes.”
That sparked an idea, and her company DripLock was born.
Bottles with pumps are notoriously hard to close. Shea designed a plastic piece that latches onto the neck of the pump and holds it fully open, so nothing drips out in transit. Tapping into college resources, she used the 3D printer at the Innovation Lab at UCF to produce her first model. While DripLock isn't a tech startup, it is a startup that relies on technology for manufacturing, marketing and distribution, as most businesses do today.
Now, she sells DripLock on her Shopify website and, looking into the future, sees growth and expanded distribution. As a student, she has had access to Blackstone LaunchPad, a "network makes entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skills accessible and relevant for all college students to help them build thriving companies and careers," according to its website.
"I'm meeting people and learning what to do, and I participated in a pitch competition Blackstone does called Joust."
Joust New Venture Competition is open to all UCF students and accepts all types of venture proposals, awarding as much as $50,000 and business support services to the four best-performing competitors. When Shea graduates next year, she will be eligible for the UCF Business Incubation Program.
What young entrepreneurs need to know
Orlando's entrepreneurs have had to figure it out as they go.
UBreakiFix cofounder Justin Wetherill, 35, remembers the ups and downs of his early entrepreneurial life. He tried his hand at business several times before something stuck. There were the custom gaming computers he and his friend David Reiff built and sold on eBay. And the urban streetwear line that didn’t go anywhere.
Then in 2009, he and Reiff, noticing how frequently screen and water damage plagues cellphones and their users, built a new business to solve those problems. Wetherill had taught himself how to fix his own broken phone screen and knew a person’s urgent need to have a fully functioning phone could fuel a company. He was 21 — and he was right.
“If I had to describe what it means to be an entrepreneur, I would just call it a problem solver. Entrepreneurism is essentially trial and error. It's oftentimes blazing a path that hasn't been walked or hasn't been walked the same way before, and with that comes lessons and learnings and challenges you've got to overcome,” Wetherill said.
UBreakiFix launched 14 years ago. In 2019, Nashville-based Asurion LLC bought the Orlando-based tech repair company for an undisclosed amount.
Trial and error is not the only way forward when the region’s innovation organizations provide support to startup founders — support that covers every area of business, from manufacturing and distribution to sales and marketing. Systemized support is there to be had — but for all innovators, especially the youngest ones, knowing how to navigate and select appropriate support groups and services can be challenging as they are swimming in a sea of options. From classes to clubs, conferences, competitions and incubators, there are lots of resources to choose from.
Orlando Tech Community building a platform for local tech startups
Central Florida's tech leaders have sought to organize the region's startup resources, a massive undertaking requiring detailed strategy and execution, Orlando Inno learned.
Orlando Tech Community, which is under the umbrella of Orlando Economic Partnership, is led by Chairman Charlie Lewis, who is also CEO of BlueWave Resource Partners. It comprises leaders in the tech or business community, and it exists to align Orlando’s resources so tech entrepreneurs in particular will find navigation a bit easier. It also showcases success stories in the tech space through marketing and media campaigns in an effort to solidify the public perception that Orlando is an innovation-based economy.
One Orlando Tech Community member, CEO Dawn Haynes of Starter Studio, a nonprofit accelerator offering educational programming, coaching and funding, has a vision for a more connected and coordinated ecosystem for the region's tech startups, serving tech innovators at every stage of the entrepreneurial journey.
Haynes chairs the Orlando Tech Community committee called Tech Connect, which is tasked with identifying and facilitating a robust, functioning and collaborative tech and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Her team's project for the year is to map out what the region has in terms of the required categories of organizations that make up a healthy and functioning ecosystem. "We are looking at ways to ensure all of those resources are better connected to be able to help the entrepreneur on their journey far better than we are doing today.”
Orlando Tech Community Grant program awards 2023 winners
Haynes cited San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Minneapolis and Austin, Texas, as some of the cities with tech ecosystems that gelled. “Even Tampa actually does a pretty good job in terms of how well all of the different sectors come together to support tech entrepreneurism.”
A number of entities grade cities on whether they are attractive to tech businesses, and those mentioned above sit at the top because of their business environment, tech environment, talent pool and strength and depth across different tech sub-sectors. Savills Tech Cities 2023, a global list, ranks San Francisco No. 1 in the world. The 2022 CompTIA Tech Town Index placed Austin at the top in the U.S. CompTIA looked at cities where demand for tech workers is greater than the national average, and then ranked them based on cost of living, number of postings for open IT positions and projected job growth over the next 12 months and the next five years.
The Tech Connect committee has created the beginnings of a database that pulls in information about each of the Central Florida companies and organizations they identified as part of the ecosystem. Those categories and the full scope of the plan are still under wraps, but Haynes did hint at what’s to come.
“A database is not enough. It’s never going to provide the sort of assistance and connection into an ecosystem that an entrepreneur is going to benefit from. What’s needed is a platform that is way beyond a database. We are exploring globally to find what tools are already in place globally that drive the connection, collaboration and coordination that is so important for the success of an entrepreneur.”
Haynes said the Tech Connect committee intends to unveil its findings at MetaCenter Global Week in October.
In the meantime, with his product in development, Arman is doing what entrepreneurs must do: networking. He came in second place in November 2022's Orlando Startup Weekend Pitch Fire! Competition.
He has continued to make the rounds to see who he can meet and what he can learn that will move his concept forward. He has the option to get plugged in at Junior Achievement of Central Florida, where minors have access to business development resources. And he can keep uncovering opportunities wherever they appear, until he has a fully funded, fully operational business in play.
"I've been to lots of networking events and have spoken to lots of professionals who say they are willing to help. Even though they are supportive of my platform, it is a challenge to get to that next step and engage them further. That's what I still need to figure out."
Sign up here for The Beat, Orlando Inno’s free newsletter. And be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
