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So I'm not the only one that sees the city as a great place for any "start from home" startup to stretch the dollar. For longtime residents what do you guys think? and any barriers or costs that prohibit this idea? Basically I see a lot of people here and those I met in person last month who lament the minimum wage service economy that Orlando has become but if I was in those shoes I wouldn't even bother looking for a job. You could start just about anything servicing an online market and do better than McDisney wages :P
While I'm stuck in Canada because Obama foolishly buried the Startup Visa bill into his overarching catchall "comprehensive immigration reform" package :P I'll be finalising on hiring 3 more Canadians in the next two weeks but if not for that I'd probably have been hanging out here as a resident instead of someone looking in from the outside.
So I'm not the only one that sees the city as a great place for any "start from home" startup to stretch the dollar. For longtime residents what do you guys think? and any barriers or costs that prohibit this idea? Basically I see a lot of people here and those I met in person last month who lament the minimum wage service economy that Orlando has become but if I was in those shoes I wouldn't even bother looking for a job. You could start just about anything servicing an online market and do better than McDisney wages :P
While I'm stuck in Canada because Obama foolishly buried the Startup Visa bill into his overarching catchall "comprehensive immigration reform" package :P I'll be finalising on hiring 3 more Canadians in the next two weeks but if not for that I'd probably have been hanging out here as a resident instead of someone looking in from the outside.
The article points out metro areas that have "above average concentrations of high tech industry" and shows Orlando at #43 out of 50. If I'm not completely off with logic that's down fairly close to average. As a start-up entrepreneur I would be looking more closely at Huntsville (#22) or Durham (#26) where a much more educated workforce exists, where operating costs are still low and where there's not an overall service-economy mentality.
Florida is generally an attractive area to most start up businesses with no state income tax, fairly loose regulations and various incentives. The factors that have kept companies away is quality of life and access to educated labor pool. It's no coincidence that the major high tech centers in the south are in areas with large prestigious universities. The University of Texas in Austin, UNC Chapel Hill, NC State, Wake Forest and Duke in the Raleigh Research Triangle, and Georgia Tech and Emory in Atlanta. In this regard Florida is improving as our state universities turn out more graduates. Orlando in particular seems to have embraced this notion as there is a strong partnership between UCF and Orlando/Orange County. Where we have lacked is in providing the quality of life issue to lure more corporations here. The stigma of being a low wage service industry economy still plagues our image. On top of that it's no secret that we lack in some the cultural amenities and infrastructure options that some of the others do. However, we are making progess. The Performing Arts Center, Sunrail, Lake Nona are all steps in the right direction. I think, and this is my personal opinion, that our local leaders are, are taking the right initiative to make our community more attractive to high tech and start up businesses.
Florida is generally an attractive area to most start up businesses with no state income tax, fairly loose regulations and various incentives. The factors that have kept companies away is quality of life and access to educated labor pool. It's no coincidence that the major high tech centers in the south are in areas with large prestigious universities. The University of Texas in Austin, UNC Chapel Hill, NC State, Wake Forest and Duke in the Raleigh Research Triangle, and Georgia Tech and Emory in Atlanta. In this regard Florida is improving as our state universities turn out more graduates. Orlando in particular seems to have embraced this notion as there is a strong partnership between UCF and Orlando/Orange County. Where we have lacked is in providing the quality of life issue to lure more corporations here. The stigma of being a low wage service industry economy still plagues our image. On top of that it's no secret that we lack in some the cultural amenities and infrastructure options that some of the others do. However, we are making progess. The Performing Arts Center, Sunrail, Lake Nona are all steps in the right direction. I think, and this is my personal opinion, that our local leaders are, are taking the right initiative to make our community more attractive to high tech and start up businesses.
Rooster, with the exception of Atlanta, there is truly nothing in Raleigh-Durham or Austin that Orlando doesn't offer in terms of cultural offerings. Actually the opposite is quite true since Orlando at least has big league sports, a major international airport, and a 2 million person metro unlike those other cities which do not. However I fully agree about the level of those universities and how it affects the local talent pool and job market.
Rooster, with the exception of Atlanta, there is truly nothing in Raleigh-Durham or Austin that Orlando doesn't offer in terms of cultural offerings. Actually the opposite is quite true since Orlando at least has big league sports, a major international airport, and a 2 million person metro unlike those other cities which do not. However I fully agree about the level of those universities and how it affects the local talent pool and job market.
Actually the facts are:
Raleigh-Durham offers substantially more culturally than Orlando, as the three major universities alone provide more happening than here in Central Florida which primarily consists of one major venue. Raleigh-Durham does in fact have a major league sports franchise, the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes who won the Stanley Cup in 2006. Raleigh (population 404,000) and Durham (population 262,000) independently have a greater population than Orlando (238,000). Orlando's designated metro area is far more spread out (4000 square miles vs Raleigh-Durham's 3000 square miles) which gives it a misleadingly larger overall population. In terms of airports, RDU is no slouch considering there's not a Disney World/Sea World/Universal Studios attached with 4.5 million departures per year.
Raleigh-Durham offers substantially more culturally than Orlando, as the three major universities alone provide more happening than here in Central Florida which primarily consists of one major venue. Raleigh-Durham does in fact have a major league sports franchise, the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes who won the Stanley Cup in 2006. Raleigh (population 404,000) and Durham (population 262,000) independently have a greater population than Orlando (238,000). Orlando's designated metro area is far more spread out (4000 square miles vs Raleigh-Durham's 3000 square miles) which gives it a misleadingly larger overall population. In terms of airports, RDU is no slouch considering there's not a Disney World/Sea World/Universal Studios attached with 4.5 million departures per year.
