
Why Atlanta Should Be Your Next Startup HQ - azsromej
http://miter.mit.edu/why-atlanta-should-be-your-next-start-up-hq
======
Xcelerate
As someone from Atlanta, I can confirm that there is a growing interest in
start-ups (or at least at GT there was). My goal after grad school is to start
a company; I just don't know in what yet :)

I should mention that it's difficult to characterize all people in Atlanta
under one sort of personality type. In my experience, it varies wildly.
Atlanta is more of a commuter city where a lot of people from the suburban
area surrounding it drive to work each day. Of those who actually live in the
city, I believe liberal is more frequent (particularly in the Midtown area),
but again, there is a wide variety.

Atlanta has a reputation for crime, but this has actually improved
significantly since the Olympics and I don't believe Atlanta is any worse than
other big cities now.

There's also a variety of things to do in Atlanta. Some examples including the
High Museum of Art and many local jazz clubs. There's also a number of
outdoorsy things. Two prominent bike trails (Silver Comet and Freedom/Stone
Mountain trail) + a new one they're building through Atlanta called the
Beltline.

~~~
TechNewb
I also live, work, and have grown up in Atlanta. I have to say he gives a
realistic and well made argument. I'd personally rather live/work in Atlanta
over Austin, but the culture of Atlanta, while improving, is nowhere near the
likes of San Fran or NYC.

But there have been many successful start ups through out Atlanta's history,
such as Coke, Turner Broadcasting System(CNN/Turner/etc), UPS, and more. All
of these were revolutionary start ups at the time, and now are massive
corporations. I expect future companies like this to be founded here in
Atlanta, because it is essentially the capital of the South East,
geographically about a quarter of the country.

What makes me want to move away from Atlanta is the poor city infrastructure,
the dependence on suburbs, and the lack of culture. In Atlanta there is
possibly less muse than in San Fran or NYC, and the city as a whole can
sometimes come across as anti intellectual, which is quite the opposite of
most of San Fran and NYC. Beside GA Tech and Emory college students,
networking would be relatively small when compared to NYC or San Fran. But for
someone who already has their network built out, such as a start up from
SF/NYC trying to cut costs, Atlanta could be the place. And it's also ideal
for people moving from smaller cities who don't want the large city feel.

If Atlanta had a more walkable and livable environment, it's be quite amazing.

~~~
melonakos
It's not "anti-intellectual", it's a refreshing dose of anti-snotty-ism (not
typically synonymous with cities containing top research universities).

~~~
TechNewb
I agree, there is very little snotty-ism compared to other cities. And one
would not feel the 'anti-intellectual' nature of the city if working in
certain environments, such as GATech, Emory, CDC, ect. Atlanta is a great
city, and for many people may be the best, but to compare it to San Fran and
NYC, there is still much room for improvement on many areas. GATech is just
awesome though.

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melonakos
Costs are low enough in Atlanta that you can actually start your business
without raising capital. Unthinkable, at least for an extended period of time,
in most other cities.

Most businesses shouldn't raise money either because they're not going to grow
fast enough to fit the VC model or they're going to dilute the founders so
much that the wind gets sucked out of the sails. For example, learn from an
Atlantan that just sold his Pardot no-investor-raised-money business for $95
million, [http://davidcummings.org/2010/05/08/when-raising-money-
makes...](http://davidcummings.org/2010/05/08/when-raising-money-makes-
sense/).

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luigi
Here's the Google cached text-only version:

[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:MPoNN4t...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:MPoNN4tv4uYJ:miter.mit.edu/why-
atlanta-should-be-your-next-start-up-hq/&hl=en&tbo=d&gl=us&strip=1)

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lgleason
I live in Atlanta and work with startups here.

Compared to where it was a few years ago it is doing a lot better.

With that being said it still isn't there yet. All of the points that the
author made are valid ones.

The plusses of being in Atlanta: 1\. Costs are generally lower. 2\. There are
some good resources for startups if you know where to look. 3\. We have had a
few successful exits in this town and we are getting a better tech startup
buzz. 4\. You have a major airport hub and can get to anywhere in the country
quickly and inexpensively. 5\. We are beginning to get more traction with
setting up hackathons and tech focused groups in the town. 6\. There are a few
quality companies that have recently come out of flashpoint.

Opportunities for growth: 1\. Atlanta Has not traditionally been a tech
focused town. Finance, Marketing, Retail and Media have been it's dominate
industries. IT has been more of a support function of those industries. 2\.
Atlanta investors are not as savvy as investors from tech hubs like Austin,
the Valley and New York which makes it more difficult to raise money locally
(a lot of startups have gone to one of those cities to raise money). 3\. The
resources in Atlanta do not seem to be as focused on creating tech centered
startups as they could be. If you look at the programs offered at the ATDC
etc. they tend to be focused on business development, product development,
operations (legal things etc.) and marketing. Many of the startup events are
filled with non-technical people with no money looking for co-founders for
their latest social/gaming/store based app. 4\. The community feels like it
needs to gel and circle around the quality startups in town to drive a culture
of quality....there are some low quality (me too) startups in town with non-
technical founders and no money who have received way too much press/buzz that
predictably have or will fail.

Many of the opportunities for growth are not unique to Atlanta. This is
probably also indicative of the small number of companies in Crunchbase that
are out of Atlanta.

The trajectory is going in the right direction, and if we can reach the
critical mass it could be great....so in a way Atlanta is still a startup of
startups.

------
rayiner
I think Atlanta has much to recommend in terms of a startup destination: great
access to smart engineers (Georgia Tech is in the city, Duke and UNC are not
too far away), low cost of living, quite livable, etc.

However, it's just so tremendously isolated. The closest real city with a real
financial/tech sector is Charlotte, but the transit interconnection between
the two is very weak and as a result there is very little cultural cross-
pollination between the two cities (unlike say DC and New York which are about
the same distance apart).

I think Philadelphia is actually a smarter bet. Low cost of living, like
Atlanta, Penn and Drexel right in the city, and just 90 minutes on the train
to either New York or DC. The amount of cross-pollination in the DC-PHL-NYC
corridor is just phenomenal, enhanced by the fact that the three cities have
very different cultures and host very different types of industries.

