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No Startup Culture in Kentucky?

September 15, 2008

A lot has been written lately about how cities like Boulder Colorado became start-up meccas and entrepreneurial hot-spots.  The key to this happening in a new city has a lot to do with grass roots efforts and little do with government intervention or economic development.  In Boulder, efforts by entrepreneurs, VC’s and others who wanted to live in Boulder but were passionate about start-ups started meeting, gathering and talking and importantly, Blogging.  From these efforts came Tech Cocktail, Start-up Weekend and eventually Techstars.  It was not an overnight revolution but a gradual transformation.  

In Kentucky’s main two cities, Lexington & Louisville, some of the basic building blocks are in place:

  1. Large Tech/Biotech Companies located in each city (Lexmark, Exstream Software(HP), IBM, Geek Squad, Hosting.com, Humana,)
  2. Research Universities: University of Kentucky, University of Louisville

The 3rd and probably most important criteria is a place where people want to live.  This is the thrust of the arguments made by Dr. Richard Florida.  This is where a state like Kentucky, especially in the cities of Louisville & Lexington,  get a bad wrap.  People move to Boulder in part because they want to Live in Boulder. Kentucky’s reputation as a backward state or the fact it is more conservative than San Francisco or Cambridge, MA gives people a false impression that all the people here are uneducated, bigoted, backwater hillbillies.  Of course this is not the case.  

courtesy of jon collier

courtesy of jon collier

Kentucky rates high on all ranks of quality of life and Lexington& Louisville are each ranked in the among the most educated cities.

An example proving my point is the start-up I work with Transposagen.  The founder, Dr. Eric Ostertag, has relocated his company from Philadelphia to Lexington. What first attracted him was grant funding but as he investigated Kentucky and Lexington, He realized many of his preconceived notions were in fact myths.  He liked the quality of Life, cleanliness of the city, nightlife, Arts and cost of living.  Lexington, Kentucky beat Philadelphia Pennsylvania hands down.

What is to be learned?  It is important for the government, Chambers of Commerce, Universities etc to be supportive of entrepreneurship and start-up culture but they need to realize that they cannot legislate, dictate or control it into existence.  It is necessary for grass roots groups to meet, grow and form ideas that can percolate upward.  What is more important for governments, Universities and economic development groups is to focus on developing quality of life factors, an educated workforce and to spread the message outside the borders of why Kentucky is a great place to live and work. 

Selling Kentucky is not explaining why we are the next Silicon Valley, Alley, Holler or Boulder, Colorado.  It is important to focus on what sets Kentucky apart.  We are never going to offer exactly what another city or state offers and that is the point:  We offer what others don’t or can’t, our competitive advantage.

In the end if smart, creative people want to live here then a smart, creative  entrepreneurial culture will develop.

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Politics, Startups 

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