My name is Marco Santana and I’m a news junkie.
There, I admitted it.
I love to read about what is going on in the community and, as a writer, I like to think about how I can raise awareness of a particular topic.
It’s honestly not some noble cause. To me, it’s just how I work.
As the pandemic slowly comes to a halt and businesses and regions start to slowly crank back into gear, I consider Orlando Tech News a great vehicle for those in the community who want to let people know: “We’re back.”
It’s why one of my first stories on here is about Dennis Pape and the upcoming re-emergence of his VentureScaleUp accelerator.
As we head into summer, I expect programs from across Central Florida will reignite their engines while startups and other companies will be ready to start making news again.
These are the stories I want to share.
I can’t share them if I don’t know them so please email me at marcosantana77@gmail.com.
However, I wanted to take a moment first to explain my philosophy on storytelling, especially as it relates to startups and new businesses.
I sometimes get into trouble because, well, I’m as honest as can be when I speak with businesses pitching me a story.
I’ll say flat out: “This isn’t interesting but maybe this angle is.”
Some get offended but the majority understand that while their specialty is building a company, mine is telling interesting stories about it.
It’s why I think that even a year after I left the Orlando Sentinel, I still believe I have the deepest list of tech contacts in town.
But that’s a story for another day.
Today, I wanted to give an idea of where this site is heading. The recent renovation of the front page’s look will certainly not be the last.
In time, my goal is to launch a weekly podcast that both summarizes the city’s tech news of the week and gives perspective on why it’s important.
So I’ll have to figure out how to properly present that on the front page within the confines of my WordPress theme. Ideas certainly welcome.
That podcast will ultimately bring on guests from the community.
Maybe you’re launching a startup. Maybe you’re the new CEO of some big tech company. Maybe you have an event coming up.
Awesome.
Let’s talk about it on the podcast.
This podcast will also ultimately lead to a revitalized YouTube page. To paraphrase one of my favorite movies, they often say, “If you build it, they will come.”
Well, I built it last summer.
Nobody came.
I mean, sure, one of the videos ended up with nearly 200 views (a video I shot, coincidentally, in the same coworking space I’m now a part of).
But others flopped.
That was disappointing but, with time, I realize I also just expected people to watch without really doing a good job of promoting the content. I hope to change that now.
So all of those are plans for where Orlando Tech News is heading.
While I will be spending most of July in Chicago teaching high school students about journalism, I do plan to keep the site fresh, even if perhaps I will not be able to do as many in-person events as I want.
But once I return, it’s on.
The beauty of my platform is its flexibility. I don’t need to tell an editor what I’m working on. If I see something interesting, I’m going to go and cover it.
If I have an opinion to share, I’ll share it in the interest of bettering the Orlando tech community.
I hope you join me.
As a first step, I ask that you sign up for the newsletter. You won’t regret it.