

Atlanta and Georgia lead U.S. in new business creation - brianculler
http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2009/05/18/entrepreneurs_atlanta_georgia.html

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stephenfleming
Plenty of startup ideas, plenty of money, plenty of entrepreneurs in Atlanta.
Not enough venture capital, but that's becoming less and less relevant to many
classes of startups.

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aneesh
This is quite creditable for Atlanta. But I wouldn't say "Move over, SF". This
includes all businesses, from new ice cream shops to new biotech companies. SF
probably still leads if you look at tech startups.

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old-gregg
I seriously doubt if SF was _ever_ leading in tech startups. I think you're
confusing "digital media/entertainment" with "tech". SF is all about page
ranks and eyeballs, just like TV channels are. Twitter is as much "tech" as
Fox: each heavily depends on technology but hardly innovates/builds any.

I think Seattle, with their rich ecosystem of Microsoft-centric startups
easily beats SV/SF as far as _technology_ startups are concerned.
Austin/Dallas duo is also tech-heavy, as well as Boston area.

Internet-media is only a niche and "technology" isn't just an alias to "web
site", it actually has its own meaning.

~~~
timr
I've lived and worked at startups in both places (Seattle, now SF), and the
bay area is much more vibrant and active.

You're right that the bay area startups that you /hear/ about are largely
media-oriented, but that's just confirmation bias. There are just tons of
other startups and small companies that you don't hear about. In Seattle,
people still look at you a little funny if you work at a startup (why wouldn't
you just work at Microsoft or Amazon?)

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MicahWedemeyer
I'm very proud to run an ATL startup, and from the article it sounds like
there are many others who feel the same way.

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daeken
As am I, but honestly I had no idea about the startup activity here. Are there
any meetings where founders get together and such?

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brianculler
Geez, yes. To the point that if you went to all of them you'd never get any
actual work done.

Nice illustration of all the meetups, organizations, conferences, etc:

<http://academicvc.com/2009/05/entrepreneurial-atlanta-2/>

~~~
daeken
Wow, thanks. I'm fairly new to the area, and my startup occupies the majority
of my time, so I have met few other founders so far. I'll have to leave my
cave from time to time to hit some of these.

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sanjayparekh
Check out @startupgossip on Twitter. I'm trying to post most of the events
there. I also post stuff on my blog at sanjayparekh.com (altho I've been slack
lately) when it comes to events I'm running. Start coming to events and you'll
meet a ton of us who are in and around Atlanta doing startups.

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sachinag
This mixes up "startups" (leveraging, VC investment candidates) with "new
small businesses". Hey, always good to see people doing the entrepreneurship
thang, but terms matter. It's like the notion of a scientific "theory". Don't
willfully misuse the term.

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ajju
I was one of those 590/100,000!

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timdorr
Actually, it's even higher here in Atlanta. 740 per 100K, of which I am also
included :)

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ajju
By all means, count my Midtown living self in the 740 also.

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noodle
i wonder what the ratio looks like for just midtown :)

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brianculler
With GT right there I'd imagine its off the charts.

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dkasper
Here's a link to the original study:
<http://www.kauffman.org/uploadedFiles/kiea_042709.pdf>

Interesting tidbit: "Internet publishing" was considered a low-income-
potential business but "software publishing" was considered a high-income-
potential business.

~~~
ajju
They probably include blogging in Internet publishing.

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jcl
Previous discussion about the study:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=597809>

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brm
Starting a "new business" does not equal starting a startup (at least in terms
relevant to News.YC)

~~~
brianculler
"entrepreneurial activity" wouldn't fit in HN's 85 character limit for story
titles ;)

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quizbiz
I really want to do a meet up here in Atlanta.

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brm
I can't help but be tangentially reminded of this:
<http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html>

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wehriam
Why?

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brm
2 days in a row, same author, 2 of the same article in the the atlanta journal
constitution with the same spiel about Georgia having a high startup rate all
with pretty much the same quotes from different state government related
people...I'm sure there are more elsewhere if I look.

[http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/printedition/2009/05/19/ent...](http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/printedition/2009/05/19/entrepreneur0519.html)

[http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2009/05...](http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2009/05/18/entrepreneurs_atlanta_georgia.html)

If i had to guess its a positive pr push from business associations based on a
study that found in the states favor...

As for why the study is dumb see the thread thats the parent of this guy's
comment: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=598317>

I'm not knocking atlanta in anyway, just didnt see the need for the downvotes
on anyone who tried to offer a counterpoint to the lovefest

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zackattack
As a job seeker, I'd expect a city with super-high startup activity to have
its /eng/ section on craigslist flooded with job ads. It isn't.

<http://atlanta.craigslist.org/eng/>

~~~
jonknee
You're confusing startups with tech startups.

~~~
mikeryan
This is always an interesting question for me. What exactly is a "startup" I
recently created a technical services company (software design and
development). I don't consider it a "startup" per se, mostly because I'm not
creating a product so much as a service.

Anyway this report is about new business creation which is an interesting data
point.

