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Sings of Life in Asheville
Proving Out the Hub/Spoke Entrepreneurial Community Theory
Posted by ExitEvent
Topic: Investing
3.10.10
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Last week, I went out to Asheville on a hunch -- OK, not totally a hunch, I was there for a couple meetings. But with the opportunity, I reached out to an entrepreneur from a company that presented at SEVC. The reason for this was two-fold. One: I was impressed with the company, their current success, and what they were trying to accomplish and Two: The company was based and working out of Asheville.
This is a pretty big deal. Asheville has always been something of a conundrum to the entrepreneurial community in RTP and the surrounding areas. A lot of people want to live there - it's beautiful, serene, plenty to see and do, etc. It's always been on the cusp of great growth (whether or not that's a good thing is debatable), but has never quite gotten kickstarted. So for a company that is not only a start-up, but a technical startup in growth stage, to have an HQ address in Asheville, NC evokes at least curiosity, if not respect and awe.
So I went.
I sat down with the CEO for about an hour and a half, and he was completely frank about his situation and the situation in Asheville.
The possibilities are growing, probably more that they were ten or even five years ago. The economy has been a factor, sure, but the reasons that his company has succeeded in spite of Asheville are the same reasons they've always been. Lack of infrastructure, and lack of ecosystem.
The infrastructure is a chicken and egg thing. In terms of technology, Asheville doesn't have the bandwidth and the resources for a growth stage startup yet. Yet. At the same time, the motivation isn't there for infrastructure to suddenly happen until a growth-stage startup or two moves there. This also relates to other benefits you see with a more metropolitan area. Lots of talent and resources jumping from the corporations, wired office space, connected connections, the startup community needs the corporate community to thrive, oddly enough.
But the infrastructure issue could change overnight. Google was there last week talking up their fancy new network. Technology is always pushing the edge of what can be done. Or it might not happen at all. It's a matter of waiting for the right catalyst.
The ecosystem issue is a different story. There are elements in place like Advantage West with BREC/BRAIN and quite a bit of angel presence and available capital in pockets. There's also a healthy youth movement, the kids who grew up with the web, and thus technology, outside of, say, working at IBM or their college computer lab. What's missing is the middle, the serial entrepreneurs who have done their time in corporate America or some other experience-friendly environment, to lead the way.
So maybe Asheville isn't a hub, but maybe it's spoked to Raleigh and/or Charlotte and still claims a decent chance at being an entrepreneurial hotbed. The attitude is there, the potential is there, technology brings Asheville closer every day. It's interesting -- and more so than it was five years ago. I'll be making more trips to Asheville, and trying to get my arms around the building blocks of an ecosystem. And I'll keep you posted along the way.
Oh, and if you're ahead of me in the knowledge or experience arena, request an invite to ExitEvent alpha. We could use you.
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