“We will continue to invest in timeless, disruptive innovation as well as incubate purpose-driven ventures.”
Ben Sever, a serial entrepreneur, enterprise technologist, and renowned philanthropist, spent his dynamic career empowering technology, corporate culture, philanthropic awareness, entrepreneurial acceleration, creative communications, and purpose-driven brands. He holds the CEO, Chairman, and Founder role for eRemede, Entourage, Champa Bay Sports, Deal Closer Digital, Natural Born Visionary, MBP Ventures, and Phoenix Artistic Accelerator.
After spending three years in Manhattan to gain Fortune 500 experience with companies such as Oracle and ADP, Ben Sever purposefully brought his Tier 1 market expertise and network to Tampa in order to bolster its innovation ecosystem. Ben has held leadership roles in prominent organizations such as AdventHealth Carrollwood Foundation, Tampa Bay Wave, Synapse Florida, The Tampa Club, Project Transition USA (MacDill AFB), Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, The Tampa Bay Chamber, and The Florida Association of Veteran-Owned Businesses. He’s also an active contributor to the Forbes Business Council where he shares thought-leadership around healthcare technology, enterprise software, venture funding and philanthropy.
Ben’s eight-company portfolio, Phoenix Portfolio Partners, is headquartered in his hometown of Tampa, Florida but services national clientele. Phoenix Portfolio Partners is an Agile Venture Fund & Start-up Incubator. The cohesive portfolio consists of HealthTech, Mobile CRM, Digital Branding, SME Media, Artistic Empowerment, Altruistic Apparel, New Venture Consulting, and Career Coaching. The managing partners and national advisors consist of serial entrepreneurs, award-winning operators, venture capitalists, global agilists, Fortune 500 executives, Ivy League scholars, and philanthropic innovators. His mission is to continue to invest in timeless, disruptive innovation as well as incubate purpose-driven ventures.
When asked about his inspiration for becoming an entrepreneur, he stated, “ The current corporate landscape doesn’t embody agility, empowerment, innovation, open-mindedness, disruption, diversity, technology, community, or psychological safety. Nor does it democratize accessibility of mentorship, continuing education or self-development.” He continues by saying, “If any of those fundamental building blocks are missing, the organization will be sub-optimal and inevitably have flaws in go-to-market, human capital management, public relations, and culture.” He believes that taking all of those aforementioned tenants of an organization is the bedrock of humanity and, therefore, a sustainable global impact. In the future, he sees himself as a global disruptor in go-to-market strategy, culture, mobile engagement, and philanthropy.
One thing he didn’t expect was the amount of philanthropic impact he was able to create in the business community as a startup. He mentioned, “Due to the community-centric impact of our organizations, we are able to donate $100k+ per year to philanthropic efforts, and it always comes back around.” That is something that is unheard of for a start-up.
The one challenge he is currently facing is the ability to give equal focus on multiple entities while prioritizing innovation. One of his biggest lessons is patience, empowerment, and servant-leadership. He also mentions, “chasing purpose over the paper with total commitment to a higher purpose than self is the optimal methodology. He says you have to treat a start-up as if each decision is life or death, or you’ll never become a thought leader or disruptor.
When asked about his one mistake, he says pushing everyone to want to be a leader because it comes naturally to him, but as he matured, he realized that he needs to respect others’ potential to the extent they want to be pushed. Not everyone is built to carry the responsibility of being a C-Level, and that is more than okay as long as one’s day-to-day initiatives support a mission that moves humanity forward.
His advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is to test the market and craft a solution to a problem with a billion-dollar total addressable market in the arenas of health, finance, connectivity, philanthropy, transportation, branding, sports, or philanthropy. If there is one thing he could change about the world, he wants to change, democratizing education, communication, mentorship, and psychological safety.
Ben Sever’s biggest inspiration is seeing the beauty of a mentee evolve into living their passion and purpose. He would also love to thank his mentors, strategic partners, and board members.
A fun fact about Ben Sever is that he loves to hear motivational rap artists who are true lyricists that discuss struggle, pain, entrepreneurship, and leadership!
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