Brianna Schweitzer and I just left the Florida Venture Forum’s Capital Conference in Naples.  It was a fabulous event, and did an excellent job of connecting investors from all over the world with emerging companies throughout the state of Florida.  As you may guess, the buzz was all about the economy.

The keynote was Martin Schaffel from AVI-SPL.  He told a compelling story of true entrepreneurship and how he grew from a University of Florida graduate without a dollar to his name, to running a $400 million a year company.  For thirty minutes, we were captivated with a story that was lighthearted, interesting and inspiring, then ended abruptly with the message that things will be hard for a couple more years.

Even with the down economy, the people at the conference who were most inspiring were those with a positive outlook.  It was said more than once that the greatest economic times in our country were born out of the very worst times.  It was refreshing to be at a conference and see hopes high, business flourishing and deals being made.  The overall feel was uplifting, and reminded me of one of my favorite quotes that has gotten me through many times and has rung true everytime:

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”  -Harriet Beecher Stowe

My key takeaway from this show is the importance of staying positive and keeping focused on putting yourself in position to succeed.

Written by Mike Harris

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Tags: florida, florida venture forum, PR for Tech Start Ups, Start ups, Vantage Communications, VC, Venture Capital

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 at 9:03 am and is filed under High Tech PR, PR for Tech Start Ups, Start ups, Technology, Trade shows, Venture Capital. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.