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For your consideration, here are just a few examples of other recently contributed pieces from other nearby cities touting their startup scenes. Everybody hopes to be the next Silicon Valley, but they all basically tout the same things, some variation of the following:
1) Cheaper cost of living
2) Eager talent pool
3) Acclerators
4) Friendly business climate/tax incentives
5) Whatever university is nearby
6) Example of some local startup that had a successful exit or was acquired by Google
7) Large number of local minority founders or some other demographic that represents types not frequently found in Silicon Valley
8) Some local money guy or corporate HQ pouring money into local starups
9) Some local or regional "shark tank" style competition for startups
Google search any city you can think of and "tech scene" or "Silicon Valley" and you're likely to find a similar article.
All I'm saying, and this goes to any city...if you want be the next Silicon Valley, you have to get in line. And the line is long.
Anyway, some of you are saying "innocent until proven guilty." That's fine, obviously I can never prove my point. And I'm not even necessarily asking you not to believe what you've read. All I'm doing is providing critical thinking to cast reasonable doubt... not necessarily on the words you've read, but on whether you are getting a full look at the picture and what the city is up against if it really does hope to become a true tech hub. And whether the contributor had any motivation to provide that full view.
Asking for critical thinking is no problem and it's welcomed, but asking for "hyper critical" thinking on very flimsy pretenses is a bridge too far. It would be acceptable for that level of scrutiny if there was a solid pretense or basis such as a history of plagiarism, lying about stories and sources, making up stories or something along those lines from the contributor and as you admitted in your previous post you have nothing to validate the call for such a level of hyper scrutiny. In the absence of such evidence standard critical thinking will suffice rather than "hyper critical" analysis.
The strength of the article which has been discussed is that it took a rather big picture view of where B'ham is now as far as tech development and what it took to get here, and most importantly the challenges it faces as it works to become a tech hub. I understand that there are other cities outside of Silicon Valley angling to become the next tech hub and that Birmingham is not unique in that regard. Anyone who actually reads the article will see that the contributor does too and unlike a marketing piece made for sunshine pumping addresses that reality including the struggles and competition that Birmingham faces. The article and its nuance that has been mentioned a few times addressed that directly and with detail which is not what you see in a press release or marketing piece. They specifically mention the eastward push from Silicon Valley for new tech hubs and mention Austin, Boulder, and Seattle as places that have achieved that tech hub status and how even they are becoming pricey and losing runway for new startups. That being the case to assert that the contributor and the article fell short in addressing this at all or in a serious way to sunshine pump is puzzling since it is clearly in the article and easy to locate. To her point there are a few cities(not a million) with the affordability and infrastructure to foster a new tech hub and even some of them are losing their affordability and Birmingham which in your words has gotten "in line" has a great opportunity to capitalize off of that and progress to the next level and that shouldn't be discounted or taken lightly because a few other cities have similar capabilities. If it continues as it is with the new tech hubs becoming less affordable (Austin, Boulder, Seattle etc) it could create a perfect storm type of environment that could make B'ham boom in tech. To that point the 5 other cities that are also in line and listed with articles describing their tech scenes are typically more expensive in residential and commercial property than Birmingham and the runway here for startups is probably besting them or competitive with what exist in those places. As the article suggests Birmingham can clearly compete and I think with our affordability and the runway it provides for startups it can definitely become a regional tech hub. All in all the points of the criticism about the integrity of the article didn't stand up because the article addressed them all and in detail and to assert otherwise when it's so easily verifiable by reading it is...puzzling.
Last edited by cherokee48; 08-20-2018 at 06:48 AM..
Your assertion is undeniable in today's media. You are absolutely unequivocally correct in stating "the line is long" in the tech startup "chase".
It's odd to me to see, and not agree that Birmingham, AL is but one city that's in that long line. A case continues to be made for the suitability and viability for many many cities, not just Birmingham.
It stands to reason that locals might bristle at the fact that the line for a "tech city hub" designation is a long line. Every resident of every city is hopeful and biased...some more than others.
Examining the article ITSELF (by a Forbes contributor) is another matter. The fact is that this sort of media piece is commonplace and smacks of promotional style/intent. There is nothing wrong with that as long as it is evaluated in that light...a light of impartiality
Residents of a particular city are seldom impartial or objective. Birmingham is no different.
