Atlanta’s ecosystem for early stage startups has exponentially improved in recent years. I myself came to Atlanta nearly 15 years ago looking for greener pastures when engineering talent in Silicon Valley was slim and I was fed up with inflated salaries and sky-high real estate costs.
Within two months of moving to Atlanta, I had hired over 30 of the best engineers in the country. Two years later, my engineering team was 250 strong and Movaz Networks was fast on its way to becoming one of the most successful optical startups in the nation. It was official. Atlanta was my new home.
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The city’s biggest draw then and continues to be now, the exceptionally talented pool of engineers. Local colleges and universities graduate over 2,400 top quality engineers every year, and this just adds to the already plentiful mix. Thousands of engineers with rich experience from working in startups and other major corporations like First Data, Delta, Cisco and more in the city already live in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
The skill set and volume aren’t the only benefits to the city’s engineers. Leaving Silicon Valley means leaving the ego behind too. In Atlanta, an entrepreneur doesn’t have to charter a luxury bus to cart workers from San Francisco to Palo Alto or Mountain View. There is no need for extensive perks or costly amenities. Salaries are much more affordable, and the cost of living is lower in Atlanta. For example, the median price of a home in San Jose is $773K. The median price for a home in Atlanta is $138K. That’s big savings when it comes to a business plan.
The great talent pool has fueled tremendous early stage startup activity. One local incubator. . .(Read More)
Article by: Bijan Khosravi
Published at: Forbes.com