If you've ever spent a day in Raleigh you would know that it does not compare to Orlando in terms of being a metro and/or city. I did forget the Hurricanes, so that ones out for Raleigh but still true for Austin. And while top notch colleges are great, they should not be regarded as a city's cultural offerings. I don't travel to New York to enjoy the cultural offerings of NYU or Columbia, but rather the city's people and neighborhoods. Do they have a role in all of it, of course, but unless I was attending the college, it would have little direct impact on what I consider cultural entertainment. Also, the only population stats that are misleading are the arbitrary city proper boundaries that you quoted. If we look at continuous urbanized areas, Orlando is over 1 million while Austin falls short, and Raleigh isn't even half the size of Orlando. Sorry, for once maybe, Orlando wins this one.
If you've ever spent a day in Raleigh you would know that it does not compare to Orlando in terms of being a metro and/or city. I did forget the Hurricanes, so that ones out for Raleigh but still true for Austin. And while top notch colleges are great, they should not be regarded as a city's cultural offerings. I don't travel to New York to enjoy the cultural offerings of NYU or Columbia, but rather the city's people and neighborhoods. Do they have a role in all of it, of course, but unless I was attending the college, it would have little direct impact on what I consider cultural entertainment. Also, the only population stats that are misleading are the arbitrary city proper boundaries that you quoted. If we look at continuous urbanized areas, Orlando is over 1 million while Austin falls short, and Raleigh isn't even half the size of Orlando. Sorry, for once maybe, Orlando wins this one.
I actually lived in Durham/Chapel Hill for 5 years so I am well acquainted with both and can say unequivocally Raleigh's downtown alone far exceeds Orlando's and their combined metro area's offerings far exceed this area's. I'm surprised given your supposed worldliness that you would even suggest such a thing. Colleges aren't the sole source of culture in the Triangle but are part of the diverse offerings that Orlando can't touch. The city proper boundaries I quoted aren't arbitrary, they consist of the MSA data compiled by the US census which is how we officially measure population. You're actually the one throwing out numbers minus sources which if I'm not mistaken is kind of the definition of arbitrary...
I did also consider Raleigh-Durham but in general still ended up preferring Orlando because North Carolina has horrible internet and big telecom have successfully gotten community broadband banned there.
It does have the fantastic Research Triangle Park and better educated local workforce if you will and they also have the free ride transit which is a real bus system while the best Orlando has to offer in that regard is the Lymmo which uh... imo is a waste of taxpayer dollars. You can walk the route it covers, and the ridership makes the Lynx look busy.. not really sure why it's needed especially right now while the downtown area is dead.
In the end though my play isn't really scientific or engineering based and Orlando's depressed economy would work in my favour. However the core of any non service business is human resources, and whether or not you can get the talent you need to move there and as far as Orlando goes that would be a big question mark regardless of how cheap your costs are. I would also probably be flying all over the place throughout the year and Orlando's direct flights and international airport ultimately would ace it for me. My question would be Orlando's value beyond the startup phase, which by the time I'm able to actually come over I may not be anymore.
I actually lived in Durham/Chapel Hill for 5 years so I am well acquainted with both and can say unequivocally Raleigh's downtown alone far exceeds Orlando's and their combined metro area's offerings far exceed this area's. I'm surprised given your supposed worldliness that you would even suggest such a thing. Colleges aren't the sole source of culture in the Triangle but are part of the diverse offerings that Orlando can't touch. The city proper boundaries I quoted aren't arbitrary, they consist of the MSA data compiled by the US census which is how we officially measure population. You're actually the one throwing out numbers minus sources which if I'm not mistaken is kind of the definition of arbitrary...
No no city boundaries are not the best measure of city size as in the example of Jacksonville being the largest city in the state of Florida, nearly twice the size of Miami lol. Metro area is a hit or miss measure as well since it uses entire county populations that are considered part of the metro. Urban area however reflects the continuous development extending from a city center like Orlando, and reflects the actual size of a city and it's non exurban suburbs. So no your stats do not reflect "MSA" data as that would have implied metro area which Orlando is again the largest (by far). Oh and as far as my sources are concerned, just do a quick Google search for msa population vs urban area population then perhaps look up how the census bureau actually ranks population centers and get back to me...
Oh and maybe I missed something last time I was in DT Raleigh, but that town rolls up the sidewalk at night as it is a very 9-5 state capital feeling town. Maybe we just don't agree in terms of culture and things to do...
If you've ever spent a day in Raleigh you would know that it does not compare to Orlando in terms of being a metro and/or city. I did forget the Hurricanes, so that ones out for Raleigh but still true for Austin. And while top notch colleges are great, they should not be regarded as a city's cultural offerings. I don't travel to New York to enjoy the cultural offerings of NYU or Columbia, but rather the city's people and neighborhoods. Do they have a role in all of it, of course, but unless I was attending the college, it would have little direct impact on what I consider cultural entertainment. Also, the only population stats that are misleading are the arbitrary city proper boundaries that you quoted. If we look at continuous urbanized areas, Orlando is over 1 million while Austin falls short, and Raleigh isn't even half the size of Orlando. Sorry, for once maybe, Orlando wins this one.
You consider the city's people and neighborhoods cultural entertainment ? Ever been to 6th St in Austin ? In fact, have you ever been to Austin period ? The live music scene dwarfs anything Orlando has to offer.
And what about the airport ? You hang at the airport for cultural enrichment ? So it's an accessible airport ... I've never had any trouble flying in or out of RDU.
Finally, what emphasis should we give a 2 million person metro when the great majority of them are near minimum wage service workers.
Raleigh-Durham and Austin win by a landslide.
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