As the head of Miami's Slip-N-Slide records, Ted Lucas helped hip hop artists like Trick Daddy and Rick Ross reach millionaire status.
Now he's turning his attention to technology entrepreneurs.
"There are people with great ideas in Miami that just need assistance taking it to the next level," he said. "I want to give entrepreneurs the kind of opportunities I was able to give to musicians 25 years ago."
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To do that, Lucas teamed up with Silicon Valley veteran Hilmon Sorey to launch The Source Miami, an organization dedicated to supporting Black, women and underserved founders as they build and scale their startups.
On Feb. 15, The Source will officially open an office at the One Flagler building downtown Miami, a space where founders can interact with their peers and connect with investors committed to South Florida's technology ecosystem.
The long term goal is to bring more high-wage technology jobs to the region to close Miami's racial wealth gap, Lucas said. According to data from Dice, tech salaries in South Florida reached an average of $104,542 last year – nearly twice as much as Miami-Dade County's average household income.
The Source wants to make it easier for aspiring entrepreneurs to interact with funders outside of pitch competitions and official industry events, Lucas said.
"I don't know of any place where a founder can go and easily sit down with investors," he added. "At The Source, they can come right to the office and talk to us."
That face-to-face interaction could be the catalyst for landing an investment. Nationally, only about 1% of venture capital went to Black-founded startups in 2021 and 2022, according to data from Crunchbase. That fell to 0.5%, or about $661 million out of $136 billion, in 2023.
The idea for The Source Miami came about after Sorey moved to Miami from San Francisco. A friend recommended he check out an event for Black founders at Art Basel Miami, where Lucas was speaking.
"If you know Ted, you know he doesn't mince words," Sorey said. "He gave a call of action that basically said, 'If you want to be part of the tech ecosystem and you haven't talked to me yet, what's going on?' I felt like he was speaking directly to me."
They were introduced after the event and connected over the belief that Black entrepreneurs needed a physical location to interact in South Florida. The Source will also host incubator programs, accelerators and networking events for early stage founders in the area.
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The Source isn't Lucas' first foray into the technology industry. The longtime music producer is also the founder of Tech Knowledge (previously Technolij), a non-profit that connects people of color with skills training and job placement in tech roles. Last year, the organization partnered with Florida Memorial University, the region's only historically Black college or university, to open a 3,000-square-foot innovation center at its Miami Gardens campus.
Lucas compared to The Source's office to a music studio, calling it a place for collaboration.
"In the studio, we would all come together to make great music together," he said. "I'm taking what I learned in that environment and bringing it tech."
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