I took it as a "feel good", well-written expose about the advent and existence of "tech" business gaining a foothold in Birmingham, AL. That's fine, that's great. But the truth is that those efforts are occurring in many other cities, and in some it's occurring at a faster pace, and some at a slower pace.
These sorts of articles, as pointed out, are a dime a dozen, in re "tech" in certain cities.
Now it seems that we are getting somewhere, examining (reading) the article itself is not another matter part of a broader discussion on media or something it is literally THE matter! The article itself is the point of the thread and trying to conflate it with commentary on modern day media or not reading it fully and not knowing the material that is and isn't covered is the crux of the problem. Obviously if the article isn't read or isn't read fully then errors about style and content such as not discussing the big picture and challenges are made because the due diligence of reading the article wasn't done. Hiding behind this idea of media from contributors as lacking validity and bothering your sensibility of modern day media is off topic. I'm pretty sure there is a section for media matters and journalism that is suitable for that discussion if that is what your interest is, but seeking to conflate that discussion with what was discussed in the article about Birmingham in 2018 is a painfully obvious deflection.
As the article states (yes the contributor did cover this in the article) other cities are in the tech startup chase and Birmingham has put itself in that race. I think its pretty clear from comments on this thread that many view this as a good thing and a sign of progress for the city and I haven't seen anyone bristle at it in that way. I don't know about a dime a dozen or a long line as the poster listed 5 other cities that have recent articles about their tech start ups I'd say there are a few. Not every city has the affordability, infrastructure, capability, vision, public/private partnerships etc to make it happen but as the article points out its not alone and part of a class of places that are progressing to tech hub status.
I guess this rather tortured defense of the article itself is curious.
Forbes doesn't "anoint" "who's on First" in the tech race outside of Silicon Valley. The article is a promo piece written by a contributor. This stuff happens all the time. Nothing new or bell-ringing.
It's a friendly marketing piece that was well done.....Forbes' contributor has no effect on the reality that the list is in fact quite long and very competitive. Does Birmingham have a "competitive edge" ? well, not really when looking fairly at other dynamic, well-educated cities that have a head start. Head starts however can be lost. Time will tell....it always does...just look at how Nashville is out-pacing Birmingham NOW. Heck, Huntsville may outpace Birmingham's tech effort in the near future as well. No city however is sitting back baying at the moon, but some cities are more action than talk.
Well if the discussion has accomplished nothing else at least we got the deflection of "media standards and preferences" out of the way and can deal with the article and its content fairly. Ironically the mention of Nashville out-pacing Birmingham now was addressed in the article (again I suggest you check it out if you haven't) and one of the people interviewed moved from Nashville to Birmingham because the tech effort here has outpaced that of Nashville in her opinion and she stated that she is able to get things done in Birmingham that she couldn't get done there, and she's on a local entrepreneurial board there in Nashville, talk about head starts can be lost! The irony of all this is again the claims of no nuance, little detail, just a marketing piece, or in this case head starts, is all addressed in the article! I know it seems torturous but the due diligence of actually reading the content makes a world of difference. From what I have gleaned from this discussion the disagreement is mainly with the content of the article rather than it's format and instead of directly challenging the content on its merits(which are pretty strong) the detractors initially opted for a more indirect challenge of its veracity and methods to diminish it. It's fine to disagree with the content if that's the intent and makes for a more fruitful discussion.
Last edited by cherokee48; 08-20-2018 at 11:25 AM..
For your consideration, here are just a few examples of other recently contributed pieces from other nearby cities touting their startup scenes. Everybody hopes to be the next Silicon Valley, but they all basically tout the same things, some variation of the following:
1) Cheaper cost of living
2) Eager talent pool
3) Acclerators
4) Friendly business climate/tax incentives
5) Whatever university is nearby
6) Example of some local startup that had a successful exit or was acquired by Google
7) Large number of local minority founders or some other demographic that represents types not frequently found in Silicon Valley
8) Some local money guy or corporate HQ pouring money into local starups
9) Some local or regional "shark tank" style competition for startups
Google search any city you can think of and "tech scene" or "Silicon Valley" and you're likely to find a similar article.
