RALEIGH – Raleigh has “The space, the expertise….and more available talent than any other city” on Amazon’s list of finalists for its HQ2. So says Jeff Barrett, CEO of Barrett Digital, in “Why Raleigh Will Be the Next Startup Hub,” at Inc.com.
Barrett, who never visited Raleigh prior to last month, cited its restaurants, train station, and cost of living, among attractions likely to turn it into a destination like Austin, Denver, and Portland have become. But he was most impressed by its startup ecosystem.
The Triangle’s three major universities within an hour radius provide top talent, he noted, and “NC State’s Centennial Campus…looks and feels like Silicon Valley,” he writes. In addition to noting it is one-third residential, which can lead to fewer long commutes, Barrett points out that NSA has offices on campus and companies ranging from publicly traded Bandwidth to Republic Wireless are located there.
“This access to large companies, talented students, and residential living –all in one place, five minutes from downtown — propels growth for the region,” he says.
Moreover, he sees a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem in NC State’s entrepreneurship programs, the HQ Raleigh co-working space and entrepreneurial network, the One Better Ventures investment firm, and Red Hat’s Open Studio downtown.
“Savvy entrepreneurs will step in to Raleigh and see all the elements for creating the next big startup hub, a community that wants winners and will help them succeed,” he concludes.
All of that, and Barrett, focused on Raleigh, misses some of the synergies of the Triangle as a region.
He does not mention Durham and the American Tobacco Campus and its co-working spaces for entrepreneurs, the region’s place as a major biotechnology hub with the much envied and imitated North Carolina Biotechnology Center, the possibility that Apple may locate a new facility near Raleigh, or even Research Triangle Park with its major tech company clients such as Cisco and IBM.
