What makes Greater Sacramento the ideal location for start-ups to thrive?
The panel at our “Extend Your Runway” campaign gave us the scoop.
The Greater Sacramento Economic Council recently hosted an event, Extend Your Runway, in the Bay Area. The campaign was launched to attract tech companies looking to relocate out of the Silicon Valley. Region leaders filled the room at Plug and Play tech center, a global innovation platform that connects startups to corporations.
Attendees got an exclusive first look at several of the campaign’s creative video concepts, while getting to hear from the featured company executives.
There was standing room only as two regions merged in efforts to grow as one. Barry Broome, CEO of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council said many start-ups in the early stages are forced out of Silicon Valley because of costs, as a result, they go out of state. The launch event was designed to convince the audience that Sacramento is the place to be. A panel of founders and CEO’s as well as guest speakers such as Mayor Steinberg and Jim Wunderman president and CEO of the Bay Area Council, spoke on why moving to Sacramento is the next step in accelerating your tech company.
The Silicon Valley has become a label for a region that houses a number of multi-million dollar companies. Behind the ‘brand name’ lies factors that cripple the growth opportunity for startups. Sacramento fosters the growth and support companies need while in the scale-up phase.
The panel discussion at Extend Your Runway was moderated by Hardeep Gulati, CEO of Power School. Panelists included Manan Mehta, founding partner of Unshackled Ventures; Sheri Atwood, founder and CEO of SupportPay, Garrett Larsson, co-founder and CEO of Rhombus Systems; and Lokesh Sikaria, managing partner of Moneta Ventures LLC. Together, they discussed their journey, experiences, and reasons why they made the move to Sacramento.
Sacramento has been making major revitalization efforts that are redefining our reputation as a “destination city”. The affordability, available talent, and urban location are just a few of the factors that are attracting bay area companies to make the move up north.
Sacramento’s prime location is worth noting. “One of biggest advantages of Sacramento is proximity to Bay Area,” said Manan Mehta, founder of Unsheckled Ventures. A frequent theme of the conversations was that we don’t have to be separated as two different regions. “In order to be successful we have to apply all of the assets around us,” said Bay Area Council CEO, Jim Wunderman. “We have to be competitive, we have to work together, us and Sacramento.”
The event closed with unity and optimistic vibes to work together and build up the region. A night of success and networking in the Bay Area.
Talent
Direct access to a system of universities, anchored by the top UC schools, gives the region a powerful workforce – including 318,000 currently enrolled 4-year university students.
Cost-Efficiency
Relocating to Greater Sacramento from Seattle cuts employee expenses by nearly a third. For an employer, these cost savings multiply.
Access
The Northern California Megaregion is a competitive marketplace of 12.2 million people, with a regional GDP that is the highest of any US megaregion.