The location of a business is one of the many factors that will contribute to its success. For technology startups specifically, the ideal location will combine the availability of talent, with a unique culture, and a demonstrated commitment to local startups and innovation. While Silicon Valley comes to mind for some, the reality is that several startups have found the location to eventually stunt their ability to scale in such a crowded market. That was the case for my business SupportPay, a child support and shared child expense payment platform. Our recent move to the city of Sacramento has already proved to be one of the best decisions I could have made for the company, my staff, and family. The availability of talent, support from city officials, access to capital, and the unique culture that combines tech, food and art made Sacramento the perfect choice for my business and others looking to grow.
Access to Reliable Talent, From Entry Level to the C-Suite: While talent was abound in Silicon Valley, I was unable to compete with the name brand tech companies and startups with huge backings. I was considering Austin, Raleigh and Upper New York for relocation. But a trip to Sacramento to see a King’s game changed everything. I was immediately made aware of the unique talent available in the city – from entry level, to developers, and even executives. I was surprised to learn that over 200,000 professionals commute from the Sacramento region to the bay area every day. Clearly the talent was here, employees just needed employers located in the area that could leverage their talents. We have hired nearly 20 employees in the past 3 months filling available roles in engineering, software development, customer support, sales and marketing. In addition we are projected to increase our workforce to over 300 employees in just three years. We have already partnered with Sacramento High School, Sacramento State and UC Davis to develop a unique internship program that builds our pipeline of available talent while exposing technology jobs to the region. I have been pleasantly surprised at the vast amount of talent that was immediately available in the region making the process of quickly expanding our team relatively easily.
Support from City Officials on Innovation of all Kinds: The city of Sacramento has a strong commitment to supporting local innovation. Through their Innovation Fund, assistance in finding the perfect office space, and direct line of communication from the Mayor’s Office, we at SupportPay are proud to promote our new headquarters and be part of a larger initiative to contribute to the local economy. SupportPay was the first technology company to receive a $100,000 relocation grant from the City of Sacramento through its Innovation Fund. From there, the team at the Greater Sacramento Area Economic Council have assisted in the relocation of our office, providing options for a temporary space while our permanent office was being built in The Cannery. From there, they continue to provide critical business connections to connect us to the right people in order to expand our business. Both the former and new mayor have been very involved to make for a smooth transition not only for myself, but the entire team at SupportPay.
Local Venture Capitalists Moving the Needle for Sacramento: SupportPay’s first round of seed funding in 2014 of $1.1M was a great milestone, but I soon realized it wouldn’t last very long at the rate we were growing. Fundraising in Silicon Valley has its hurdles. While we had proven the enormous market opportunity – 300 million parents worldwide exchange over $900 billion in child support and shared child expense payments every year – we weren’t the typical company pitching to the VC’s. We were targeting the middle aged population solving a huge problem in desperate need of a technology solution to reduce the conflict ridden process of child support. Lets face it, not only was my company not typical but I’m also not your typical Silicon Valley entrepreneur – I’m a single mom, over the age of 30, with ten years of business experience, who taught myself how to code. I didn’t graduate from an Ivy school and had a lot more to lose if this venture failed. Sacramento’s investment community was able to see through the noise, understand the need for a solution and the social value that the SupportPay platform offered. We were not only looking to build a huge business but more importantly seeking to have a significant social benefit by ending financial arguments between parents so that they could focus on what matters most, raising happy, healthy children. As we sought to raise our next round of investment, Moneta Ventures, contributed a significant part of our Series A round.
Becoming the Creative Economy Capital of the World: After relocating to Sacramento, I was excited to be part of the growing vision of the future of Sacramento, Mayor Steinberg expanded the efforts of former Mayor Johnson by growing the Innovation Fund to encompass all the unique aspects of the Sacramento region, combining the growing tech economy to the vast food and art culture that was already in full force in the region. Through the launch of the Creative Economy and highlighting the unique culture that Sacramento offers, my employees are not only enjoying working for a growing tech company but also participating and enjoying what the local community offers. This initiative has also made it much easier to recruit and relocate employees from outside the region, showcasing not only the economic opportunities here but also the culture that makes Sacramento such a unique place to live and work.
Overall, relocating to Sacramento has been the best decision I could have ever made for SupportPay. The city itself has been so supportive and connected us to the best people to propel our business, and it’s been a much better fit for our culture and growth. Even the physical location was perfect. It takes the same amount of time to get to San Francisco from Sacramento that it does from Silicon Valley, while giving us an amazing new office space at the Cannery, access to talent that is excited and eager to make a difference in the world and a surrounding culture that offers amazing food and incredible art that we can enjoy. Thank you Sacramento for welcoming us with open arms and giving SupportPay the opportunity to be at the forefront of making Sacramento the best place to have a startup!
About Sheri Atwood:
Sheri Atwood is the Founder & CEO of SupportPay, and a former Silicon Valley executive. Atwood is a child of a bitter divorce who also went through her own divorce and soon created SupportPay when her search for a better way to exchange and communicate about child support payments with her ex-husband proved fruitless. SupportPay is the first-ever automated child support payment platform, poised to transform the complex, time-consuming & stressful process that impacts nearly 300 million parents exchanging more than $900 billion in child support & child expenses worldwide.
Prior to starting SupportPay, Sheri was a successful marketing and product executive with Fortune 500 experiences, and has also been named 2017 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company, “#5 of 50 Women in Tech Dominating Silicon Valley” and “Top 40 Under 40 Executive in Silicon Valley”. SupportPay is available online in any browser, with accompanying mobile apps for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. Find out more about how you can streamline your child support payments at: supportpay.com, @supportpayapp, or Facebook.com/SupportPay.