Some shout-outs are better than others, as anyone familiar with the constant cascade of on-line lists–from relevant to ridiculous–would agree. But a recent list from Entrepreneur Magazine, entitled “Top 7 Cities Competing With Silicon Valley for Tech Entrepreneurs,” was particularly well received around here. Tampa came in second to Salt Lake City. For the record, the rest of the top 7 were, in order, Huntsville (Ala.), St. Louis, Seattle, Phoenix and Albany (N.Y.).
EM‘s biggest rationale for ranking Tampa 2nd: This is where Microsoft’s Bill Gates is putting a big chunk–some $2 billion–of his Cascade Investment capital. As we know, he’s partnering with Jeff Vinik on the Water Street Tampa project. The upshot of the Gates-Vinik partnership, noted EM, is “reinventing the Tampa of the future as an incubator and preparing its infrastructure for growth.”
Also included was input from Dan Wesley, CEO of Tampa-based Quote.com, a website providing price quotes on insurance and loans. “Top-tier tech graduates flock to Silicon Valley but pay dearly while living the dream,” he pointed out. “We want to show there is much to be learned and the same salary to be earned, allowing talented employees to learn and grow professionally without them having to live in their cars … because of the skyrocketing cost of rent.”