Tech news website GeekWire, which shares the same home city as Amazon, could – temporarily – locate its headquarters in Raleigh while Amazon reviews a HQ proposal from the Triangle and some 230 other metro areas.
If you want Raleigh to win, you need to cast a vote at GeekWire’s online site.
Seattle-based GeekWire says Raleigh is among the final four cities it is reviewing for the “GeekWire HQ2” project. The winning city will become its’ reporters home base for a month in February.
The prize? News coverage.
“We’ll be establishing a temporary second headquarters in the chosen city, sending our rain-soaked Seattle-based reporters to cover a community’s technology scene, including its challenges and opportunities, innovations, leaders and its outlook on the future,” says GeekWire.
“It’s going to be a fun adventure, whether we end up in the Rust Belt, Rocky Mountains or Research Triangle. But narrowing the field to these four candidates hasn’t been easy, and frankly, we need your input as we pick the winner of this illustrious competition.”
GeekWire describes itself as “a fast-growing, national technology news site with strong roots in the Seattle region and a large audience of loyal, tech-savvy readers around the globe, who follow the site for breaking news, expert analysis and unique insights into the technology industry.”
A tough choice
Raleigh emerged among the final four along with Cincinnati, Denver and Pittsburgh after the GeekWire team cut the list of candidates down after “an intense staff meeting” on Monday.
Submissions had to be made to GeekWire by communities interested in the project – just like Amazon required cities to apply via an RFP for Amazon HQ2.
GeekWire says is staff “debated the positives and negatives of the four finalists,” from transportation to culture and tech sector strength.
“We also wondered if weather wimp staffers will be able survive a sub-zero winter day in Pittsburgh or generous helpings of Carolina BBQ,” wrote GeekWire’s Monica Nicklesburg.
“After a 45 minute debate, we couldn’t decide.”
Thus, the vote.
“That’s why we’re now enlisting our faithful GeekWire readers to help us make our final decision, before the official announcement next month,” she wrote.
“You’ll be experiencing this adventure with us, so we’ll give strong consideration to the vote as we determine our destination.”
Raleigh a “dark horse”
Here’s what GeekWire said about Raleigh:
Raleigh, North Carolina didn’t get as much discussion during our staff meeting, but this dark horse candidate is certainly known worldwide for a strong mix of universities: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke, and North Carolina State. Beyond the cutting-edge research going on at those institutions, companies such as Citrix and Red Hat also call Raleigh home, and they are investing millions in a $1.1 billion effort to transform the city’s downtown business district. With more than 500 startups and 14 accelerators, there’s plenty of interesting action to cover in the Tar Heel state. Unlike Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, Raleigh boasts an easy direct flight from Seattle. It ranks just behind behind Denver in terms of hours of sunshine in February (174 hours), and we’re told they know a thing or two about good barbecue down south!
