As a native New Orleanian, I know what a warm, friendly city feels like and can see the stark contrast when I visit beautiful, but cold-shoulder transient cities like Atlanta, LA or New York.  I’ve been living in Texas for almost 10 years and as weird as it feels to write this, there is this undeniable attraction about the entire state of Texas.  And I am not the only one who seems to think so. Texas boasts 3 top 10 cities and 5 top 20 cities (with El Paso sitting at #21, Texas would have 6 cities in the top 20 if you consider that Dallas and Fort Worth are one in the same), with the population growth of the state growing faster than any other state in the union.  So What?  Let’s peel the onion back and figure out if you were going to start a business tomorrow, why should you do it in the secessionist state. 

If you haven’t read my top 8 opportunities, this would be a good time to review.  There will be a test later! (Ten – Entertainment, Nine – Franchises, Eight – Home Schooling, Seven – Digital Signage, Six – Baby Boomers, Five – Business Process Improvement, Four – International Trade and Three – The Power of Green)

Kicking Butt & Taking Names

According to Entrepreneur magazine, the “Texaplex” cities – Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Fort Worth, are in one of the top 3 spots, if not all three top spots of most of the economic rankings for 2009.  Consider this:

• The Brookings Institution’s top 10 strongest US metro areas: Texas cities took five of the ten spots

• The Wall Street Journal’s top Youth Magnet cities: Austin and Dallas made the list

• Best relocation destination (career and business):  Texas cities dominated the list

• Best home-building markets: Texas cities made the cut 

• Best job-creation cities: Texas cities were at the top  

The Perfect Storm

So maybe acknowledgements from some of the nation’s most credible sources isn’t enough, let’s get a better understanding of what helps Texas to brag about their budget surplus and what has allowed the region to weather the recession better than most major cities:

• Great for Families: Why are families from California heading east – selling their $1mm 1500 square foot homes and moving to Texas?  The cost of living is amongst the lowest of the top 5 most populated states, state income tax is zero and the higher property tax is off-set by the size and quality of the asset, so it’s worth it! 

• Diversification: Not only does Texas claim to be the energy capital, but it also has the #1 cancer research center in the world.  What does that mean?  Well, this little concept called convergence is allowing Texas to leverage its medical research, technological innovation and engineering infrastructure to be a major player in the 21st century life sciences movement.  Austin has turned into one of the top music cities in the country, with the Annual SXSW music/technology festival becoming one of the hottest tickets to kick off spring.  Dallas has rebounded from the telecommunications downfall to become a major transportation hub for East Asian goods moving through California to the mid-west and east coast. And San Antonio is one of the fastest growing large cities in the country.

• Business Environment: Texas is home to approximately 10% of the Fortune 500, more than any other state in the union.  According to Entrepreneur, Texas companies accounted for 59% of all new jobs created in the US in 2008 and it’s 2009 unemployment was below the nation’s average.  Texas is Bush Country and with it comes a low-tax, pro-business climate that encourages investment, innovation and yes, it disproportionately rewards the wealthy.  Think what you might – it’s working for Texas.

• Promotes Entrepreneurship: From Dallas to Austin through San Antonio to Houston, all of Texas’ major universities boast highly competitive business training grounds that encourage entrepreneurs to Get Started!  While the McCombs School of Business at UT has a long history of producing success, it’s Houston’s one-two punch of the University of Houston’s undergraduate program and the Jones School of Management at Rice University that are kicking butt and taking names.  In 2009 UH’s Entrepreneurship program was recognized as a top program in the country and the Jones School is ranked amongst the top 5 in the country.  The Jones School also hosts the largest and richest business plan competition in the country each year, with over 40 teams from all parts of the world competing for the winning prize of over $300k in cash and prizes.  Now that’s startup funding!

So What?

Still not convinced?  “So What?”, you still say?  Why is Texas a business opportunity?  See what Texas has to say!

At the beginning, I suggested reviewing my previous opportunities because, Texas is ripe for all of them.  Due the growing population and continued building in a place where land is overly abundant, opportunities to build busiensses in areas that don’t exist yet are many!  If I were starting a company tomorrow, and I were looking out at the 5 year to 10 year trends to decide where to focus, Texas is a breeding ground for success. 

A pro-business, entrepreneurship supportive, F500 rich prospect base with deep tier 1 and 2 vendors, place to raise a family is what you’ll find in Texas.  From there, it’s up to you to figure out which of the major cities best fits your style.  If you like LA, Dallas is for you and if you like Chicago, Houston is the place to be.  But if you like New Orleans, Austin is the healthier version, with a proud character that provides the same down home feeling.  As the migrants say in Texas, I wasn’t born here, but I got here as fast as I could!  Until next time…

While on the west coast last week visiting a number of clients, partners and prospective partners I heard an interesting entrepreneurial claim.  An employee of a well known national business magazine suggested that most of the entrepreneurs in the United States live on the east and west coast (including chicago).   The statement alone was harmless, it was the premise that caused me to pause.  His thinking was that most of the entrepreneurs are on the coast because the best minds in the country are near the water (or the coast).  Oh, and by the way, the after thought was to include Texas and the Gulf South since we were from Houston. 

On the one hand I thought his perspective was completely absurd, while on the other hand I found myself  increasingly fascinated by the premise and thought that just as Gladwell  compares and contrasts cimcumstance and luck in Outliers , how has circumstance and luck played a role in the lives of entrepreneurs on the east and west coast compared with entrepreneurs in the mid-west , great-plains  and other parts of the internal US.

While I agree that the amount of new startups that originate in Silicon Valley  and Boston outnumber those in Boise and St. Louis, isn’t that a factor of the population?  Although the total population of entrepreneurs in the former  probably exceeds those in the latter, isn’t it just a basic math equation of percentages?  Just because most of the money that funds new ideas originates from the finance industries created or companies in New York and California, isn’t it a function of the financiers staying close to their investments.  I could go on and on, but does all this really mean that the best minds are near the water?

What do you think?