Atlanta Emerging as One of Largest Tech Hubs (Fayetteville, Washington: appointed, transplants)

[cparker73]

Originally Posted by TheseGoTo11

I'd say Atlanta pulls its weight in tech, and isn't a complete laggard like Charlotte, but hardly a hub. I'd also add that few people consider IT admin jobs at State Farm "tech". Innovation comes from building new things, not implementing something that's existed for a long time.

Insurance may not be a sexy consumer-facing product like Facebook or something, which incidentally is building a major hub here, but I'm sure there are some innovative things happening that are changing State Farm's industry. One of our big legacy companies, AT&T Mobility, was the site that handled the launch of the original iPhone. Practically the entire Buckhead campus with a couple thousand of workers was a high-security site for a decade to match Apple's need for secrecy. Innovation centers are all over the city serving Fortune 100 companies and post-graduate startups. The diversity of our industries and workforce are a huge asset. I'm in the tech field and am thankful I no longer have to consider Silicon Valley as the end all be all.

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by cparker73

Insurance may not be a sexy consumer-facing product like Facebook or something, which incidentally is building a major hub here, but I'm sure there are some innovative things happening that are changing State Farm's industry. One of our big legacy companies, AT&T Mobility, was the site that handled the launch of the original iPhone. Practically the entire Buckhead campus with a couple thousand of workers was a high-security site for a decade to match Apple's need for secrecy. Innovation centers are all over the city serving Fortune 100 companies and post-graduate startups. The diversity of our industries and workforce are a huge asset. I'm in the tech field and am thankful I no longer have to consider Silicon Valley as the end all be all.

Same thing goes for payments. Not sexy but there are a ton of tech jobs in the 400 corridor in this sector.

[rickms55]

Insurance may not be a sexy consumer-facing product like Facebook or something, which incidentally is building a major hub here, but I'm sure there are some innovative things happening that are changing State Farm's industry.

That's the thing, tech is a part of almost every industry, and will bring on meaningful change to industries. Some of this will be "tech" companies offering solutions to the legacy industries and some this will be internal investment. Overall, it means growth opportunities.

[Chevalier de Saint-George]

Originally Posted by brownhornet

Pretty soon we'll end up like the rest of the major cities. Overly expensive with all of the culture gone. $1500+ rent for a shoebox style 1br apartment.

Atlantans can then just flood Charlotte and turn it into a mini Atlanta, lol. That's always an option for us (jk). I don't think it will get that bad. I think we'll remain as an affordable city and metro for a very long time.

[rickms55]

Atlantans can then just flood Charlotte and turn it into a mini Atlanta, lol. That's always an option for us (jk). I don't think it will get that bad. I think we'll remain as an affordable city and metro for a very long time.

Affordability is a little skewed because far flung burbs are cheaper, but in a commute world (if we get back to that) is rough and impacts quality of life greatly.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by architect77

Atlanta isn't landlocked like SF or NYC.

Ummmm...what's your definition of "landlocked"?

[architect77]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Yes, it most definitely is.

$300 million goes a very long way in helping to generate increased economic activity in a lower-cost region like Atlanta when compared to a much higher-cost (notoriously higher-cost) region like the Bay Area.


Absolutely. How any otherwise provincial metro of 2 million people that is home to the headquarters of 3 megabanks and has become a leader in Fintech could be called a “laggard” while downplaying the growing significance of Atlanta as a rising hub in the tech industry for the Southeast and the East Coast just sounds like a case of arrogant Bay Area/Northern California/West Coast elitism (as well as maybe just a bit of a growing amount of insecurity) against the South.


Someone from Northern California probably really does not have to go around reminding every other place that they aren’t on the same level as the Bay Area.

But given that (while very likely still on top by miles above most any potential competition) California appears to have taken some noticeably heavy economic losses during the pandemic. That’s including (and seemingly especially) to a part of the country like the now-embattled and currently-embarrassed state of Texas.

California (including and particularly the Bay Area) has lost droves of residents, businesses and economic activity to other Western and Southern states, particularly since the start of the pandemic.

Texas appears to have been and (probably even after the state’s current embarrassment) appears like it may continue to be the top relocation destination for residents and businesses relocating from California.

Though Georgia (including and particularly with how much business and activity the state appears to have attracted directly from California’s TV/Film production industry, as well as with the increased interest the state has generated from affluent Californians since the high-profile Georgia U.S. Senate runoff election campaign) appears to be rising sharply on the radar of Californians who might not be the most happy about seeing their state export so much economic activity to other parts of the country.

And an event like Microsoft tapping Atlanta as the company’s next major hub of activity likely has further grabbed the attention of Californians who still can take solace in knowing that their state remains an unquestioned leader in the tech industry but may be starting to wonder how much more economic loss the state can take (including to states like Texas, Georgia, Nevada, etc.) before those losses start to take an irreversible toll on the state’s bottom line.

