At One Spark 2013, Ed Baldwin met other entrepreneurs and felt energized about launching his tech startup, Profile Gorilla.
Then, he spent the next year working out of his house while he built up his company.
“It was extremely disconnecting,” he said. “You’re lonely and looking at four walls.”
Today, he unveiled the Spark District and a platform to connect creators outside of One Spark.
Baldwin and other volunteer partners will go live today with a website that promotes an Innovation District in Downtown Jacksonville.
The website — sparkdistrict.com — will be a landing page/web portal showing the location of Downtown entrepreneurs and the organizations that serve them. It’s a map that has about 10 pins in it so far, Baldwin said.
“It’s to put a spotlight on the large number of resources we have Downtown for startups,” Baldwin said.
The list of those resources has gotten larger recently.
Four years ago, there was only CoWork Jax and Startup Weekend, an event that ran annually at the University of North Florida. Both venues taught entrepreneurs how to pitch ideas to investors and CoWork offered them low-cost office space Downtown.
This year saw the launch of the Jax Community of Entrepreneurs, a network that provides programming for startups. Also CoLab Jax, a machine shop-electronics lab where entrepreneurs use community-owned equipment.
It’s progress, but the city still has a way to go to equal the innovation communities of a Nashville or Kansas City, said Paige Calvert, managing director of CoWork Jax.
The Innovation District is definitely a positive, though.
“It will make it easier to find the groups and the people you want to connect with,” Calvert said.
This year also saw the launch of Jax Bridges, a JAX Chamber program to connect small businesses with mentoring, access to capital and contacts with larger companies.
It will be another pin on the Innovation District map.
Established business resources, like the chamber or Small Business Administration, may not be the first step entrepreneurs take when looking for help, said Carlton Robinson, senior director of the chamber’s Entrepreneurial Growth Division.
Being part of the Innovation District will connect the entrepreneurial community with organizations like his.
“It will expand our reach,” Robinson said.
Profile Gorilla was launched the old-fashioned way, said Baldwin. The business partners cashed out their retirement savings, took out loans and hired developers to code their software. It was an earlier stage in Jacksonville’s entrepreneur support network.
Today, more startups and services have accumulated Downtown. Defining an Innovation District could attract even more of them and create those “collisions” between entrepreneurs that spark new ideas.
“We want them to know Downtown is a place where they can get plugged in,” Baldwin said. “You don’t have to do this all by yourself.”
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