The Proxenia Foundation · Central Florida
Central Florida is where hospitality is run. It’s also where innovative technology is built. Almost nothing connects the two.
The people who run hotels, restaurants, attractions, and venues know exactly where an idea meets reality. Proxenia gets them to the same table as the founders building what’s next.
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Begin with experience
Start with a problem someone actually has.
A solution only matters if it fits a working business — its staff, systems, guests, and budget. Those details are easiest to get right while the idea can still change.
Make the connection
Bring the right people into the conversation.
One honest conversation surfaces the requirement a product demo would miss. Proxenia gets hospitality professionals and founders examining the same idea, early.
Build the foundation
Give those relationships somewhere to continue.
The Foundation builds the programs that let people come back, pass on what they learned, and take a real next step.
The opportunity
World-class hospitality operations. World-class innovation. No shared platform to connect them.
Central Florida’s visitor economy generates more than $90 billion a year in total economic impact, alongside a fast-growing base of emerging technology talent. But proximity alone isn’t a strategy. Without a neutral bridge, operators stay locked in daily execution while founders build in isolation.
Proxenia is that bridge — a neutral, lasting place where operators, founders, and researchers move the industry forward together.
Steward
Bring regional knowledge, experience, and relationships into shared use.
Structure
Turn those assets into programs, pathways, and practical support.
Sustain
Build the trust, resources, and continuity that keep it all moving.
Building the interchange Central Florida has been missing — between the people who run hospitality and the people reinventing it.
THE STAKEHOLDERS
Where do you fit?
Contribute the experience, access, knowledge, or early leadership you already have.
Mentors & Advisors
Challenge assumptions, share relationships, and help founders make better decisions.
THE ACCELERATOR
Supporting founders is part of the larger mission.
In each Proxenia Accelerator cohort, founders test real decisions with operators, mentors, investors, and industry experts—leaving with clearer customers, stronger evidence, and practical next steps.
Three cohorts. 16 founders. 19 operators and specialists advising. 50+ working and learning sessions.
Cohort 3.2 runs October 20, 2026 – January 2027. Applications are open now.
People putting experience to use
What that looks like in practice.
When Jonathon joined Cohort 3.1, RIVO was still working out its hospitality fit — which buyer, which message, how to pitch it. By the showcase he could say it plainly: “This is our fit, this is where we belong, this is who we’re talking to, and how we sell and pitch the product.”
Proxenia gave me the momentum and community support I needed to bring my idea to life.
Adriana, RealAgent Studio
It’s helped us expand into other industries beyond our initial segment, with a focus on hospitality.
Andrew, Amphibian
Take part
Help make the next conversation possible.
Early support establishes the time, coordination, and resources behind the Foundation’s programs. Hospitality professionals, educators, founders, and supporters can each contribute.
Your support helps fund the next cohort, the Proxenos mentor network, hospitality research and briefings, and the memberships and gatherings that keep operators and founders connected.
Member of FRLA · CFHLA · Visit Orlando · Orlando Chamber of Commerce · FBIA
From the Proxenos’ Ledger — we write down what we’re figuring out. Read the Insights →