The massive troubles with Texas’ power grid actually seem like they could give other Southern states (like Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, etc) an opening to attract more outbound California people and business away from a state like Texas.

But there likely are many Californians who care about their state’s status as an economic, social and culturally influential national powerhouse who likely may be thinking that these very noticeable economic losses (that are being generated by California’s notably high-cost living and business environment) cannot continue on this trajectory forever before they start to inflict real damage to the state.

I think everyone is over-analyzing cities and metrics and data as if regions across America are all being equally vetted as possible new homes for people and cities. It's a big country and half of all people in one area would rather die than go live in another one even if they knew it wasn't all that bad in reality.

Tech means a lot of different things, and while Atlanta is a major city that's attracting companies and new jobs, it's not going to decimate the other high-tech juggernauts like that route in Boston known for all the cutting edge research, nor will replace the other spots in Austin, Northern California or even NC's two regions.

Even if they all wanted to come to Atlanta, we probably couldn't accommodate them excluding pandemic times our infrastructure couldn't accommodate them. We are nearing full capacity/critical mass as far as mobility goes. Look at the Howell Mill corridor. We don't know yet what normal life will be like traffic wise. It's become like another city over there all hugging a small, antiquated road that was hard to traverse many years ago, let alone now.

I believe that companies are chasing young workers and Atlanta has always been the perfect "starter city" for young people after college to start their careers from its relative affordability.

And one thing I wanted to say from my population thread that was inexplicably closed for no reason, is about Charlotte's perceived power from banks being HQ'd there. That city doesn't specifically benefit from loans across the country in other cities, and many of the top execs. live in Boston and NYC. Charlotte didn't extract Atlanta's riches by Suntrust's acquisition into BB&T. Otherwise Charlotte's streets would be paved in gold after NCNB i.e. NationsBank acquired California-based Bank of America with all its assets in the Western states.

Wachovia was am NC based bank that become insolvent upon the great recession. Wells Fargo acquired them as the fire sale. Wells itself has a tarnished reputation and it's good business to operate in lower cost cities. They can thrive and be healthier. Charlotte has all the systems in place to become a real contender to Atlanta but I say it's a long way off. It's not yet in Atlanta's league.

Atlanta is a big city with a diversified economy from the service industry and it's a popular home for company HQs. But as I learned after moving to NYC in 2000, the world's top talent will always want to congregate in the biggest, best known cities in a particular area of business.

It will be hard for Atlanta to achieve top recognition for any single area of research or innovation but I may be wrong.

There are a lot of forms of crime that are invented here though, like the sliding into people's cars at gas stations, smash-n-grabs into storefronts, boring into businesses through the walls, mastery in theft using fobs, etc.

And we're know for kidnapping, like the mis-identified man who was thought to be a prosecutor in Wake Forest, NC (Raleigh area) who was kidnapped and held at a house in Atlanta to be murdered for a conviction and life sentence of an inmate (who ordered the hit from inside prison).

All of that might not have actually been thought up here, except for the sliding, but you just don't see the frequency of all that in other cities. We can claim #1 or #2 in identity theft and #3 in armed robbery though.

[LynnHarris1]

With Atlanta rising as a new hub for tech, early stage firm Tech Square Ventures gets a new partner

https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/25/wi...a-new-partner/

SOURCE: Jonathan Shieber, TechCrunch

[SeminoleTom]

I've been here for 20+ years. I can't believe there is argument whether Atlanta is a tech hub or not.
If a hub is a spot where start ups, innovative companies, and loads of tech jobs exist then yes its a hub. Couple that with Georgia Tech, Georgia State and Emory all being here it absolutely is a tech hot spot. Is it San Francisco, Seattle, NYC or Austin Texas... not the first three but on line with being just as good if not better than Austin.

[Born 2 Roll]

Atlanta-based marketing technology startup Terminus has raised a $90 million Series C led by Boston’s Great Hill Partners to expand internationally and accelerate its hiring and innovation.

Terminus plans to open an office in London to better connect with its international clients and partners. About 90% of the company’s clients are from the U.S., but the startup is getting a growing amount of demand abroad.

Existing investors Atlanta Ventures, Edison Partners and Hallet Capital also participated in the Series C round, which brought Terminus’ total investment to $120 million. Derek Schoettle and Chris Gaffney of Great Hill Partners will join the board of directors.

With the funding, Kopp said Terminus already hired 30 employees and plans to hire 50 more. The company has just over 200 employees across its Atlanta, Indianapolis and San Franscico offices. Kopp said the company will take a hybrid work approach, allowing people to work remotely but having some days where they will go into the office to keep the team culture.

Atlanta marketing startup Terminus raises $90M for international expansion (Atlanta Business Chronicle) (article may be paywall restricted)