| Hi, it's Sarah McBride. In the past couple of weeks, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez says, he has hobnobbed with a large cast of venture capital luminaries who have come to town. That list includes former Google chief Eric Schmidt, Andreessen Horowitz general partner Chris Dixon, Craft Ventures' David Sacks and Palantir Chairman Peter Thiel—who recently bought an $18 million house in the city, according to reports on Tuesday. The mayor ended the week by taking part in a discussion on Clubhouse, the invitation-only audio forum favored by the technorati, making a pitch to startups that he's now delivered plenty of times before: Come to Miami. Over the weekend, Suarez even caught the attention of Elon Musk, tweeting an invitation for Musk to visit city hall. Musk replied on Monday that tunneling under the city would "solve traffic" and added that if Suarez and governor "want this done, we will do it." Miami and its mayor are having a tech moment. So much so that even some of the city's biggest champions sound surprised at the recent press, raising the question of how long Miami's buzz among entrepreneurs can last. "There's been a bit of excitement and hype around it, which I might argue is a little bit ahead of where it is," said Lane Bess, the former chief executive officer of Palo Alto Networks Inc., and who now backs startups through his firm Bess Ventures. Two years ago, he moved his official residence to Miami—actually, to a yacht located in wave-goodnight distance across the harbor from Sequoia Capital venture capitalist Jim Goetz's Miami residence. Bess is jazzed by the startup potential of the region, and talks it up whenever he gets the chance. He's reviewing a handful of companies for possible investment, but said he hasn't yet dropped cash in South Florida. He's also noticed that only a few of the other tech players who have moved to Miami appear to be investing there—at least, not for now. Miami attracted less than 1% of all venture dollars spent in the U.S. last year through mid-December, according to research firm PitchBook. That statistic doesn't faze Suarez. "My point is, there is plenty of room to grow," he said in a video conversation with Bloomberg. He points to logistics startup Reef Technology Inc., which has raised over $1 billion in venture funding, and says the region can foster more like it. When investors come check out Miami, they are "astonished by the caliber of people who are here." That group includes alumni of Magic Leap—based in nearby Plantation, Florida—which despite its stumbles as a gaming company has spawned an ecosystem of talented developers. It also includes Chewy Inc., the pet retailer that raised $1 billion in a 2019 IPO, and got mentioned over the weekend in a tweet by another well-known investor, Benchmark's Bill Gurley. "Hey Bill. What do you think of the tech migration to So Fla," asked the deputy mayor of south Florida's Broward County, via Twitter, attaching a map showing the locations of tech offices in the region. "Michael - love to see entrepreneurship spread," Gurley replied. "To have a vibrant ecosystem, I think you need three independent public companies north of $10b market cap that were founded in region. @Chewy qualifies. Seattle has this, NYC just recently qualified. LA close. It can take a while." The presence of established tech companies in an area helps create an ecosystem rich with engineers and proves to investors that home runs are possible. Though Miami can't yet claim many iconic tech giants, or the robust university system of a place like northern California, the city has other things to offer. Florida has no income tax, while California's top bracket is the highest in the country. And Miami has resisted Covid-19 lockdowns, meaning residents who don't mind the risk can dine in restaurants, go to gyms and party in clubs. Tech transplants can also tap into a vibrant music scene, and mix with a more diverse set of people than normally found in Silicon Valley circles. "There certainly is a cool factor," says Bess. "It's been muted during Covid, but that will return." It's up to Miami's entrepreneurs to make sure it doesn't disappear if the place gets overrun by techies. —Sarah McBride | 
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