After getting AppyHour® off the ground and establishing the long-term vision for the Company in the Twin Cities, we’ve made the decision to relocate our headquarters to Tampa, Florida.
This wasn’t a lifestyle decision. It was a business one.
Early Optimism vs. Lived Experience
I started the company in my home state of Minnesota with similar ambitions as my company-founding counterparts. I wanted to help put MN on the map as a legit tech hub. “Grow it here, grind here, succeed here, prove the skeptics wrong.”
That optimism and ambition carried us through the early days.
But at some point optimism has to answer to reality of lived experience: Is this really a place where I see the company maximizing it’s chances of success?
The answer was an unmistakable “No“.
The Twin Cities Reality Check
Founders already fight gravity every day. Pitching investors, hiring, managing, product iteration, go-to-market, strategy, network building. The last thing you need is structural friction on top of the normal startup grind.
Minnesota started to feel like compounding drag:
- Cost and tax friction makes early-stage runway shorter than it needs to be
- Regulatory complexity adds overhead before you’ve earned the right to carry overhead
- Weak government leadership prioritizes virtue-signaling over people’s best interests
- Long winters blunt momentum and slow down momentum
- Small early-stage capital community that default to “safe” over “scaling”
- An outflow of startups after reaching velocity
None of these alone kills a startup, but together they create cold headwinds that will freeze you in your tracks before spring comes.
I realized that pushing into headwinds at this stage isn’t “grit” or a “noble” thing. It’s a strategic disadvantage.
Early Startup Ecosystem That’s Out of Sync
Minnesota has smart people and well-intentioned programs. But the startup ecosystem is increasingly out of sync with what matters when you’re building a company: vision, execution, team, traction, trajectory.
Too often, access to capital and support is filtered through optics and checkboxes rather than performance and progress.
Minnesota’s “leading first check venture capital fund” explicitly told me during my pitch that my two-man team, “isn’t diverse enough”.
That isn’t feedback on our bootstrapped traction, product, vision, strategy, or growth plan.
It was a reminder that we weren’t being evaluated on the business
When asking the founder of MN’s newest “Minnesota-First” early Venture fund about his story he told me, “The reason I was successful building my fund is because I come from a place of white privilege.”
Really? Zero grind? No late nights pitching skeptical LPs, no pivots through market freezes? Just melanin deficiency and boom, fund closed? That’s not introspection that’s theater.
Every VC fund in Minnesota waving a “Minnesota-First” flag had 85%+ of their portfolio companies outside the state.
Peak irony, and a strong reminder that there are other places to build.
When Success Stories Leave, It’s a Signal
Healthy ecosystems don’t just produce founders. They retain founders who win, and those founders reinvest capital, talent, network, and experience into the next generation.
Minnesota isn’t retaining enough of its winners.
A good example is Upsie. The most recent poster-child for Minnesota’s startup ecosystem.
- Built in St. Paul
- Innovated in a challenging vertical
- Raised $27m+ (95% from out of state investors, of course)
- Scaled to become a national player in their industry
The founder recently left the state.
That’s not an isolated case. It’s a pattern seen many times over.
When founders hit escape velocity or sell their companies, they’re leaving.
COVID, Riots, Rising Crime, Unaccountable Leadership
COVID + civil unrest + “defund the police” + ineffective leadership have been accelerating the velocity of business closures, including hundreds of bars and restaurants we partner with directly.
Once-thriving areas are now crime-ridden ghost towns.
From a business lens, the Twin Cities has become a strategic liability, not an asset.
As I sat in my one-bedroom apartment in the once-thriving Uptown neighborhood listening to distant gun shots go off (literally…), it was time to be honest about my options:
- Wait and hope leadership changes, safety becomes prioritized, business incentives come back, and resources emerge
- Move somewhere that inspires innovation, rewards risk-taking, attracts resources, is well governed, and open for business
Why Tampa?
Forbes ranked it the #1 emerging tech city in the U.S., driven by surging tech jobs, major investments, and a vibrant community of leaders, innovators, investors, founders, and risk-takers.
Florida’s pro-business environment, no state income tax, lighter regulations, good weather, and healthy political stewardship attracts investment, talent and innovation – and keeps it.
Tampa’s recent M&A activity in our industry underscores the momentum: Tampa-based Fintech recently acquired two bev-tech companies that I’ve been watching grow.
- Lilypad (2019)
- STX (2021)
Bev-alc brands are investing heavily in Florida, hospitality is booming year-round, the startup ecosystem is accelerating, and angel and venture investment is ramping fast.
Tampa gives us:
- A dense, active hospitality ecosystem to scale partnerships faster
- Proximity to brands, operators, and industry decision-makers
- More consistent consumer and retail activity year-round
- Stronger “builder energy” and more success stories
Final Words
I’m excited crank up the momentum and see what’s in store as we take our established momentum, ambitions, and vision to our new HQ in Tampa.
More updates on product, partnerships, and company milestones to come.
Every hour is AppyHour®. Now officially from the Sunshine State.
– Neil