City among best for startups
CNBC spotlights Chattanooga on program “Make It”
Forget Silicon Valley. CNBC suggests that Chattanooga and a half dozen other cities are best for entrepreneurs trying to start a business.
In its program “Make It,” the financial TV network identified seven cities outside of the famed Silicon Valley around San Francisco that “are great for startups” and Chattanooga was the smallest of the picks that CNBC reporter Jimmy Im said are “shining bright for start-ups.”
The best cities for new businesses getting started, CNBC says, are Cincinnati, Boston, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Austin, Texas, and Chattanooga.
“Chattanooga has been making headlines as having a fast emerging tech sector with a strong start-up ecosystem,” Im reports.
Chattanooga, which EPB has billed as “Gig City” for its super fast internet links to every home and business, was the first U.S. city to roll out a citywide gigabit network in 2010. That provides web links that load 200 times faster than most broadband services.
Within the first five years of the Gig service being introduced, a study by University of Tennessee at Chattanooga economist Bento Lobo estimated that new businesses related to the Gig service had already added $865.3 million to the local economy.
On the North Shore, Chattanooga is home to Tennessee’s biggest business incubator, the Hamilton County Business Development Center, which has graduated nearly 600 businesses over the past three decades.
Three years ago, Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke also created a 140-acre Innovation District in Chattanooga’s central city that clusters startups, nonprofits, and government entities all in one place.
Chattanooga was the first mid-sized city with an established Innovation District, anchored by the Edney Building for Innovation that houses the business accelerator programs by the Company Lab, technology training programs by Tech Town and the innovation development initiative known as the Enterprise Center. The district is also home to UTC, the Dynamo fund, EPB, multi-model transportation services, the revamped Miller Park and a variety of coffee shops, pubs and restaurants. The Enterprise Center is leading an ongoing effort to grow the Innovation District with new offices, affordable housing and potential new research facilities.
Although downtown rents have increased in recent years, especially for housing, Chattanooga still remains much more affordable than most of the other cities identified by CNBC as great startup towns and is far cheaper to run a business than Silicon Valley.
“The affordability for starting a business here is great, and the cost of living is better,” Luke Marklin, CEO of Bellhops, an on-demand start-up for moving that operates in more than 50 cities nationwide, told CNBC. “This helps Bellhops attract the right people and retain talent in a competitive industry.”
Marklin says he’s also lived in both Nashville and Atlanta. “I can get more personally and financially in Chattanooga without sacrificing professionally,” he said.
Tennessee is one of 2018’s cheapest states to live in.
CNBC also praises Atlanta, which bills itself as “Hotlanta,” as a place for startups.
“Atlanta has seen a major growth spurt in industries like film and TV production and tech, and there are more than 70 video game developer companies in the city,” Im said.
Georgia is one of the cheapest states to live, ranking No. 9 in America, and CNBC rated Georgia as No. 7 in America’s top states for business.