Where should I grow my company? (sales, real estate, lease)

[flco]

Hi there!

I'm the founder of a rapidly growing Internet company in the Northeast.

We are looking to grow our inside sales and support team by 200 people over the next two years.

The primary target employee for us is a recent college grad looking for an entry level training program, as well as more senior service and support folks - but the majority of our hiring will be for entry level positions.

Our current location is not ideal for our growth as commercial real estate is too expensive, there is not enough of the right talent pool, and employment costs and tax rates are very high.

As such, we are exploring a few different parts of the country to relocate our firm and grow our business.

Sarasota offers some nice features for us - reasonably priced, decent availability of centrally located commercial real estate to lease (although we need a lot of space, we don't want to be stuck out in an office park miles from restaurants and the center of everything), great quality of life, *reasonably* affordable housing, and more.

The big question for us is if there is enough of a talent pool of young, recently graduated entry level folks in the immediate, commutable area - or should we be looking at Tampa, or maybe Miami or perhaps somewhere else in Florida? Is Sarasota more of a retirement community than we think? It's a bit hard to tell from the outside.

To make things a bit more difficult, we would need to opt for a community that has strong public schools and is good for families as well, as although our target employee is the young graduate, these folks will ultimately be starting families, and we would want them to stay with us! Plus our senior team will be making the move with families in toe. That's why we are a bit leery of Tampa or Miami - maybe this is a bit unfair.

If we are successful, we will need to hire several hundred further employees over the next 3-4 years so the talent pool is very important.

If Sarasota could be a good fit, please let me know! If not, why not? If Tampa is better, or perhaps elsewhere in Florida, where should we consider?

FYI, outside of Florida, we are also considering Austin, TX, San Antonio, TX, Charlotte, NC and Portland, ME (much further Northeast than we are now!)

Many thanks in advance!

[Cardiff by the Sea]

There is a large pool of recent grads in the county who want to move to Sarasota and can't find decent jobs. If you build it, they will come. Also there are 3 universities here. You should check out Ringling school of art & design. A lot of their grads go to Pixar.

You might want to think about Lakewood Ranch for schools and your executive team.

Re Texas locations--Most of Texas is hot and humid with no beach. That applies to Austin and San Antonio.

A reason not to do Tampa is the low elevation and flooding potential. North of Tampa is sink hole country. Tampa is an hour away and most people think Sarasota has everything except sports teams. People prefer to live here and drive their for a sports fix.

third edit: I just keep adding to this post. Miami is bustling, horribly congested, expensive, and Latin.

Sarasota ranks high in terms of low incidence of hurricane land falls, no sink hole problems, high culture, great beaches without the shark attacks that occur on the east coast. Sarasota is largely but not totally populated by mid westerners due to Bertha Palmer of Chicago's influence in its early days. The east coast of Florida has been described as being like New Jersey with palm trees only worse.

I would think a big factor for you would be the internet trunk. I have no clue how it is in Sarasota.

[PCHI]

One word, YES

[sware2cod]

You would probably hook up with the local colleges to get access to their career center to interview their upcoming graduates. Sarasota has New College and a large campus for Univ of South FL (USF) . There is also State College of FL. Plus Sarasota Technical Institute and Charlotte Technical Institutes. These schools can give a steady supply of graduates and interns.

Plus graduates from other schools in the state would likely relocate to Sarasota since many leave the state for work but would rather stay in FL...Univ of FL in Gainesville(50k students) which isn't that far away up I-75, and Univ of Central FL (UCF) in Orlando is massive school with 60k students. The USF main campus in Tampa and this school has 40k students with some in Sarasota. Plus a couple colleges in the Ft Myers area Edison College and FL Gulf Coast Univ. Plus there is SFU in Tallahassee with 40k students.

Sarasota county gives nice tax incentives to new businesses.

[beninfl]

There's tons of tech heads here wanting jobs but not many companies like yours to get jobs with. You'll have no problem here at all.

[LandsharkJB]

I don't see why Tampa wouldn't be the better suggestion for entry level talent at entry level salaries since that's said to be the majority of the 200 needed. Not saying it couldn't work in Sarasota and I'm sure they'd give plenty of incentives, just not sure how it's "better" as a business decision. I'm sure a business is just as likely to get swallowed up by a sinkhole as it is hit by a hurricane. Somehow a population of 350k in Tampa alone makes it work without hazard pay.

[Cardiff by the Sea]

Originally Posted by LandsharkJB

I don't see why Tampa wouldn't be the better suggestion for entry level talent at entry level salaries since that's said to be the majority of the 200 needed. Not saying it couldn't work in Sarasota and I'm sure they'd give plenty of incentives, just not sure how it's "better" as a business decision. I'm sure a business is just as likely to get swallowed up by a sinkhole as it is hit by a hurricane. Somehow a population of 350k in Tampa alone makes it work without hazard pay.

I don't understand what you are saying. Could you clarify? Tampa is where the hazard pay is needed. More hurricanes hit Tampa than Sarasota. You do understand that a big hurricane can flood from both sides. And a sinkhole swallows your building. You can plan and prepare for flooding. No planning against sinkholes.

The greater youth population in Tampa is a chicken/egg situation. There are more young people in Tampa because there are more jobs for them there. It is not that they want to be there more than they want to be in Sarasota. No incentives needed to draw people to Sarasota. If you read this forum for more than a day, you will see regular posts of people how want to move here, but are warned not to come without a job lined up.

[beninfl]

Tampa people will not be the wise solution.

1.) They will want more money
2.) They will have a longer commute
3.) Their cost of living is higher

Sarasota, on the other hand:

1.) Has more affordable pay since there's no competition for your job type in the area
2.) Has just as many highly qualified people who live here and want jobs here and dont want to commute to Tampa
3.) Rent for your building will be less expensive

Good luck!

[sware2cod]

Here's a little secret about IT people in Sarasota versus Tampa:

The pay rate in Sarasota can be 10-20 percent lower in Sarasota, because Tampa is a larger city with better paying jobs/more companies for employees to choose from. There aren't as many IT jobs in Sarasota, so Sarasota employees tend to stay at your company a lot longer, since there aren't as many opportunities for job-hopping compared to Tampa or any other bigger city.

[zdaudert]

I agree that Sarasota would be better than Tampa for many of the same reasons others have posted.

While there are lots of retirees here, there is also tons of tech talent and some impressive and resources for new (or new to the area) businesses in technology. One example is a brand new organization called Bright Ideas on the Gulf Coast (BIG) that helps make "connections", etc. In your case it could be connections between your company and recent graduates or similar. You can check out their site at:
BIG - Bright Ideas on the Gulf Coast