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Business Class

July 02, 2009

Small Town Values For Small Business

Small Town Values For Small Business

Steve Viuker

Freelance Writer, Business Insider

Summary

John Mellencamp, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen all sing about small towns, and sometimes in a not so positive way. Technology companies,

John Mellencamp, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen all sing about small towns, and sometimes in a not so positive way. Technology companies, especially smaller ones, are finding that small can be just right.

“I’ve found Columbus to be a terrific location for a technology business,” said Vicky Nosbisch, president of Horizon Datacom. “Although it’s typically not mentioned in the ranks of Austin, Redmond, or Silicon Valley, it has developed as one of the emerging hot spots for technology businesses. 

Among companies that have had their beginnings in Columbus are Battelle, which helped create Xerox copiers, compact discs and the coating for M&M's, and Sterling Commerce, which is now part of AT&T.

In addition, Columbus (also home to Ohio State University) is within a one-hour flight to nearly 80 percent of the U.S. population. Nosbisch also cites low overhead and a terrific quality of life as benefits to being based there. (Forbes ranked Columbus  # 1 for Top 10 Up & Coming Tech Cities. Tech Columbus provides support for  start-ups & existing tech based companies. 

Bizjournals.com turned up some surprises in its ranking of business cities: 

• Raleigh, N.C.: The only market to rank among the top 10 in four key categories: growth rates for small businesses and population, and one- and five-year increases in employment

• Charlotte, N.C.: Its small-business sector is resilient, and local employment trends remain better than in 90 percent of the nation.

• Boise, Idaho: Boise boasts the nation’s best growth rate for small businesses, 7.4 percent during the most recent year. 

• Palm Bay-Melbourne, Fla: Cape Canaveral is just a short drive away, and that makes Palm Bay-Melbourne an ideal location for firms specializing in aerospace and related fields.