An initial interest for Shellye Archambeau — a board director at Sarasota-based Roper Technologies and several other Fortune 500 companies — after she moved to Tampa was to connect with the startup ecosystem.
"I was actually pretty impressed with the investment that's been made here," Archambeau told Tampa Bay Inno. "One of the things that I noticed is the breadth of companies."
The majority of Silicon Valley companies deal with technology, while Tampa Bay has a mix of industries and startups, she said. Besides that, the entrepreneurial energy is similar — all entrepreneurs have the same hunger and drive to learn and grow, she said.
This tidbit is one of many shared when Archambeau sat down with Tampa Bay Inno before the nonprofit Embarc Collective's Builder Series, a quarterly educational program for startups about leadership and business. At the event, the Silicon Valley veteran spoke to Embarc Collective CEO Lakshmi Shenoy about a range of topics, including her book "Unapologetically Ambitious" and her advice for Tampa founders.
Archambeau first connected to the region when she joined the board of Roper Technologies Inc. in 2018. She later moved to Tampa after spending time during the Covid-19 pandemic with her daughter, Kethlyn White, and grandchildren here.
"I was in California; every time I went east, it always went through Tampa," she said. "And then Covid happened and all travel stopped, and I thought, 'Oh, this isn't going to work.' So I bought a place in Tampa."
In that time, she has realized the size and community of the Tampa Bay area and Florida, she said.
"What I find here is that the business community, in general, seems to indeed not only have a good cohesive nature but are supportive of startups," she said, pointing to Embarc Collective and businesses that are investing in helping the area thrive.
As for advice for founders and the business community, the executive draws from more than 30 years of experience. She advocates asking for help, setting career goals and learning from mistakes.
"I'm goal oriented, I use that as the framework for how I make decisions," Archambeau told the Embarc Collective audience. "... Most people don't realize that you actually own your career — you do, not your boss, not your investors, not your mentor, not your spouse."
She told the Embarc Collective audience to work hard and maintain intentionality in a career but also seek out one's mental health needs. For Archambeau, that means always eating three meals a day (even if a packed lunch is necessary), regular fitness and finding social interaction with adults. It's also important to hone skills and leverage new technologies. She recently read books on health, like "Outlive" by physician Peter Attia, and listened to podcasts like "Remarkable People" by former Apple employee and marketing expert Guy Kawasaki.
Business leaders should also turn their attention to the startup community, she said. It has the time and energy to be innovative.
"It gives them a view into what's happening that they might be able to leverage," Archambeau said. "... My biggest advice to large companies is to pay attention to what's happening in the startup world because they may find their next growth opportunity or their next potential risk for disruption in what startups are doing."
In her book, she talks about finding the current — or path to growth — and getting on that path to grow further.
"When I think of the startup environment here in Tampa, I think Embarc Collective is definitely a key element of that current," Archambeau said.
Embarc Collective creates an environment in which people can learn from each other. Another growth step for entrepreneurs is to find industry experts and a network of advisers and supporters who can be sounding boards to bring an outside perspective.
"It can be really lonely, and you have to be very careful to get out of the echo chamber of yourself and your team because if you just keep sharing ideas with each other, you may actually lose a little touch with what's going on in the market itself," Archambeau said.
Among the many pieces of advice she offered for those building businesses, she urged one crucial lesson: Don't fall in love with your product. Product-forward mentalities require immense amounts of energy, and it closes one off to external perspective — nobody can tell you that your baby is ugly, she said.
"The key is to fall in love with your customer, your target company or organization or industry that you're trying to sell to," Archambeau said. "Because if you fall in love with them, then you want to meet all of their needs, all of the requirements you'll focus on every little change, every little development. And when you do that, your product, your offering will be better and better."
