The tide is high (but I'm holding on!)

by joshuapiller | Dec 29, 2014 | Marketing, Newsletters

Dive into 2015 with The Paragons 1967 version.[1]

If you’ve had time to catch the news over the holidays, you’ll no doubt have heard that confidence in our economy is high. This is due in part to good jobs numbers, the decreasing price of gas and increasing wages across many sectors. This energy is very present in the South Florida community as we see billions of investment dollars flowing our way to boost construction, infrastructure, tourism and technology.

Here are the top 13 business stories that are shaping our region, courtesy of Miami Herald

13. Miami Beach Convention Center renovation plans gain steam

12. Condo boom — again

11. Cash remains king

10. Virgin Cruises announcement makes a splash

9. Design District value rises to $1.4 billion

8. Lincoln Road properties sell for record $342 million

7. Downtown takes center stage

6. Uber, Lyft ride in anyway

5. A Magic Leap onto VC Map

4. Norwegian acquires upscale Prestige Cruises

3. Beckham shut out — for now

2. The show goes on, with tech in the spotlight

1. Burger King buys Tim Hortons

[1]  “The Tide Is High” is a 1967 song written by John Holt, originally performed by the Jamaican group The Paragons, with John Holt as lead singer. The song went mainly unnoticed in the rest of the world, until it was rediscovered in 1980, when it became a US/UK number one hit for the American band Blondie. The British girl group Atomic Kitten also had a number one hit with their version of the song in 2002, and it was also a hit for Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall in 2008. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Startup Grind Miami hosts LiveNinja’s Will Weinraub

by joshuapiller | Dec 8, 2014 | Marketing, Newsletters

Born and raised in Miami, Will Weinraub first learned how to build websites at age thirteen and hasn’t looked back since. After launching two successful businesses by the age of sixteen, Will went on to attend Florida State University to study Communications and shortly after returning to Miami he launched LiveNinja, a venture backed startup in the video chat space.

• Capital Raises: LiveNinja has raised $900K to date from mostly from angel investors in Miami such as Accelerated Growth Partners, Marco Giberti, DaDNeos, Sean Smith, Tigre Wenrich (from OpenEnglish), and more.
• Growth: LiveNinja currently has over 4,000 experts on it’s marketplace that span topics such as fitness, medicine, education, fashion, music, language, and consulting, just to name a few. Since launch (December 2012) they’ve had over 10,000 live sessions performed on the platform. On the Katana side, they just finished developing that product and we have launched with 10 selected enterprise partners. In Q1 of 2015, they’ll be launching with a number of Fortune 500 companies.
• Past speaking engagements: Startup City Miami, Robert Scoble’s Show, eMerge America, Refresh Miami, FIU, Web Summit
• Notable Press: Forbes, TechCrunch, TheNextWeb, TechCocktail, MiamiHerald

In this Fireside Chat we’ll cover topics from Will’s perspective including:

•     Raising Capital in Miami (and beyond)
•     Competing with Mammoths Like Google
•     Building Company Culture & Community
•     Recruiting (how to attract great talent)
•     Getting Through the Really Hard Times
•     Balancing a Company and a Growing Family
•     Keeping Employees Motivated

Having a Fun Time while learning about technology & helping the organizations that help us all

by joshuapiller | Dec 8, 2014 | Marketing, Newsletters

“Fun” Fundraising Event for all 501c3 Non-Profits. Helping the organizations that help us all!

Celebrity Eclipse:
January 5 - 10, 2016 (5 nights)
Western Caribbean: Miami, Bahamas, Grand Cayman, Miami

This is the Solstice class sister ship of the Reflection and has one of the highest ratings from cruisers on Cruise Critic

Spacious Staterooms
Category 2B - Deluxe Oceanview w/Veranda - $672
Category 07 - Oceanview Stateroom - $572
Category 11 - Inside Stateroom - $512
Category 10 - Inside Stateroom - $497

EARLY BOOKING BONUS: book by January 4, 2015 and receive prepaid gratuities for Category 07 (Oceanview) and Category 2B (Deluxe Oceanview w/Veranda) staterooms.

Prices per person (double occupancy): includes Cruise, Port Charges, all taxes & fees Trip insurance is additional. Required deposit is $100 per person to secure a reservation
Roundtrip bus transportation between Valencia Falls and the Port of Miami: $15/person each way (including tips). Other stops if significant demand.
There will be a private cocktail party in a private room for our group.

Celebrity will give $25/cabin directly to the 501c3 non-profit of your choice. In addition, there will be technology presentations during a day when we are at sea.
All the presentations are free but require at least one cruiser per cabin to give a $30 (or more) donation directly to the 501c3 non-profit of your choice and then
ask them to acknowledge your donation via their email to eclipsecruise@ariesmart.com.

To book your cruise or for more cruise information, call Dean LeBlanc at Cruise Buyers Choice toll-free 866-606-2067. For information or questions about anything else,
email Sam Wexler at eclipsecruise@ariesmart.com.

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