Domm Holland wasn't aware of Tampa Bay's burgeoning tech scene when he stumbled upon the city after deciding Miami wasn't the best relocation spot for him and his family.
"It's not something many people have talked about," he said. "And I think a lot more people need to know about it."
The technology CEO was looking to put down roots beyond San Francisco and ultimately chose Tampa as the eastern headquarters for his company, Fast. The fintech firm is backed by industry giant Stripe and nearing the coveted "unicorn" status, or a private company worth over $1 billion. The office will be settled in Industrious at Sparkman Wharf in Tampa's Channelside district.
Holland joins a growing list of well-established technology CEOs who are moving, or at least expanding, their ventures to a new home base here.
"There is a lot of growth in the city — you can see the development, and it is definitely on the rise," he said. "So frankly, I think there are a lot of opportunities for that reason. And being in San Francisco, the city of 10,000 startups — here, we're not. So I think we can play a larger role, which is exciting."
Other recent founder transplants have turned their attention toward investing in the local ecosystem, but Holland wants to find his footing a bit first before making a definitive commitment.
"A lot of our team in the technology scene do invest in other startups," he said. "And we love to host seminars with founders and will find ways to regulate one-on-ones with founders. So, it's one of the things I love doing and am definitely very keen on partnering with the local ecosystem."
While Fast will keep its main headquarters in San Francisco, Holland plans to add a solid amount of local employees in the coming months. He expects to hire an additional 260 people by the end of the year globally and is hopeful to make some of those hires — mainly mid- to high-level positions — right in Tampa Bay.
"We haven't been here long enough to show how quickly we can hire here," he said. "But we want to hire here and aggressively in the region. I can tell you [after the public launch on Tuesday], I woke up to two to three dozen messages from people in the area wanting to work with Fast. How that translates to the number of people we're hiring at the moment, I don't know."
He also plans to eventually add more entry-level positions, which he hopes will serve as a launchpad to grow talent.
"Next year, we’ll definitely open our doors to some lower ranks, but we’re a young company," he said. "We haven't had the scope to develop talent yet. As we’re maturing now, we want to cultivate talent."
While lack of talent has been an oft-stated complaint of other entities in the region, Holland believes it's there — and just in an unlikely place.
"There may not be a lot of big tech companies here, but there are a lot of engineers — they just don't work in tech," he said. "They work in banking, and they are highly skilled. And financial services is a big part of our business. So, I'm very much looking forward to the lot of interesting people and talent to come."
