Being Geographically Aware: Consider location before starting your company?

Before starting your company an initial consideration may be the place or state that your business can thrive in. For example, if you are planning on starting an innovative company in the United States you may head for the traditional base of Silicon Valley. However, according to Fast Company magazine, they proposed ten alternatives for which you could start your new company;

1. Florida

2. Texas

3. Maryland

4. Arizona

5. Alaska

6. California

7. Colorado

8. New York

9. New Jersey

10. Washington, D.C.

As well as submerging your business within a familiar external environment, you may also want to consider other factors, such as tax rates and household income.

Tax Rates 

I think one very important factor to be considered is tax level. For example, Florida, Texas and Alaska all have low tax rates compared to States such as New York, California and Maryland who tip the upper echelon of tax rates.

Household Income 

According to Fast Company Magazine, household income does not determine startup success because; “There is a reasonable hypothesis that areas that are fertile for startups are fertile at a point in time, such as Detroit in the 1890s, “says Ed Glaeser, Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard. “Startups come, they succeed and then it becomes progressively less friendly as the area becomes wealthier. A few dominant firms emerge and they eventually end up pushing out startups. Areas then have to find a way to reinvent themselves” (Fast Company, 2013).

Through an analysis of the graph above, Florida is the number one place to set up your business in the United States because;

1. Locally Focused Ambitions

2. Collaborative Calendar is Full

3. Money is being spent on local requirements.

Thank you very much for reading my article on startups in America, if you would like to discuss my topic with me further then please do not hesitate to contact me at all.

Sona Stefkova

Board Member

Centre for Entrepreneurship