I spent most of last week out in the Valley for some portfolio discussions and had the chance to catch up with some old friends. It was a nice reunion, giving me a taste of the impact Florida entrepreneurs are making in the Bay Area.
For example, I sat down with the MyBlogLog guys (Todd Sampson et al), founded in Orlando, FL prior to their acquisition by Yahoo and move to SF. That crew has spawned a host of new startups, including Gnip, Lookery, yet to be released Famery & Zentact, and a few others that are still on the drawing board.
I also saw Jason Baptiste (Publictivity), Phil Carter (QuinStreet), and Randy Glein (DFJ Growth, UF alum). Bryan Scott (prior Inflexion intern) is a busy man over at OpenDNS; he and I missed each other this time, but I really like his current gig.
None of these guys forget their roots. If you’re ever out West, look them up…maybe they’ll have their Tesla’s by then.
Related images: dfj growth, famery, gnip, lookery, mybloglog, opendns, publictivity, tesla, tesla motors