All I'm saying, and this goes to any city...if you want be the next Silicon Valley, you have to get in line. And the line is long.
Anyway, some of you are saying "innocent until proven guilty." That's fine, obviously I can never prove my point. And I'm not even necessarily asking you not to believe what you've read. All I'm doing is providing critical thinking to cast reasonable doubt... not necessarily on the words you've read, but on whether you are getting a full look at the picture and what the city is up against if it really does hope to become a true tech hub. And whether the contributor had any motivation to provide that full view.
Yeah, I'm going to have to go with the detractors on this one. Birmingham is a lot of things, but a burgeoning tech hot spot is not one of them. I just don't see this. I would love to be proven wrong. Shipt is just one company. Most every decent sized city has at least one tech company nowadays.
And yes, I think Huntsville is farther up the 'tech' list than Birmingham.
Yeah, I'm going to have to go with the detractors on this one. Birmingham is a lot of things, but a burgeoning tech hot spot is not one of them. I just don't see this. I would love to be proven wrong. Shipt is just one company. Most every decent sized city has at least one tech company nowadays.
And yes, I think Huntsville is farther up the 'tech' list than Birmingham.
I hope so too, one of the interesting parts of the article is the number of startups in Birmingham doing well and I'm not talking about Shipt. The article highlighted a few, Fleet.io, ProctorU, Tennibot, Wyndy, and a couple of others. I had Huntsville as the tech city of the state with Redstone and the research parks, but with the recent investment wins and the number of startups in town (that was a surprise) I have it flipped.
Yeah, I'm going to have to go with the detractors on this one. Birmingham is a lot of things, but a burgeoning tech hot spot is not one of them. I just don't see this. I would love to be proven wrong. Shipt is just one company. Most every decent sized city has at least one tech company nowadays.
And yes, I think Huntsville is farther up the 'tech' list than Birmingham.
There's certainly a lot of "tech" in the Huntsville area, but not many companies are actually headquartered here. Maybe being the home city is a criterion for being an actual tech center. There are some ... Hudson Alpha, Adtran, perhaps a few more ... but mostly it's just companies that have a fairly large presence here but are headquartered elsewhere. I think RocketDyne is making Huntsville their headquarters too.
Is medical research considered tech? UAB may not sell high tech hardware, but they certainly do cutting edge medical research.
Yeah, I'm going to have to go with the detractors on this one. Birmingham is a lot of things, but a burgeoning tech hot spot is not one of them. I just don't see this. I would love to be proven wrong. Shipt is just one company. Most every decent sized city has at least one tech company nowadays.
And yes, I think Huntsville is farther up the 'tech' list than Birmingham.
I returned to read the article, and the article itself was written fairly and seemed to have been resourced sufficiently to present a possible thesis....Fine.
Here's the rub: I have found and read, after reading this one about Birmingham, an absolute plethora of similar articles written by other contributors, on too many cities to mention. Those articles as well, were in the vein of a quasi-marketing piece for their respective cities. Some were more convincing than others.
It's great that Birmingham, AL is in the tech game, but the larger point is that it's not a ground-breaking development given the depth of other viable players located in many other cities in the US. It is however a positive move....obviously so.
There's certainly a lot of "tech" in the Huntsville area, but not many companies are actually headquartered here. Maybe being the home city is a criterion for being an actual tech center. There are some ... Hudson Alpha, Adtran, perhaps a few more ... but mostly it's just companies that have a fairly large presence here but are headquartered elsewhere. I think RocketDyne is making Huntsville their headquarters too.
Is medical research considered tech? UAB may not sell high tech hardware, but they certainly do cutting edge medical research.
The more important part of this, outside actual company headquarters, is the talent base that is amassing for really all of STEM, not just tech.
In Birmingham, they have a mass of talent for banking, construction and materials/shipping/logistics.
It takes years to develop those type things. Companies will relocate there just to take advantage of available qualified workers.
Location: Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, and Raleigh
2,580 posts, read 2,483,890 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steveklein
I read what he posted and it was absolutely believable. I haven't bothered to verify if it is true or not, but he is definitely right that when an article reads like a press release, it basically is.
I still disagree, so we are going to have to agree to disagree.
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