~~~
kylebgorman
Having just moved after 6 years in Philadelphia: very high violent crime, and
corrupt local government w/ no interest in technology; rents are lower
compared to DC or NYC but raising rapidly. While I loved going to the Philly
tech meetups, most everyone was working in the suburbs, where companies are
free of the high city corporate tax rate (most cities don't _have_ corporate
taxes).

~~~
laurentoget
Atlanta can probably rival Philly when it comes to violent crime and corrupt
institutions.

~~~
melonakos
Every city has pockets that are bad and pockets that are safe. Atlanta has
tons of safe places.

~~~
Mz
I fatfinger voted on this comment (when I wasn't intending to vote at all). I
don't know if it was an upvote or downvote. Whoops! and sorry.

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D3nver
Emory University is also in Atlanta. Definitely some smart people there.

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paulgb
> Most entrepreneurs rightly consider San Francisco to be the #1 city for
> starting a company

Most consumer-tech entrepreneurs with a US passport, maybe.

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guard-of-terra
Isn't Atlanta a place with "strong traditions and moral values"? Which is
Paul-Graham-speak for "an awful place for innovation"?

~~~
cglace
Is innovation fueled by debauchery?

~~~
potatolicious
The opposite of "family values" is not "debauchery", despite what religious
extremists would have you believe.

~~~
Nate75Sanders
In fact, they often go hand-in-hand :)

I lived in Lexington, KY for 14 years and I believe we were among America's
leaders in churches, strip clubs, and chain restaurants (per capita, that is).

There's a Portland joke somewhere in here...

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rkischuk
The Crunchbase numbers of only 21 startups started since 2008 are grossly
misstated, even based on Crunchbase data.

I think I personally know 21 companies started AND funded since then in
Atlanta. When I search for individual companies, they show up as "Atlanta, GA"
and "Founded 8/2010" (for example), but they don't show up in a search.

I'd expect there are probably at least 100 Atlanta companies in Crunchbase
founded since January 2008, and probably over 300 companies founded in that
time. A possibly unexpected trait of Atlanta is that our companies aren't
super-focused on Crunchbase, Angel List, etc, so we probably under-report on
most research like this. (Our own fault - Atlanta companies - spend 10 minutes
to add your startup to Crunchbase and Angel List).

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dntblnk
I went to Stanford, but picked Atlanta as the place for my startup. All the
cons are true--less capital, difficult to find rockstar talent (particularly
technical talent), but so are the pros (cheap, healthier business environment,
etc). For me, I'm trying to build a values-based organization, and I think
it'd be tough (or impossible) to do so effectively in the Bay Area.

