Yesterday in Forbes Bijan Khosravi shared his thoughts on the strengths and weakness of Atlanta’s startup ecosystem. The local angel investor highlighted the availability of tech talent, the low cost of living & our strong gaming, medical and security industries. The main (and arguably the most important) takeaway from his article is Atlanta’s need for stronger funding to compete with other startup savvy cities.
Here’s some choice quotes from his piece:
- The city’s biggest draw then and continues to be now, the exceptionally talented pool of engineers. Local colleges and universities graduate over 2,400 top quality engineers every year, and this just adds to the already plentiful mix. Thousands of engineers with rich experience from working in startups and other major corporations like First Data, Delta, Cisco and more in the city already live in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
- The median price of a home in San Jose is $773K. The median price for a home in Atlanta is $138K. That’s big savings when it comes to a business plan.
- Georgia is ranked third for information security with over 115 companies generating 25% global revenue share of the market.
- In medical technology, Atlanta is home to the CDC and over 200 bio-tech companies. The industry generates over $4 billion of revenue annually.
- The major con – the lack of tier one investors.
- If the startup community doesn’t figure out how to bring smart money to Atlanta, the city won’t be able to live up to its potential and some companies might seek greener pastures elsewhere.
Read the full article in Forbes.
More on Bijan Khosravi from TIE:
In a stellar career that spans over 25 years, Bijan Khosravi has founded and spear headed new companies as well as served in numerous executive positions for blue chip corporations.
Most recently, he was the Chairman and CEO of Cartiza, a Boston based 4G wireless company he founded in 2006 and sold in 2009. Prior to Cartiza, he led two startup companies he founded to successful exits. In 2000, Siara Networks was acquired by Redback for a record setting $4.3B. In 2006, Movaz Networks, the only successful optical startup post the telecom bubble, was acquired by ADVA Optical Networking, Inc. He was board chairman and CEO of Movaz, and oversaw Movaz’s rapid growth to become a global supplier to some of the world’s biggest telecom service providers.
As a seasoned entrepreneur with a proven record, Bijan understands what it takes to build a successful business. In founding InBounce, he has assembled a team of top tier executives to help entrepreneurs in their new ventures.
