Miami and Charlotte skylines by Michael Bolden and James Willamor on Flickr.

The Charlotte (North Carolina) Chamber of Commerce brought its annual Inter City Visit to the Knight community of Miami June 22 to 25, hoping to build off the entrepreneurial and startup energy of the Magic City.

The tour, an annual event by the Charlotte Chamber that has been going on for more than 50 years, takes public officials and business leaders from Charlotte, another Knight community, to different cities around the U.S. to get a closer look at that city’s programs and initiatives, according to the chamber’s website. In recent years, the group has traveled to Nashville, Minneapolis and Houston.

Matt Haggman, left, watches as Leandro Finol discusses Miami’s startup community at The Idea Center. Photo by Glissette Santana. 

A panel about investing in entrepreneurship, moderated by Knight Foundation Miami Program Director Matt Haggman, was on the agenda for members of the chamber. Leandro Finol, executive director of The Idea Center at Miami Dade College, Susan Amat, founder of Venture Hive, Leigh-Ann Buchanan, executive director of Venture Café, and Brian Brackeen, founder and CEO of face-recognition software and analysis company Kairos, led the hourlong conversation.

During the visit, the group explored Miami landmarks such as the Port of Miami and Wynwood Walls. At each location, the visitors participated in panels about Miami’s economic  or philanthrophic success.

During last Thursday’s discussion, Haggman said that greater talent retention and attraction is key to building expanded opportunity across communities and building a greater sense of possibility.

“This effort was launched together to build what we call an ecosystem,” Haggman said. “It’s a network and, in terms of what we’re trying to do here in Miami, it really has to be about the entire community with the whole idea being that the more we create [talent] collisions across the community, the richer the ideas that will come as a result.”

A report released by Knight in March about the state of Miami’s startup ecosystem highlights why providing a community support system for innovators and founders is key to startup growth.

During the entrepreneurship panel, Brackeen said that the reason Miami is so attractive to new entrepreneurial opportunities compared to larger cities such as San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and New York  is simple: money.

“While it’s getting much more expensive than it used to be, [Miami] is still a much less expensive place to do business,” Brackeen said. “One of the big things for Miami, and for Florida in general, is the access to capital. There are three startup companies for every one angel investor in California. There are three angel investors for every one startup company in Florida. And so this dynamic leads to a lot of folks looking for deals, joining groups like [Accelerated Growth Partners], which [Knight] funded.”

Accelerated Growth Partners, an angel investment network, invests in startups to accelerate local growth in the sector. It also has sponsored a series to provide investors with educational resources and an overview of the South Florida startup market.

Charles Thomas, Knight’s Charlotte program director, said his city has an incredible opportunity to learn from Miami.

“We need to be inclusive and diverse in the work that we do surrounding entrepreneurship,” Thomas said. “I think the biggest thing is accepting your assets in what you have, but also that diversity piece. Being able to reach out and be inclusive. The other piece about Miami … is that they’re just doing it. They’re putting it out there, and they’re willing to have that moxie. I can say that I would love to see Charlotte have a little more fun and creativity with taking action.”

Glissette Santana is an editorial intern at Knight Foundation. Email her at [email protected] and tweet her @glissettetweets.