TREPHUB INC
MELBOURNE, FLORIDA

, a secret group for techies and geeks to meet and collaborate in Melbourne. However, at first no place in Melbourne would let them meet because they had the word “hackers” in their name, even though they were harmless and had no malicious intentions. Eventually they were able to meet at a local café and grew organically from a few members to the three hundred it is today. [See Coder’s Hackers Founders meetup group] The founders, Ahmed Reza and Brandon Schmitt focused hardcore on community to grow the startup ecosystem in the Spacecoast. Through many passionate volunteers, TrepHub (the Entrepreneurship Hub) was born. Ahmed is a techie and a serial entrepreneur. He got his start working on NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope project while at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He flew down to the Space Coast for the Launch of Spitzer and has been in love with the area ever since. His technical background includes developing AI for UAVs on a DOD project in Central Florida, hacking car computers at SuperChips, to helping develop some cutting edge, large scale software solutions for the travel industry as a Software Lead at NCR and then as a Software Architect at LiveTV. During his time at Cornell, Ahmed also helped design the telematics and control system for the Cornell Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team and advised the Darpa Grand Challenge team. Hacking things together and building things was keeping him up at night. As such, he’s always had two passions: technology and business. Ahmed’s first business venture was also launched while he was at Cornell, a shop called “Ahmed’s House of Essence” in the Ithaca Mall. After moving to Florida, he started CyberCarz, which sold cars online and went to start more software-oriented startups in cahoots with other hackers and entrepreneurs. Ahmed loves to spend his rare free time with his family. He also likes to unwind by meeting up with his fellow organizers and members of the local meetup group, Coders, Hackers, and Founders. Tweets about TrepHub This is a very welcoming environment regardless of your level of skills with development. Everyone is passionate about the things they are doing. There is a great altruistic nature present, in regards to the projects we’re beginning to work on! I was very glad I was able to attend.