At SoCon 07 it became pretty clear that Atlanta doesn’t have a very close knit startup community, free-spending VC’s, and enough crazy people. Unfortunately, by the time we got finished talking about what we didn’t have, we didn’t have time to talk about what we do have: basements.
One major advantage that Atlanta has over the current hotspots for startup activity is that the people here don’t have to spend a lot to get their company started. Space isn’t tight, labor is affordable, taxes aren’t that high, and food isn’t that expensive. Which means that one can bootstrap their company, go through a few lean years and still not have to worry too much about putting food on the table. If things go really lean, most likely the parents are going to have 800+ sqft of un-used space that you can move your family into.
The great benefit of doing software in Georgia is that you can do a lot with a little bit of money. Atlanta’s housing environment gives you the advantage of waiting before staking out on one’s own. Which means we can develop a more experienced and varied entreprenuer base. Once there’s some confidence that the community in the region can deliver, the community, free spending VC’s and crazy people will follow.
The good thing is that we’re already seeing the start this process. SoCon brought the community out to discuss these topics and in the process, made the community more self-aware. Two prominant local companies, Scientific Atlanta and JBoss got bought last year, which helps raise the technology profile of the region. As far as lunatics go, this is the home state of Cynthia McKinney and Neal Boortz. Only time will tell if we’re at the start of a wave or the bottom of a ripple. Either way, it should be an interesting ride.
