Where, Oh Where?
The next entrepreneurial hot spot may be coming soon to a city near you.
At the apex of Silicon Valley's fame, you'd think its
realtors were engaged in some sort of subliminal campaign to lure
in tech start-ups. What really made Silicon Valley the granddaddy
of hot spots? Why did Boeing leave Seattle for Chicago? Why is
Denver getting so much press? It's a fusion of many different
elements. Silicon Valley had been primed for its status starting in the
'30s, when Stanford University began a campaign to become a
radio and communications research center. It worked. Companies like
Fairchild Semiconductor and Hewlett-Packard set up shop nearby.
Since then, generations of entrepreneurs have crawled out of the
woodwork. "There's an acceptability of risk-taking
here," says Shanda Bahles, general partner at El Dorado
Ventures, a Menlo Park, California, venture capital firm. "The
people who took risks failed, and then did it again and were
successful-those are the stories that make the rounds of
entrepreneurs." Another prime ingredient Bahles sees is a social one:
"Because people change jobs so often, whether in a new
position at an established company or doing a new start-up, they
continue to have business and personal relationships that are
intertwined," she says. "You may be having dinner with
someone you've known for 20 years and really trust and say,
'Hey, I'm starting a new company. Come do this with
me.' That's the sort of thing you don't get just
everywhere." And it's that vibe people felt when they
arrived in Silicon Valley. Content Continues Below
So what should we look for in the next hot spot? Look for
vibrancy, says John Challenger of international outplacement firm
Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., whose survey of job-seeking
executives and managers found Austin; Charlotte, North Carolina;
Chicago; Denver and San Diego to be the most favored. A vision for
the future, however, is just as critical to creating a vibe that
will invigorate businesses. "Some cities feel modern and
cutting-edge, like they're looking forward and not relying on
any one industry or set of companies to dominate its cultural,
civic and corporate landscape," Challenger says. Though hot spots change, if you look at a city's
infrastructure, government, educational facilities, employee base,
hometown corporations and livability, then you may find your prime
locale, regardless of its "hot" status. But if you're
interested in planting down in the nation's next hot spot, you
may find it, ironically, in Silicon Valley. Now that people have
jumped off the dotcom bandwagon, rents are down, traffic has
thinned, and, best of all, business is making sense again.
"For the past six months, we've only been seeing serious
entrepreneurs [pitching their companies]," says Bahles.
"It's not just people saying, 'Wow, everybody's
making millions in Silicon Valley. I think I'll do that,
too.' They know what it takes and they've got the
experience." | Bohemian Rhapsody | | Are techies the new bohemians? A new study suggests they
might be. High-tech workers tend to flock to cities that seem more
tolerant and diverse as evidenced by gay, artistic and foreign-born
resident communities, according to a study released by The
Brookings Institution. The study notes that in the past, companies would locate near
transportation hubs or natural resources-the necessary ingredients
for business. Now that talent is a factor, it's smart to go
where key workers gather. The top cities for both diversity and
high-tech success include Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, San
Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC.-L.T. |
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