Over the past few weeks I have observed a renewed behavior that will help accelerate the growth of the area and our community.
A little background first. Back in 2009 when I started my adventure into accelerators, seed investments, and general pot-stirring, I had a thought that part of our success recipe could be the availability of senior talent.
Some quick research around that time pointed out that after Texas, NC had the most in-migration of any state; actual #’s not percentages or some economic development created data point.
The funny thing is that that has always been one of the dings on the area – not enough senior talent. But I was seeing something different. I was meeting with a healthy number of middle-aged talent that was moving into the area looking for something to get involved in. Then it seemed to stop or slow. (I think the economy slowed that migration down. My thesis is that most could not sell their home.)
Fast forward to today. As most of you hopefully know by now, Dave, Whitney and I hold open (scheduled) office hours every other Thursday from 9am until 12 noon. 1/2 hour slots for anyone to come in and chat. Topics include your startup, our startup (TSF), the community, Durham, you as a vendor, etc.
Over the past 2-3 sessions I am noticing another in-flux of out-of-state senior talent. We are talking serious talent. And they are networking like crazy which is why they are talented – they get it.
One really cool observation is that a good percentage are coming from the valley. Silicon Valley. Might there be a bubble out there? All of this bodes well for us. I remain enthusiastic and strongly opinionated that new tech markets will emerge and great companies will come from those markets.
More talent equals better companies. Better companies equals more spotlight. More spotlight equals more capital. More capital equals more talent.
The circle of life.
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