Monday, January 25, 2010
Is Charlotte a Great City for Entrepreneurs?
It’s a fascinating study in contradictions: on one hand, Charlotte enjoys a favorable reputation nationally as a place for launching new businesses. Out-of-towners routinely sing Charlotte’s praises as a kind of start-up nirvana, citing its young and educated workforce, muscular business center, and generally warm climate. “Charlotte has all the amenities of a metro hub with the flavor of a small Southern town,” gushed CNNMoney.com, which last year ranked the city 7th among large metro areas on its annual list of Best Places to Launch.
Yet my own talks with local entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, and business experts suggest otherwise. As the head of one of Charlotte’s small business advocacy groups told me recently: “When it comes to supporting entrepreneurs, there’s been a lot of lip service in this town for years. This is a fairly risk-averse environment.” Another entrepreneur and angel investor who has successfully launched firms in entertainment, technology, and real estate put it another way: “This city lacks a critical mass of risk capital. You get a lot of people who talk and do nothing. I get a lot of pats on the back.”
I’d love to include more local entrepreneurs - as well as those who make their living investing in start-ups – in my column. Last Sunday (Jan. 17) , I wrote about a laid-off Wachovia exec who launched a local solar energy firm called Greenfield Power. What’s been your experience as an entrepreneur in Charlotte? Have you gotten the support you’ve needed for success? What other people, companies, and investors should I be writing about? I look forward to hearing from you!
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10 comments:
Charlotte isn't a great city for anything!!!!!! Its a wannbee big city, thats it.
I am an entrepreneur and an angel investor and I agree with what you have written. My current company is in the process of raising money and we get much more attention outside of North Carolina than in it. If this continues to be the case, we might have to gather our things and leave. I don’t think that is something Charlotte or North Carolina can afford. We are being courted by SC, GA, VA, CT, NY and MI. NC does not really have a good program in place.
I think Charlotte is a great little city, but is very conservative due to it's banking roots. It is time to expand and embrace the entrepreneurs. The Five Ventures competition is great place to see that change.
Charlotte needs the equivalent of NYC Seed: http://www.nycseed.com/.
There is the UNC Charlotte Five Ventures and the CRI campus which are both excellent incubators for the city, but are only one in what needs to be a metro approach to developing, encouraging and nurturing start-ups in the CLT area.
I started a business in Charlotte a found that the local govt. was unhelpful at best and an incompetent hindrance in one case.
No..
NO! Charlotte is a city that needs major restructuring from the federal government on the business and jobs in this area. How should be that a city as big as Chralotte have so many jobless citizens and business that aren't doing well. Also if most companies would stop putting so much restrictions on just hiring people (ex. Credit checks for jobs and a Bachelor degree just to drive fortlift)Then maybe people can have jobs and more compnies will bloom. Moving here from NJ and seeing what is going on in this area with the job market and the business is just appauling.
Ron, thanks for raising this question. I have a much different perspective than your other commentators. As a recovering eCommerce bank executive turned entrepreneur I have found Charlotte to be an incredible place to start and grow a business if you can become a trust agent within it's ecosystem.
Many of the negative comments I come across remind me of business owners who don't understand the winds of change brought on by social media. They don't take the time to appreciate how the culture works and thus apply a brute force approach expecting the local networks to function like those in New York, LA or Chicago (where I am from). This is not New York, it is Charlotte. You know what I am talking about; it's like PR staffers constantly pitching you stories about their latest gizmo vs. building a mutually beneficial relationship with you.
The core of our business is done with clients in Charlotte, we landed favorable credit terms in Charlotte, our business has grown several times over in Charlotte and the weather really is better than Chicago. Charlotte is a southern town where to survive you must live by the rule, "you get what you GIVE..."
Other readers, what have you given? Have you connected any people lately? Have you been a resource for others? My advice, learn to speak southern.
Companies can slash many of their taxes by 20+% by relocating a few miles down the road to Rock Hill, SC.
I am new to the Charlotte area (Cornelius), and I must say, the first few "Blogs" freightened me (uuggh!) As a published author, copywriter and publicist, I can pretty much work anywhere in the world I'd like. However, trying to lay down roots here in Charlotte is like new soil to me! I'm from the lovely VA, and all I'm doing is venturing out looking for that new soil to grow my garden of success.
I've learned to experience first hand, before allowing the opinions of others to take root within my independent mind, but I must admit, I was taken aback.
I read an article about Bob Johnson earlier (the former Charlotte Bobcats and BET owner), and quite frankly, he made the same comments; something to the effect of Charlotte being an arrogant city and not providing enough support for African American entrepreneurs. His opinion ways heavy with me, and as an African American woman/business owner myself, I respect the man for so many obvious reasons.
In lieu of these comments, I'm going to hang in there though; get my feet wet; stretch out my arms; and take a good deep breath of the atmosphere, but "whew!" lighten up a bit guys, and like the last blogger, (John Eastern) said, take a little time and ask yourself some mirrored questions, "what have you given? Have you connected with any people lately?", etc.
Sometimes looking in the mirror does help. And also, while taking that good hard look in the mirror, be sure to look down at your shoes, and examine how far they've traveled, and whether they've explored absolutely every avenue of your companies existance here in Charlotte, and if you've walked the miles, then do what you have to do to keep your business alive!
To your prosperity,
Renee'
Charlotte is what you want it to be. As a very diverse city, the opportunities of the city are there if you embrace the city for what it is, not what you want it to be or what you hoped it would be.
I came down from NY, changed my business approach to fit the city and the people and I have grown every year and my largest growth was in the last year (during a recession). Would my approach work in every city, no. It's unique to Charlotte and the very diverse culture it is.
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