------
shadowfiend
Worth mentioning, the ATDC, the Georgia Tech incubator, is actually over 20
years old rather than a new thing as the article implies. They've recently
done a lot to improve their handling of early startups, however. Amongst other
things, Mindspring went through the ATDC back when they were in their early
stages. More interesting things Georgia Tech has done recently include the
InVenture Prize (<https://inventureprize.gatech.edu> ) that encourages
students to create new inventions. Winners get patent filings and such.
Additionally, they recently created Flashpoint (<http://flashpoint.gatech.edu>
), a startup accelerator.

Meanwhile, right next to Georgia Tech campus (in the basement of the Biltmore)
has sprung up a space that is rapidly becoming a common spot for entrepreneurs
(at least those who live around there), Hypepotamus
(<http://www.hypepotamus.com> ). Atlanta Startup Village, a monthly-ish event
to let folks share what they're working on, is also held out of Hypepotamus
([http://atlantastartupcommunity.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/atla...](http://atlantastartupcommunity.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/atlanta-
startup-village-in-photos/) ).

Culture-wise, Tech itself is on top of Midtown which has plenty of nightlife.
Other hotspots include the Old Fourth Ward/Edgewood areas (the sound table,
noni's, Church), Virginia Highland (Dark Horse Tavern, Hand in Hand),
Buckhead, etc. Old Fourth Ward, Little Five, Edgewood, and other places in
Atlanta all have active arts communities (see for example
<http://fluxprojects.org> and
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat_Farm_Arts_Center> ). There are several bars
to keep an eye on both up-and-coming and better known bands (for example,
Smith's Olde Bar), and ~an hour and 15 minutes away is Athens, which has its
own thriving arts and music scenes.

I think the trick with Atlanta is nothing is pervasive—you have to know where
to look, and it's not necessarily obvious where to do so. But I think if you
know where to look, you'll find there's plenty of culture to be had. The good
news is, there are many very smart and motivated people working to increase
the visibility of both the culture and the startup community of the city. I
think we'll increasingly see the effect of these efforts in the near future
(indeed, I think they've already begun to have a clear effect).

------
michaelbuddy
St. Louis - I recommend St. Louis. Startup culture, associations and
opportunities are blowing up.

------
laurentoget
did anybody manage to read this and have a summary of the point?

~~~
tuxidomasx
Basically, the article says Atlanta is good because the cost of living is
cheaper, there is a lot of smart talent due to the educational institutions,
and the city is seeing an increase in both communication and transportation
infrastructure.

Downsides mentioned (in comparison to the more popular startup cities) are the
lack of startup investment capital, not as many people with an
entrepreneurship mentality, both of which lead to a less-active startup
culture.

However, I wonder what the effects would be if Atlanta becomes a startup hub
on par with NY or San Francisco. I rather like the fact that it's cheaper to
live in Atlanta than most big cities.

An increase of capital to the local economy would result in rise in the cost
of living, which (I believe) is one of oft-cited reasons for moving there. A 3
bedroom townhouse in a very nice residential area for ~$150k isnt unheard of.

~~~
laurentoget
Believe me it would take a lot of startups to even make a dent in the amount
of available housing at bargain price.

I would be more concerned by the fact that traffic is a nightmare and there is
not much hope the state of georgia would ever get their act together and build
even a half decent transit infrastructure.

~~~
rayiner
Traffic isn't exactly a picnic in Silicon Valley. And on the traffic front,
there is a key advantage to living in Atlanta: while it's not possible to live
entirely without a car in the city, it's entirely possible to live close to
work inside the city, because rents are so cheap. Traffic inside the city
itself really isn't that bad--it's traffic in and out of the city from the
suburbs.

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balloot
Red state. 'Nuff said.

~~~
zevyoura
Austin seems to be doing alright.

~~~
balloot
It is? What interesting thing has come out of Austin anytime recently?

~~~
seats
Guess it depends on definition of interesting and recently.

<http://www.austinemerging100.com/list.php>

HomeAway and BazaarVoice both just had IPOs. Indeed got bought for likely ~1
billion this year too. Phurnace exited to BMC for ~500 million about 2 years
ago, Convio IPO that year. Spiceworks and WhaleShark seem like they are doing
pretty well.

SocialWare, AppSumo, Uship, UnboundID, Outbox, Mass Relevance, Boundless,
BlackLocus, WPEngine, CopperEgg, SailPoint, etc. I'm sure I'm missing tons,
but point is there are lots.

