Cities need to take a different approach to recruiting and building up businesses to foster the kind of entrepreneurial ecosystem needed for the success of business startups, a leading technology guru said Monday at the opening of Chattanooga’s annual Startup Week.
“Traditional economic development does not work,” said Chris Heivly, a 30-year veteran of numerous business startups and community initiatives to help launch more businesses. “Startups are not recruited. Great ecosystems grow organically.”
Heivly said each community is also unique and needs to develop its own approach. Chattanooga’s outdoor appeal and ultra-fast citywide internet is aiding Chattanooga’s new Innovation District, but other communities must find their own niche, Heavly said.
“Comparing cities and their approaches to startups is like comparing children in a family,” Heivly said. “Don’t do it.”
The road map to success is more of a recipe than a playbook, Heivly told several hundred entrepreneurs and investors during the opening program near the Tennessee Aquarium.
That road map for communities to boost startup success, according to Heivly, should be focused on creating a place where people connect, but are not overly coordinated or controlled from on high. It also needs to be a place where networking encourages the success of everyone, Heivly said.
“Great communities are all inclusive and support one another, and that can be easier in a smaller city like Chattanooga than in a bigger city like Dallas or Chicago,” he said.
For more than 30 years, Heivly has worked for some of the world’s most recognized brands, including MapQuest, which was sold to AOL for $1.2 billion; Rand McNally, the world’s largest map publisher; and Accenture, the largest multinational management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company in the world. He has also personally directed more than $75 million in investment capital in other startups.
Heivly recently joined Techstars, the world’s largest ecosystem that helps entrepreneurs build great businesses, to develop a new set of products and services focused on helping startup communities grow.
Heivly is not a product of Silicon Valley or Boston’s elite colleges. He developed Mapquest in his hometown of Lancaster, Pa., where he said he and his childhood buddy developed their entrepreneurial zeal building forts in their backyard at age 10.
“Startups can come from anywhere,” he said.
Chattanooga’s Startup Week, which tries to encourage such dreams to become business realities, includes 180 events this week. That is more than triple the number of events four years ago when Chattanooga launched its first Startup Week.
“It continues to grow and I think that speaks well of Chattanooga,” said Charlie Brock, president of LaunchTN.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.