Does Miami have what it takes to make a thriving tech hub?

Are you worried about the state of Miami’s tech scene? I am.

ThinkInk recently became the PR agency of record for KULA Causes, a Boulder, Colorado-based provider whose online giving platform enables partner companies to connect their loyalty program members with millions of causes worldwide – while allowing those members to turn their unused reward miles and points into cash donations to causes they care about.

And while Boulder might not be a city one thinks of as a thriving tech hub, the Denver/Boulder region is actually one of this country’s top 10 techie havens, according to the National Venture Capital Association. MapQuest and Photobucket were born there and hundreds of millions in venture capital are invested in and around the Mile-High City.

ThinkInk also provides PR support for tech companies including OtherLevels which is based in the world’s tech mecca of San Francisco and Synchology which hails from another top-10 tech city – Chicago. As well as GuestLogix and iSIGN located in Canada’s tech capital of Toronto, ranked by Startup Genome as #4 among the world’s tech cities.

So, looking at Miami, my home since 2003, the home of ThinkInk’s North American headquarters and the craziest metropolitan area in the country’s weirdest state, I see a town ­­famous for its political shenanigans, wildly diverse demographic mix and off-the-wall stories.

But tech business? Not so much.

I got rather annoyed when I read a recent Fast Company article about Miami tech start-ups that focus on another of the city’s most storied industries: the high-end nightclub scene.

We’ve got an online repository of nightlife jobs, an app that allows friends at different venues to buy each other drinks and a platform that club managers can use to track patrons by promoter, seating area, alcohol consumption and overall spending.

There’s also a site  that allows average partiers who want to feel super-important freeze the price of a VIP club table (at, say, $1,000 – a whole paycheck for many) on the off-chance that a Kardashian or a Miami Heat player will stroll in the door and bump up the table’s temporary value by thousands of dollars.

And even then that’s far beyond what your average Miamian can afford to drop on a night out. But what bothered me most is how the Fast Company article perpetuates Miami’s image as a shallow clubbing town.

Yes, the local club scene does pull in revenue for venues’ host municipalities, but how far can this go in a large county with the nation’s second-highest income inequality? And while Miami has produced some inspiring success stories in the tech realm - including online language school Open English, with offices in large South American economic centers such as São Paulo, Caracas and Bogotá; and CareCloud, an electronic medical record storage system whose CEO, Alberto Santalo, will be a speaker at FIU’s upcoming Americas Venture Capital Conference - there doesn’t seem to be the kind of critical mass in the city to build a true tech hub. Unfortunately, the nightclub scene’s fickle nature – hot today, passé tomorrow – and fairly narrow target audience are unlikely to bring a lot of large-scale, long-term investment to the area.

It’s so frustrating to know that Miami has not been able to capitalize on the many perks that make it a prime market for both existing and new consumer technology companies to grow. With a booming Hispanic population (America’s fastest-growing demographic population) and a reputation for serving as a link to the business hubs of Latin America, Miami should be booming with technology ideas and products that cater to the unique needs of a group that will represent approximately $1.5 trillion of purchasing power by 2015.

There is plenty of talent here in Miami as well: both major universities in the area (Florida International University and University of Miami) have burgeoning information technology, computer engineering and business programs, with graduates just waiting for the next hot opportunity to get their hands dirty in creating great technology products. Instead, these new technology and business professionals are faced with the idea that there is not enough of an opportunity for them in this city. They flock off to Silicon Valley and other American tech meccas, helping contribute to the brain drain that has impacted South Florida for years.

There are some hardy souls trying to get a robust scene goi­­ng here, including FIU and the organizers of tech event SuperConf. But they’ve got some serious obstacles to overcome if they want to help Miami become any sort of recognized tech center.

The most popular programs and apps appeal to as wide a cross-section of consumers as possible. While lavish partying may be a way of life for some Miamians, most simply can’t afford a place in that fantasy. The success of Open English shows that investing in companies that provide widely-inclusive services that are affordable and add genuine value to people’s lives can bring in remarkable returns.

Perhaps there’s still hope for this dysfunctional metropolis to grow a real tech scene.

Start-Up Capital Democratized: Long Live Crowdfunding!

Back in 1997, the British prog-rock band Marillion was having trouble scraping up the cash to embark on a tour of North America.

This news quickly spread among the group’s devoted fans, who rallied – without the band’s knowledge – and managed to raise $60,000 to help finance the tour. Four years later, Marillion’s hardcore fans, known as “Anoraks,” financed the band’s 2001 record Anoraknophobia by pre-buying copies of an album not yet made.

Just over 10 years after the release of Anoraknophobia, this type of phenomenon now has a name: crowdfunding.  Crowdfunding is getting a lot of media and business attention and there are sites springing up weekly where people can finance start-ups, artists, community projects and charities. What’s unusual about crowdfunding though, is that until now it has only been legal if the funders had no expectation of financial gain. They could receive some sort of benefit-in-kind like an album for example, but it wasn’t considered a bona fide investment – until recently.

Thanks to our slow-jamming President who signed the JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Start-ups in early April 2012), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is introducing rules that will allow almost anyone to invest in new companies – up to a total of $1 million per year – and receive equity in return, as long as the middleman rounding up the cash is SEC-registered.

The new rules should be in place by the beginning of 2013. This is great news, considering that in our down economy, it’s already difficult enough for start-ups to raise the capital needed for a proper business launch.

So hooray for crowdfunding! This is exactly what those entrepreneurs without access to traditional finance or VC funding need.

The legislators in Washington and suits on Wall Street tell us that the Great Recession is over. But considering the miserable jobs report we got last month, it’s clear that for too many Americans the financial pain endures without respite. Enormous numbers of our young people are graduating from college only to find that the job market simply doesn’t have a place for them.

So, what are many of them doing? They are starting their own businesses, of course. And already, corporations such as Fundable are gearing up to inaugurate investment vehicles wherein anyone with a little cash to spare can help a start-up get a foothold – in exchange for a stake, regardless of its size, in the company.

Let’s hope this democratization of start-up capital fulfills its promise as a fresh new way to support America’s next wave of forward-thinking entrepreneurs.  I’m all for that.