Its Endeavor Summit 2026 leaned into the idea that some of the most interesting companies today are being built outside traditional tech hubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were tired of innovation only being talked about in two places: Silicon Valley or China,\u201d said Endeavor co-founder and CEO Linda Rottenberg in a recorded message. \u201cWhat we see is that talent is everywhere. Innovation can come from anywhere. The future is elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Miami, that idea lands at the right moment. The city has spent the last few years positioning itself as a bridge between ecosystems, and this event leaned directly into that role.<\/p>\n
Miami as a hub, not a backdrop<\/p>\n
If the video set the global stage, Claudia Duran, Endeavor\u2019s regional managing director for North America & managing director of Endeavor Miami, brought it back to the room.<\/p>\n
\u201cWelcome to Miami, the Magic City, where anything is possible,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
More than 80 entrepreneurs from 30 countries were in attendance, a mix that reflected the summit\u2019s core idea of engaging directly with other founders navigating similar challenges in very different markets.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis event is for you,\u201d Duran told the audience. \u201cThe magic of Endeavor happens when entrepreneurs come together and connect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Building in tough markets, scaling anyway<\/p>\n
That idea came into focus early in the session on scaling across complex financial systems.<\/p>\n
Founders such as Gerry Giacom\u00e1n Colyer of Clara and Manuel Godoy of F\u00e9lix<\/a> spoke about what it actually takes to build in markets where infrastructure is uneven and trust has to be earned.<\/p>\n For Godoy, the starting point was behavioral, not technical.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had to build something that emulated that human experience\u2026 while enabling the convenience of digital,\u201d he said, explaining why F\u00e9lix built its remittance product directly on WhatsApp.<\/p>\n That focus on user behavior showed up early.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat made me convinced that we were up to something was when looking at our users being marveled at the product in those early days,\u201d Godoy said. \u201cI remember our first user. She was skeptical at first. But when she confirmed the money had arrived to her family, she was amazed, and then she became an ambassador.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, the essence is understanding that the user is really appreciating the product so much that they cannot leave it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n As F\u00e9lix expanded, that insight shaped how they approached new markets.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we understood is: who is our user? And how do we grow by focusing on users that are very similar to that first one,\u201d Godoy explained.<\/p>\n Across the panel, the takeaway was consistent: companies built in more complex environments tend to scale with a different kind of discipline.<\/p>\n Fintech is moving faster than the rules<\/p>\n That tension \u2013\u00a0between innovation and infrastructure \u2013 came up again in a later breakout on fintech.<\/p>\n For Dileep Thazhmon of Jeeves<\/a>, the shift is already underway.<\/p>\n \u201cStablecoins, like many things, are becoming a commodity,\u201d he said in a breakout session. \u201cCFOs don\u2019t care if it\u2019s a stablecoin or not. They care that it works better.\u201d<\/p>\n In other words, the underlying technology is fading into the background. What matters is performance. That mindset is shaping how Jeeves is building and expanding, including a planned launch in Argentina.<\/p>\n At the same time, Thazhmon pointed to another layer of change happening inside companies themselves: how AI is being deployed operationally.<\/p>\n \u201cInternally, you have to make a conscious effort to push AI,\u201d he said. That includes rethinking how teams are structured. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a CTO. Both VPs of Engineering report directly to me,\u201d he said, describing a flatter model that allows faster decision-making.<\/p>\n On the product side, the approach is increasingly modular.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve broken things up into agents that take on specific tasks,\u201d he explained, pointing to use cases like processing thousands of transactions tied to general ledger coding.<\/p>\n Looking ahead, Thazhmon sees stablecoins and AI converging in a more practical way.<\/p>\n \u201cStablecoins lend themselves cleanly for agentic spending,\u201d said Thazhmon [pictured below in center], meaning systems where software can make and execute financial decisions with a level of trust that didn\u2019t exist before.<\/p>\n AI moves from hype to application<\/p>\n That theme carried into other sessions as well.<\/p>\n In the infrastructure-focused conversation, operators like Yuri Frayman of Cast AI and Antoine Jebara of JumpCloud focused on efficiency, cost, and control \u2013 the less flashy, but more durable side of the AI wave.<\/p>\n Later, in breakout sessions, founders like Hovhannes Avoyan of video producing platform Picsart shared how AI is being embedded into products in ways that actually change how users interact with them.<\/p>\n \u201cGen Zs really value our fast models,\u201d he said. \u201cA few seconds delay, for them, is a big deal.\u201d He said that AI is progressing fast. At presentations, he often puts up four photos and asks audiences to choose what\u2019s AI. \u201c99 percent of people guess wrong.\u201d Soon AI video production will be better too. \u201cAI video by the end of the year will replace lots of human production.\u201d<\/p>\n Miami native Matthew Vega-Sanz, cofounder and CEO of Gail, noted that AI agents focus on specific industries and offer depth of knowledge. \u201cCompanies should treat AI agents like an employee,\u201d he asserted. \u201cStart off with one specific task, then add more.\u201d<\/p>\n The gap is widening between companies experimenting with AI and those building around it.<\/p>\n The hard part: turning traction into systems<\/p>\n Another thread running through the summit was what happens after early traction.<\/p>\n Sessions on go-to-market and growth brought in operators like David Bitton of DoorLoop, who spoke about the shift from founder-led sales to something repeatable.\u00a0 What works early on \u2013 speed, intuition, direct founder involvement \u2013 doesn\u2019t always scale. Building systems becomes unavoidable.<\/p>\n Bitton also told Refresh Miami that the company, which currently has 250 employees, is likely stepping back from expanding its footprint and instead focusing on creating AI-driven efficiencies.<\/p>\n At the same time, conversations around burnout pointed to a more honest view of what it takes to sustain that pace, with OnTop co-founder and CEO Julian Torres and Booksy co-founder and CEO Stefan Batory addressing the tradeoffs behind high performance.<\/p>\n From product to brand<\/p>\n By late afternoon, the focus shifted again, this time toward identity.<\/p>\n Erica Groussman of TRUBAR and veteran marketing executive Arturo N\u00fa\u00f1ez explored how companies move from building functional products to building brands that people actually connect with.<\/p>\n The bottom line: Product features can be copied, but brands are harder to replicate.<\/p>\n From \u201cElsewhere\u201d to everywhere<\/p>\n The day closed with a session that tied the theme together.<\/p>\n Mart\u00edn Migoya of Globant and EBANX co-founder and CEO Jo\u00e3o Del Valle returned to the idea that companies built outside traditional hubs are no longer exceptions \u2013\u00a0they\u2019re becoming the model.<\/p>\n For a city that sits between Latin America, the U.S., and Europe, that perspective is far from theoretical. In fact, it\u2019s already happening.<\/p>\n Pictured at the top of this post: Endeavor Entrepreneur Johanna Mikkola was the Summit\u2019s MC.<\/p>\n Doreen Hemlock contributed to this report.<\/p>\n READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:<\/p>\n I am a Miami-based technology researcher and writer with a passion for sharing stories about the South Florida tech ecosystem. I particularly enjoy learning about GovTech startups, cutting-edge applications of artificial intelligence, and innovators that leverage technology to transform society for the better. Always open for pitches via Twitter @rileywk or www.RileyKaminer.com.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/godoy-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Jeeves-dude-in-center-1-1024x689.jpg\")
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<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/a>Latest posts by Riley Kaminer (see all<\/a>) \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Global startup leaders assert that the future isn\u2019t in Silicon Valley On Wednesday, Endeavor Miami brought a different…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-242761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}