Lake County’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is built on a simple but powerful idea: when business support organizations collaborate, entrepreneurs benefit. That reality is clearly reflected in the growth story of SmartTracker.ai and its founder, Jose Dueñas.
Jose joined the South Lake Chamber of Commerce to begin building relationships and better understand the local business landscape. Through the Chamber, he connected with David Colby, who recognized both the potential of SmartTracker and the importance of introducing Jose to additional regional resources. David connected Jose with Brian Bedrick and the UCF Business Incubation Program—an introduction that became a turning point in the company’s growth journey.
After joining the Incubation Program, Jose gained access to one-on-one business advising, strategic guidance, and a community of founders navigating similar challenges. With support from the Incubation Program, Jose sharpened his go-to-market strategy, strengthened investor readiness, and refined how SmartTracker.ai communicates its value to enterprise and government customers. That progress soon translated into tangible outcomes such as
- Presenting at the Florida Venture Forum
- Participating in the Florida Health Care Innovation Pitch Day
- Participating in the University of Miami Angel Network Pitch Day
- Finalist for 15th Annual GrowFL Florida Companies to Watch Awards
- Partnering with Amazon Web Services to build a telehealth tool addressing rural healthcare gaps
- Submitting two new patents
These achievements didn’t happen in isolation. They are the result of a coordinated ecosystem in which Chambers of Commerce, county and city economic development departments, incubators, and universities work together—each contributing a distinct but complementary form of support. The South Lake Chamber of Commerce, local economic development teams, and the UCF Business Incubation Program work in tandem to connect founders with relationships, resources, and structured support—creating a clear pathway from early traction to scalable growth in Lake County.
SmartTracker’s story reinforces an important truth: collaboration multiplies impact. When organizations actively refer, connect, and champion entrepreneurs across the ecosystem, founders win—and so does the regional economy.
