Wall Street Journal writer Shayndi Raice reported last month that, “San Francisco entrepreneur Madhu Chamarty got the idea for his latest startup from Amazon. com Inc.’s search for its second headquarters, which included finalists like Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio.
“For him, the search highlighted overlooked cities away from the coasts that had the talent pools to host tech companies. Early last year, he launched Beyond HQ, a startup that uses technology to find new homes for Silicon Valley firms looking to move inland.
“‘It’s not that magic only happens in San Francisco and New York,’ he said.”
The Journal article noted that, “Mr. Chamarty is part of a group of entrepreneurs working on spreading tech talent more evenly across the U.S. The goal is to attract funding and workers to places far from the large tech hubs in Silicon Valley, New York City, Boston or Seattle.
“Five metropolitan areas—Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and San Jose, Calif.—accounted for 90% of all U.S. high-tech job growth between 2005 and 2017, according to a recent study led by Rob Atkinson of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and Mark Muro of the Brookings Institution.
“States between the coasts have long touted their low cost of living or quality of life to attract talent away from more-populous peers. The new crop of entrepreneurs is bringing relocation services, tech training and investor dollars to accomplish similar goals.”
