It wasn't the warm weather, affordability or even slowly increasing tech scene that lured Vikas Bhatia to move his startup from New York City to Tampa.
Well, maybe a little. But Bhatia gives a large credit to the eager community for being the final deal maker.
Bhatia originally began thinking of Tampa after family friends moved to the city from the Big Apple. Bhatia's company JustProtect, a cyber company that is now shifting its focus to become a business processing tool, became a DreamIt Venture company. DreamIt Ventures is an accelerator in part funded by startup investor and Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik.
"Jeff Vinik had a kick-off last September in Tampa, and we were staying with friends of ours who also moved from New York City to Tampa Bay," Bhatia said. "Their kid is the same age as ours, and we got some insight about the city, the quality of life and what was going on from a tech perspective. I jokingly said to my wife, 'Would you consider moving here?' and she said, 'I don't want to move to Tampa, it’ll mess with my hair.' She has very straight, very fine hair."
But what happens after is a series of events that showcase just how strong the Tampa Bay community, and subsequent ecosystem, can be. First, Embarc Collective CEO Lakshmi Shenoy convinced Bhatia to simply come down to Synapse Summit in January 2019.
When Bhatia attended the two-day tech and innovation conference, he met with a slew of big name players in the ecosystem including TiE Tampa Bay. Those executives invited Bhatia to attend their upcoming conference and connect him with even more players in the startup community.
"I've traveled extensively around the world and from a business perspective, you don't see that — random people you just met saying, 'Let me help you,'" he said. "Even if it doesn’t transpire, the fact someone said it is two steps over what happens in other places."
"I've traveled extensively around the world and from a business perspective you don't see that, random people you just met saying, 'Let me help you.'"
So in September, JustProtect will be coming to Tampa. The company was created by Bhatia in 2017 and organizes and orchestrates internal and third party assessments for businesses.
While Bhatia has 10 employees in the company that work remotely, he said three of them have expressed an interest in eventually moving to Tampa, and he hopes to double his employee count by the end of the year. He is now a member of Embarc Collective and believes he will likely have some space in its temporary office at Industrious before officially opening its new space.
Bhatia will not be the first cybersecurity company in Tampa Bay, which is exactly what he is looking forward to.
"Malwarybytes, KnowBe4, ALIGN are all trailblazers, so getting plugged in will be great," he said. "The thing with cyber is, when you break it down, it's like 16 categories. We don't do what they all do, and even when there could be an overlap or competitive situation, what I've found is if you are open and candid with your competition, what you're able to determine is who does what better."
He also believes while funding and talent will not fall from the sky in Tampa Bay, it may be easier than existing in the rat race of New York City.
"I don't want to say (the challenges) will be alleviated, but because there is such a tight knit community, it's easier to get to the people you need," he said. "To raise funds or find talent you still need a viable business but there will be less competition — and there are students, or talent, who don't have as much pressure from a rent perspective."
And he has the same viewpoints on getting funding in the Bay area.
"I'm not looking to move to Tampa and instantly get funded," Bhatia said. "But the investment community is almost untapped — the ones that may have invested in anything other than tech that is now interested in tech. Yes, there is some education that needs to be shared back and forth, but the fact you can meet them and then can grab coffee the following week and go outside for a coffee in December, I'm seeing it as a way to conduct non-stop business."
