Suncoast Venture Studio Launches Startup Engine in Sarasota

There is a new engine for startups humming north of downtown Sarasota. Suncoast Venture Studio opened with a leadership team full of founders who have built and sold companies, a downtown loft in the Rosemary District and a clear mission: create businesses here and keep them here.

Why a studio, why now

Think of the studio as a factory for companies. The approach is deliberate and hands on, not a passive accelerator or a traditional venture fund that writes checks after a company is already launched. The founders say they will generate ideas, build minimum viable products, test markets and then recruit experienced operators to run the businesses.

Travis Priest, the studio’s CEO and co-founder, has the kind of track record that makes investors listen. He founded companies that attracted acquisition interest from large buyers, including a deal with cybersecurity firm Symantec. Sitting around a conference table on the third floor of a Rosemary District building that once housed the area’s first Black church, Priest laid out the simple strategy: find problems, build solutions, attract leadership to run the ventures locally.

The timing is pragmatic. Sarasota’s profile has shifted in recent years. Remote work brought an influx of tech workers, and a stable pool of retired executives is sitting on capital and industry experience. The studio’s founders see an opening to convert that mix into homegrown startups, rather than watching talent and investment flow to Tampa, Orlando, Miami or beyond.

How the studio will operate

The Suncoast model starts internally. Ideas will come from studio brainstorming, conversations with industry partners, tech transfer opportunities from research institutions and direct problems companies ask the studio to solve. The first wave will emphasize technology ventures because they require smaller teams and less capital to reach proof of concept.

Once an idea clears initial vetting, the studio will build the product, run market tests and assemble a business plan, leveraging AI tools for speed. Each concept then goes before an investment advisory board for a go or no-go decision. If approved, the studio will provide seed capital, then recruit an experienced operator to lead the company.

Financially, the studio plans to put between $250,000 and $500,000 into each venture at launch. Depending on the opportunity, the studio expects to raise between $500,000 and $2 million from external investors as the next validation step.

Priest and his partners have a practical target: three to four ventures in seed stage by next year. At the time of this report, four concepts were moving through the studio’s process.

Backing and boardroom muscle

Suncoast Venture Studio is not a lab of strangers. The senior team is populated by exited CEOs and operators who know how to build companies and sell them. Alongside Priest are co-founders and board members with deep experience: Will Dolan, a fintech and financial services executive; Paul Harder, who has steered companies to successful exits including a Ford acquisition; and Dave Leland, a two-time exited tech founder.

On the executive side, Sean Dotson serves as COO. Dotson founded RND Automation in Sarasota and sold it in 2021 to a private equity buyer. Dan Alpert is the CMO, bringing digital transformation experience across industries. The leadership mix is meant to supply founders with strategic, operational and capital resources before the companies leave the studio’s nest.

Keeping talent and capital on the Suncoast

One of the studio’s central goals is to slow brain drain. Ringling College of Art and Design, New College and other regional schools graduate creative and technical talent that often gets lured away to larger markets or big studios and studios with established recruiting pipelines. The founders want to create a compelling alternative: startups here, meaningful roles and pathways to growth without leaving Sarasota.

The studio has already started local engagement. This summer it ran an internship cohort and is hosting a fall group from New College. Leaders say they are in conversations with Ringling, USF and the University of Florida to expand partnerships and give students hands-on experience building companies from scratch.

Beyond students, the studio is pitching itself as a place for retired executives to invest time and capital locally. The founders argue that Sarasota has both the capital and the leadership experience — it simply needs a formal channel to deploy those resources into new ventures.

Challenges ahead

Building companies is hard work, and the studio is candid about its biggest hurdle: finding the right founders to run the startups the studio creates. The team wants operators with grit, industry experience and the ability to scale early-stage businesses. Those people are uncommon, and the studio’s leaders say attracting them to Sarasota will be a top priority.

Priest described the search as looking for four-leaf clovers. The region’s tech ecosystem is growing, but to land the highest-potential leaders, the studio will need to sell the quality of life, the talent pool and the long-term opportunity of building durable companies on the Suncoast.

What success will look like

Success will be measured in several ways. Of course return on invested capital matters, but the founders also want tangible local impact: number of ventures launched, quality jobs created and dollars that remain deployed in the community.

The immediate numeric goal is realistic: three to four ventures per year in the early seasons of the studio. Over time, the founders envision branching into adjacent industries that still touch technology, such as manufacturing, health care and services tied to coastal living and regional needs.

Closing the loop

Suncoast Venture Studio is an experiment in place-building. It combines entrepreneurial experience, seed capital and a hands-on production model to generate startups that anchor talent and investment in Sarasota. The studio is not promising instant wins, but it is offering a higher-probability path for founders who want resources, runway and a shot at scale without leaving the Suncoast.

For a region long associated with tourism and real estate, the studio stakes a different claim: build a local tech infrastructure one business at a time, and keep the next wave of founders and doers right where they started.