Dear Giants & Unicorns,

Big news - our co-founder, Michael Burtov, has been appointedChief Innovation Officer at Nova Southeastern UniversityandExecutive Director of the Alan B. Levan | NSU Broward Center of Innovation.

Read the Full Media Release

This is more than just a new role - it’s a massive opportunity to supercharge CGU’s mission and open even more doors for our incredible community.

What this means for Connecting Giants and Unicorns

Through this role, CGU now has a direct connection to South Florida’s largest innovation hub and one of the most advanced entrepreneurial ecosystems in the U.S. That means:

• More partnerships with top universities, corporations, and investors
• Access to state-of-the-art facilities and world-class programming
• Expanded opportunities for startups to scale globally
• A bigger platform to showcase our members’ ideas and achievements

About NSU & The Levan Center

NSU is Florida’s largest private research university, an R1 institution with over $5 billion in projected economic impact, 22,000+ students from all 50 states and 115+ countries, and one of only four U.S. universities offering both M.D. and D.O. programs.

The Levan Center is a 54,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility that brings together startups, corporations, investors, government, and academia to transform bold ideas into real impact - powered by a public-private partnership between NSU and Broward County.

What’s next

Our focus at CGU is clear - we are here to ignite and expand our ecosystem, support entrepreneurs and Corporate innovators from ideation to exit, and position South Florida as a global destination for innovation.

This milestone will help CGU bring our community more opportunities, more collaborations, and more ways to turn ideas into reality.

We’re taking the month of August off from events to finalize some exciting partnerships and prepare for an incredible year ahead. But don’t miss our nextGet Sip Done-Oakland Park Edition Breakfast on September 5th, where we’ll share more about this new appointment and dive into some of the major partnerships that we’ll be announcing throughout August.

Register here

Let’s shape what’s next, together.

Always Getting Sip Done,

Sabina Shuminov & Michael Burtov

Co-Founders, CGU – Connecting Giants and Unicorns