What's Going On In Miami
What talented people are working on in Miami, and why it matters to us.
On January 2022, The Founders Fund, a premier venture capital fund in Tech, hosted a conference on Miami Beach called Hereticon, so called to celebrate controversial beliefs. I was lucky to have the opportunity to attend the event through the OpenStore sponsored Engineering Forum and try to understand what people were building over there, and why it might matter to someone who cares about the future.
I currently live in San Francisco, and have lived here for almost a year. It’s a beautiful city, and there’s a lot of reasons to fall in love with it, but the primary reason most people like me move here is because the Bay Area has been the center of tech. For someone building their career in information technology and computers, San Francisco and Silicon Valley have for decades been where the center of the action is- the focal point where the next Facebook or Uber might be.
The Founders Fund, let by investors like Peter Thiel and Keith Rabois, are betting hard on Miami becoming a tech hub, and eventually a Great American city with the likes of New York and Los Angeles. They’re betting with not only their money, but with something arguably more valuable for them, their time and reputation. This reason alone got me thinking: what really is happening in Miami that we should be paying attention to. From my short time there, I believe we should take Miami as the next success story city seriously for these reasons:
The big US cities are incumbents, and Miami has a chance to disrupt them.
Miami can become the capital of capital.
The future of work is remote, so why not Miami?
If Miami Was a Startup
Everyone loves a good story about David and Goliath. In tech, one roots for underdog startups defeating big evil companies that have gotten too big for their own good. Why can’t Miami be that underdog?
If Miami was an underdog city, hungry to grow and prove itself, the SF Bay Area and NYC would be incumbents. Over the last few decades, places like the Bay Area have gotten immensely wealthy and successful, partly due to the success of local industries and being able to attract the best talent across the world. Do they deserve their success today? Some would disagree.
In the process of becoming successful, rents in places like the Bay Area and New York have skyrocketed, making it prohibitively expensive to move in and fight for a better life. City and state income taxes are at an all time high, although when seeing the crime and suffering on the streets one would wonder if it was being collected at all. It doesn’t seem like these things will change anytime soon, and it only looks like the problem is getting worse. Have these cities taken their own success for granted? If Miami can offer a better product - a safer, cleaner city, cheaper rent, lower taxes, does it have a chance to disrupt major metropolitan cities?
Miami as the Capital of Capital
Eyes on the money.
The United States is a capitalist country, and capital is the lifeblood of America. Understanding where the money flows is important to understand where power is concentrated in this country. New York is the home of finance - where private equity meet the big banks who underwrite IPOs and hedge funds hire math nerds to keep the public markets on their toes. In the Bay Area, venture capital keeps the money moving - entrepreneurs and investors shuffle on Sand Hill Road discussing secrets and plans to build valuable companies.
Miami offered an eye-catching product to capitalists during COVID: why not do your job in a place with 0% state tax, a great lifestyle, and warm weather? On top of this, Miami acts as the gateway to getting money into Latin America, a region on the cusp of an economic prosperity explosion. If Singapore is the capital of capital in Southeast Asia, Miami could be the capital of capital in the Americas.
Miami has the opportunity to be the capital of capital, a place where venture capitalists, private equity, investment banks, hedge fund traders all come together and celebrate capital itself.
Why Not Miami?
Overwhelmingly, the future of tech is looking remote. There may always be an office to some extent, but people want to have flexibility and it just makes sense to allow people to work from anywhere. Most founders and venture capitalists can agree on this, so over the last two years this has become pretty consensus.
To this extent- why shouldn’t the HQ a tech worker or creative works from be Miami? If one had the choice to choose where they would like to live, I believe there are good reasons that Miami may deserve to win. The weather is pleasant, the lifestyle (for a high-earning knowledge worker) is top-notch, and for a large, coastal U.S. city it’s relatively cheap. Could the future of work be remote and Miami at the same time? Maybe there’s room for both.
Closing Thoughts
I currently live in SF and I’m lucky to work with and be friends with great, smart people that are fun to be around. That said, I love rooting for the underdog, and for that reason I’m rooting for Miami and the ambitious project to build it into an even better city. I hope that the success of Miami drives all American cities to think bigger about becoming better, and I think everyone will win in that process.
I’m grateful for Keith Rabois and his company in Miami for taking a chance on young people and making this trip possible. If you’re interested in working in Miami at a fast-growing startup with smart people, OpenStore is hiring.