Miami Tech Week goes viral on Twitter

Once again, Miami is showing that when it comes to tech, if you tweet it, people will come.

This time, a message on the social media platform Twitter spawned an entire “Miami Tech Week” in a matter of hours. The “week” involves a flurry of networking events starting Wednesday for those looking to experience firsthand the city’s newfound buzz in Silicon Valley.

The “week” will be kicked off by a “Cafecito Meetup” hosted by Mayor Francis Suarez at City Hall at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

How the “week” instantly came together demonstrates the newfound power of social media to lead directly to impact in real life — and how critical it has been in delivering Miami’s tech moment.

It started Sunday afternoon, when Delian Asparouhov, Miami-based principal at Peter Thiel’s Founder’s Fund venture group, tweeted: “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the unofficial start of the inaugural Miami Tech Week I know of at least 100 founders, VCs etc all flying in. Reply here if you’re gonna be in town this week so folks can know!”

Asparouhov was referring to the launch event for On Deck, a Silicon Valley-based accelerator-type program that promises to bring together “founders, operators, and investors to explore ideas, build projects and grow their networks — all in the burgeoning Miami technology ecosystem.”

The On Deck launch event is private — and in the past, Miami Tech Week has referred to the start of the eMerge Americas tech conference. But having used social media earlier this year to help spark a tidal wave of interest in Miami, Mayor Francis Suarez sensed another opportunity and endorsed the idea, tweeting later Sunday that he and his Venture Miami team would be available to anyone who wanted to learn about what was happening in the city.

“We caught fire again,” Suarez said in an interview Tuesday. “Miami Tech Week has become viral, from the ‘OGs’ to new Miami tech, everyone is coalescing around this idea.”

As word of a now semi-official Miami Tech Week began to spread online Monday and into Tuesday, others in the longstanding Miami tech community began organizing their own events. Among them is a happy hour organized by WhereBy.Us chief business officer Chris Adamo and a Thursday morning bike ride hosted by local tech entrepreneur Demian Bellumio as part of a launch event for a new startup. By Tuesday afternoon, Suarez had announced tomorrow’s meetup.

In an interview, Adamo said the buzz around Miami has made it “Miami Tech Week” for the whole year — it just so happened that some influential voices on social media were able to spark a surge in interest this week.

“This is all a net positive,” Adamo said. “If we can have these networks cross-pollinate, even if some people leave, that bridge has been built.”

“None of this was happening last year,” he added. “So I’m really happy.”

There is no way of knowing just how many techies now plan to descend on the city. But local Miami tech employee Ja’dan Johnson said he expects as many as 300 locals and out-of-towners alike might be descending on the city to network and learn what’s happening here.

According to the mayor’s office, 150 had RSVP’d for the Wednesday morning event, which will be capped at 200.

“The community just started crowd-sourcing and organizing a whole suite of events that are now happening this week,” said Johnson, head of community for professional networking app Upstream and a scout for Florida Funders venture group. “Now the community feels there’s something to be involved in.”

Among the visitors will be Jamie Quint, a California-based tech consultant. While Quint said it was unlikely he’d be able to move his entire family to Miami, he said the current Miami moment, while enveloped in buzz, is producing real results.

“You now have a decent amount of very influential people in tech in Miami,” Quint said, “and they’re doing a great job of creating this hype cycle and creating this movement.”

The four-week On Deck course is being led by Keith Rabois, a PayPal co-founder, Founders Fund general partner, and one of the chief voices helping draw interest on social media and throughout Silicon Valley to Miami.

In an email, Rabois explained the vision of what has become Miami Tech Week:

“Miami Tech Week is designed to bring the most talented founders, designers and engineers to Miami so they can see for themselves the incredible density of talent and unparalleled energy in the vibrant tech community here,” Rabois wrote. “We would love to persuade all of them to move here and enjoy life and raise their families in a better environment.”

In a separate email, Asparouhov echoed the sentiment:

“It’s an exciting time where through a series of tweets and memes we were able to convince almost 1,000 founders and VCs to coordinate trips to Miami in the same week in April,” he said. “It’s amazing to see the community come together and this could not happen without the support of the mayor and the local tech community in Miami who are receiving this influx of interest with such enthusiasm.”