Investor Spotlight: Big Fish
August 26, 2020
Big Fish is a boutique software design, development and consulting studio in Tampa, Florida. Companies in the healthcare and field service industries hire us to design and develop their custom mobile applications. We are an experienced team of software craftspeople, fueled by the belief that the right software can transform your organization – or entire industry! Companies hire us when a one-size-fits-all software solution won’t meet their needs. After all, innovation doesn’t happen with the generic or mass-market.
Sara MacQueen, Founder and President
Sara has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and spent 10 years in project management and consulting before founding Big Fish. She relocated to the Tampa Bay area from Canada in 2015. Sara has been interviewed by a variety of local and national media for her expertise in mobile tech and business, and was chosen as one of 25 Mobile Women to Watch by a national magazine. In her free time, Sara enjoys hitting the water in her kayak, visiting a local craft brewery or sharing a good meal with friends in the Tampa Bay area.
You’re a fairly new EDC Investor, what are you looking forward to most in supporting local economic development efforts?
As a business owner who made the deliberate choice to relocate to the Tampa area, I’m most looking forward to sharing my story and being part of the growth and change that’s happening here.
When you are talking to people who don’t live here, what do you tell them about Tampa?
I discovered Tampa while on a trip here six years ago. That trip changed my life.
I loved the area so much that I wound up coming back and staying longer.
The Tampa Bay region is very vibrant, friendly and has an engaged technology community. We have people relocating here from all over, and that is part of what makes it special. New ideas are flowing in, people are open, the business community is very welcoming, and the culture is anything but stagnant.
There is also a whole lot packed into a relatively small geographical area. Between Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater and all the adjacent towns and cities, we have almost 3 million people who live here. Whether you want city life, small towns, beaches, nice restaurants or urban living, you can have it all – in one day. This much variety is hard to find elsewhere.
Eight months after my first visit I was making plans to move myself and my company here.
That is the story I tell.
What excites you most about Tampa’s future?
The future of transportation here excites me. So does our growing technology community. I say that variety is the spice of life and there is, and will continue to be, no shortage of it here.
We’ve all been staying at home much more the past few months due to COVID-19. Have you discovered any new hobbies or learned any new skills during this time?
I can’t say I have. This has been a very busy time for Big Fish. We design and develop custom software for healthcare companies and demand for our services has been strong. The healthcare industry is heavily regulated and the upside of this pandemic is that some of the common barriers to innovation have almost gone away…government and industry approvals are coming faster, restrictions have been lessened, and for the visionaries – there is an awful lot of opportunity right now! Especially in the mobile application space, which is where we specialize.
