Whenever you throw a party, there’s always a tipping point—the moment you know you have enough of a crowd for your guests to begin great conversations.

The same principle can be applied to any dynamic community, including South Florida’s high tech and venture capital sectors. The ability to conduct a productive exchange, generate ideas and excitement, and create an exciting agenda all depend on having enough players at the table.

For years, the South Florida entrepreneurial community has struggled with the issues of critical mass. We’ve had waves of venture capital interest that have come and gone. Too often, talk of the “brain drain” has short-circuited the sense of excitement we need to build a tech community that regularly attracts venture capital investment.

At the Pino Center for Global Entrepreneurship at Florida International University (FIU), we feel that the right moment—South Florida’s moment—is now.

My hopes were reinforced at the first meeting of TEDx Brickell. TED—originally Technology, Education and Design—speaks to individuals who see the promise of new ideas in an open environment. TEDx comprises a series of local meetings held throughout the world at which innovators from all fields deliver great insights on how they broke through.

At TEDx Brickell, we heard from Cesar Alvarez, chairman of law giant Greenberg Traurig, whose career is testimony to persistence and resilience in the face of obstacles. We also heard from Eghosa Omoigui, director of strategic investments for Intel Capital, who spoke of the single most important quality entrepreneurs need: determination to keep getting up over and over again.

Thanks to organizer Marc Billings so many of us had the chance to draw inspiration from these messages. I left the meeting even more determined to bring this sense of innovation and persistence to our Pino Center community.

By getting up again and again, each time wiser and more determined, we stand the best chance of bringing to South Florida the entrepreneurship ecosystem we need and deserve.

View all articles by Irma Becerra-Fernandez.