Entrepreneurs present their business ideas at a pitch contest event in Fayetteville
Photo: Courtesy, Start Up Junkie
The rest of the world is slowly but surely figuring out what local residents already know. Fayetteville is a pretty incredible place.
The latest organization to realize this is San Francisco-based research and technology company, Data Fox, who recently rated Fayetteville in its top three places outside of Silicon Valley and New York to start a business.
The company on Thursday released its list of the top 15 locales for entrepreneurs to get their starts outside of the traditional tech hubs in northern California and the Big Apple.
The list analyzed 12,000 U.S.-based, pre-Series A companies using their own database, and evaluated cities using four primary criteria: availability of capital, affordability (cost of living), success of early-stage companies, and the community of entrepreneurs present.
The findings showed Fayetteville ranking high in all of those categories. The key initiative identified in the Fayetteville market is it’s a good thing for start-up companies to involve more established, successful companies early on.
Fayetteville was in good company on the list, among much larger cities such as Boulder, CO, Cambridge, MA, Pittsburg, PA, Scottsdale, AZ, Austin, TX, Seattle, WA, and others.
From their post:
Ironically, Fayetteville’s startup community is supported by three huge multinational companies: transportation giant J.B. Hunt, Tyson Foods and Walmart. These three companies offer capital, mentoring and a market for young startups. In fact, one of its high-profile accelerators, Startup Junkie’s 2.7.0. Accelerator, is specifically focused on developing logistics, food and retail ventures. Another, ScaleUp Ozarks, is focused on companies with high growth potential and boasts a cohort that is 79% female, minority or veteran. Fayetteville also boasts a strong density of early-stage startups – nearly 10 times the average of cities analyzed – and its very low cost of living is a major draw for pre-funding companies.
Startups and large, established companies have a lot to offer each other. The former bring fresh ideas, adaptability and new talent; the latter are more able to bear risk and so are a steady source of funding. Between the good sources of capital for retail, food and logistics companies and the low cost of living, Fayetteville makes funding a startup much easier.
