Regardless, I recently spent some time in the ultimate petri dish of thought: a university campus⸺University of Florida, Gainesville, to be precise. What a great campus, offering up a vast assortment of alligator sculptures and football shrines, retired jerseys, and student athletes.
I never thought of Gainesville as an entrepreneurial hub or really anything more than a football school. I was wrong. It's a major center for biotech, agtech, and AI. There's an innovation center and even a museum of entrepreneurship displaying an Apple computer from 1984. 1984!! (The year I threw a combat boot at my sister's head).
Gainesville's vibe is a distinct blend of innovation and old fart-esque. But somehow it works. And why not? Gainesville has a history of innovation. It is, after all, the home of Gatorade, the drink that launched a multibillion-dollar industry. Gatorade was developed by a doctor in 1965 to help the Florida Gator football players stay hydrated (Gator + aid, get it?). Great story. Great innovation.
As part of my trip to Gainesville, I spent an afternoon at The Good Life Station in neighboring Alachua. It's a funky combination of co-working space, sushi restaurant, and podcast studio. But that sunny afternoon, it was an idea incubator. We met with UF business and marketing students and talked about their challenges. Most are about to graduate. But they are worried.
Make no mistake, these students are facing challenges: the job market is tight. Competitive and nonsensical. Filtered through AI before a human ever sees your name. Entry-level requires experience, but no one will hire without experience.
Places like The Good Life Station serve a huge role in facilitating career-search solutions. Incubators. Founder meetups. They remind young founders that innovation isn't a solo act and waiting for permission is an old fart-esque strategy.
So, the challenge to students and anyone looking for a job is this: If the job market feels broken, build something. If no one is hiring you, collaborate. If the system is automated, out-create it. Hack your own problem.
Gatorade wasn't built to disrupt beverages. It was built because players were dehydrated. Someone saw a problem and solved it. That's the Gatorade Effect.
Every generation gets its hydration problem. This one might be employment, AI, capital, attention. The answer won't be nostalgia. It will be invention.
And in Gainesville — beneath the football shrines and the 1984 Mac — that lesson feels very much alive.
