8 Highlights from AWS Startup Day Miami you want to experience

Tech enthusiasts, engineers, startup founders, vendors, and more–from Miami and beyond–attended AWS Startup Day Miami for the kickoff of Miami Tech Month. Designed for startup founders and leaders, this full-day AWS event provided the startup community with the latest information on AWS services, solutions, and best practices. AWS Startup Day delivers education and networking opportunities to enable and accelerate startup innovation and growth, provides education on emerging trends, and inspires action through the personal experiences of startup founders, at no cost to attendees.

Whether you are a new startup looking to launch or an existing startup looking for ways to grow your business, you will learn something new from AWS Startup Day Miami, as well as the upcoming AWS Startup Day San Francisco on May 3rd – 4th.

The startup-focused agenda and lineup marked a great start to Miami Tech Month, which is an annual event that celebrates and showcases the thriving technology ecosystem in Miami. It usually takes place during the month of November and features various activities such as conferences, meetups, hackathons, workshops, and networking events. The goal of Miami Tech Month is to promote collaboration, innovation, and entrepreneurship within the tech community in Miami and to highlight the city’s potential as a hub for technology startups and talent. Kicking things off with AWS Startup Day Miami just makes sense.

Here are some of our favorite moments and takeaways from the AWS Startup Day Miami event.

1. The opening montage really set the tone and created excitement by capturing the attention of the audience and reinforcing AWS Startups message of “customer first” and “startup focused.” the

Experience the full opening montage for inspiration and knowledge to prove what’s possible.

2. Alvaro Echeverria, GM of LATAM Startups, kicked things off with an insider talk on Amazon’s Culture of Innovation, dropping several gems and takeaways for decision-makers in the startup ecosystem.

Check out the video of Alvaro’s talk.

3. The keynote was delivered by Erick Gavin, the Executive Director of Venture Miami, an economic development office of the City of Miami tasked with facilitating the growth of the technology and innovation ecosystem. Gavin encouraged attendees to utilize AWS solutions to scale and grow, and he doubled down on his office’s commitment to continue providing tech startups opportunities and access to various resources and tools.

4. The AWS Generative AI Accelerator was announced – a 10-week program designed to help early-stage startups using Generative AI solve big challenges to scale and grow. This gave attendees the opportunity to engage and ask questions of AWS experts in person about the program and the application process. Stay tuned to the AWS Startup social platforms, as the selected Generative AI Accelerator participants will be announced soon.

5. The panel discussions like “Raising Money in Miami” were lively, well-attended, and the panelists were very intentional with their advice. That panel included Andres Barreto of Techstars, David Blumberg of Blumberg Capital, Alexandra W of Clerisy Capital, Joshua Siegel of AcronymVC, and founder Yasmine Morrison.

Learning new ways to raise money to fund your startup is never a bad idea. Watch part of the panel discussion here.

6. Hearing from AWS customers and partners about how much the AWS Startup Day Miami event means to them. Most of the sentiments were made spontaneously, like by Macarena Bravo of Bravo Consulting, who spoke about how much she loves being an AWS cloud customer and attending AWS events and trainings. This led to the AWS team recording a series of customer videos.

Hear what attendees say about Startup Day Miami.

7. Networking happy hour. Many of the speakers were in attendance for this portion of the event. In any industry it is important to build relationships, but more so in the tech startup world. It is important to continue to learn, and stay connected with the larger tech community as new challenges and changes come up every day. Building that community helps with easing the burden of going it alone.

8. Last but not least, come meet the AWS Startups Team and let us answer your questions. In learning more about AWS services for startups, it’s great to have that friendly face or cloud expert to discuss potential opportunities and the wide range of AWS services that fit your startup needs.

Ready to attend an AWS Startup Day and accelerate your startup? Check out the upcoming AWS Startup Day San Francisco on May 3rd – 4th. 

Stay in-the-know for all things startups:

• AWS Startups Twitter for the timely and behind-the-scenes content
• AWS Startups LinkedIn for the latest insights
• AWS Startups Facebook for the biggest news
• AWS Instagram for the motivational and inspirational