I have seen recent articles from Stacey Higginbotham with the Austin office of GigaOm as well as StartupHouston’s own Josh Tabin talking about what it takes to make a town a successful breeding area for technology startups and decided to follow up on a point that Josh made about the need for close proximity to foster collaborative effort. I am also of the belief that even though we live in an ever-increasingly virtual world, there is value in having highly talented people grouped together in a specific geographic area, especially in a city that is as spread out as Houston is. This not only adds some of the intangible social aspects, but helps to build the identity of a startup community.
To that wit, I would like to make a proposal, and that is to identify an area in town that all startups would consider first on their list of areas to set up shop. The area that I am proposing would be called the Houston Startup Corridor. The Houston Startup Corridor would encompass the Midtown/Montrose/Museum areas and is indicated in the Google Map below (this map is publicly available). Things to like about the Midtown/Montrose/Museum areas are that they are eclectic, artsy, have reasonable rental and lease rates, and have close access to great resources like the Houston Technology Center and Rice University. In fact, the Houston Startup Corridor would be anchored by the Houston Technology Center on one end and Rice University on the other.
There are already a few companies and groups that are moving into this area. One is the Caroline Collective, a coworking and office space at 4820 Caroline that is intended to foster collaboration and innovation across Houston’s technology and creative communities. I also understand that the Caroline Collective has already signed up a handful of startups for their new offices and will be announcing them soon. Another company is MouthWateringMedia, founders of JamsBio.com, at 4203 Montrose, providing a unique way for people to frame the memories of the their life with the music that made it special. They got a great deal on a one year lease and love the cultural feel the Montrose area provides.
So, what do you think? Do you think that outlining a specific area where Houston’s tech startups should call home will help to grow the startup community in general? Do you think that this area offers the best environment for startups to set up shop? Take a look at the map and tell us what you think in our comments section.
I’ll note that Enfold Systems is already in that part of town. They are the engine behind the successful Plone content management system. Several other companies worth mentioning too, but Enfold comes to mind first.
I think you have an interesting point, but what you have to keep in mind is that although commercial rent may be cheap in that area, housing is not. Many companies in start up mode whose founders have school age children may still prefer the burbs and commuting to that area of town for us non inner loopers is pretty miserable. I have to admit that I consider the location of the Houston Technology Center to be more of a detriment than an asset for the same reasons stated above not to mention parking. Don’t underestimate the toll of lost time due to long commutes and parking issues on a fledgling company desperately trying to attract talent.
Kevin – Thanks! I have added Enfold Systems to the map. Also, very cool because I hadn’t even heard of them before. Thanks again!
Misty – If you had to propose one central location though, where you were trying to convince all startups to set up their physical office, what part of town would it be?
Misty, there’s plenty of cheap housing just a mile east of Kurt’s proposed corridor. I’m guessing, though, that’s not what you’re saying. But, change has to happen somewhere.
Hey, different idea, Kurt. Proposed corridors are fine, but ultimately you’ll find it’s folks with a real estate play (like the Caroline Collective) that will really be promoting that game. A great service that Startup Houston can provide is to plot out where the action is happening right now. It would be an excellent mashup of Google Maps and a database of tech companies, and would be a great signal to all of us in the community about where things are now, to help give ideas about our own location decisions.
I would recommend a different color icon (or different map) for each of at least these kind of companies: IT tech, energy tech, biotech, new media. And, you’ll need to screen for which of these companies are “real” vs. just a fraud, or just a brochure-ware web page and an idea. And you’d have to manage when companies drop off the map – there’s bound to an attrition rate in this industry, even though the company’s website lingers on the web for years later. In all, though, it could be useful.
Nice post, Kurt. Great location.
Caroline is really excited to be located in the Museum District and glad to be included in the map for the proposed Houston Technology Corridor. Honestly, Ned and I aren’t/weren’t interested in starting Caroline anywhere else. The Museum district / Montrose / Midtown is the ONLY place that we would want this thing to happen based on the characteristics of the area that allow us to carve out a lifestyle similar to in Chicago and New York with close proximity to shopping, nightlife, culture, security, and public transportation. It’s also one of the only areas in Houston where you can live a life in line with your rather extreme views against the development of Houston based on automobiles and highways.
While a goal of locating the corridor in one location is a good idea I wonder what response this will get from people who have centered themselves in locations that are economically and financially viable for them and their businesses who may not have such extreme views concerning transportation or suburbs. These hubs usually form organically as a result of the economic conditions of an area: Artists move into spots that provide less security but are inexpensive, these early adopters are harbingers for gentrification and rising rent but also security and validation of an area.
I don’t know the history of Silicon Valley but I assume that it formed under parallel premises mediated by finances and economy, not because everyone got together and decided to stick a flag in the ground. Any ideas how we can foster this pilgrimage?
Kevin / Matt / Misty
Thanks for adding your comments and ideas! I agree that each company will have to figure out what works best for them, given their different economic, transportation, family needs, etc.
I think the main idea behind this post was not trying to mandate that everyone office in this area, but sensing that there might be a trend afoot with CarolineCo, MouthWateringMedia, and others, and again believing that people working in close proximity breeds community and growth, thought that trying to provide some definition to rally around (like the Houston Startup Corridor) might help those companies that are trying to figure out where everyone else is at, or where they should think about locating.
Kevin, I agree about mapping out the database. I know that Google allows you to use different colors for different shapes so we could use those to show where companies are for different fields (Internet/Web2.0, Aerospace, Energy, BioMed, etc.) That’s going to take a bit more work though. Any volunteers to help make that happen?
Hubs like these tend to form organically, not by design. That being said, building around central landmarks like the HTC or Caroline are excellent starting points.
Something to keep in mind is that whatever evolves in Houston will take on a materially different form than other markets. Areas like San Francisco, Boston, New York, Seattle, etc. all have something that Houston lacks: pedestrian traffic. This is an automotive town unlike the others, which are due to the cost of driving/parking in those locations.
I love Kurt’s concept but suspect that something else is developing here, more of a startup underground. Although the historical requirements for a tech hub are centrality, it is not necessarily a future requirement, especially for Web 2.0. High tech startups like biotech and nanotech need proximity to research facilities; space tech needs proximity to NASA; energy tech needs to be closer to the field (which is why there is a tech renaissance happening in Lake Charles, LA). Web 2.0 is not constrained by boundaries so it can occur in social networks. Sk*rt is an example of a company that was formed virtually: the founders didn’t even meet face-to-face until weeks after launch.
To Misty’s point, I can see the issue being a parent myself. Frankly, this is not a significant issue as most of the tech startups are launched by D.I.N.K.S.
Great topic…keep up the dialog. I wish we could get Marc Nathan or Blair Garrou to chime in on this…
I think the location is perfect. I personally lived in the very center of the corridor at Bagby @ Elgin/Westheimer and could feel the energy. When I move back to Houston this summer you better believe this is where I am going to setup shop.
The housing is affordable if you don’t insist on having a yard, and two of HISD’s best High Schools, HSPVA and Debakey, are within a few minutes.
GREAT SUGGESTION
For what it’s worth, we’ve got a auto-generated Google maplet which plots (recent) Texas startups onto Google maps. It’s not every startup in Houston, but at least it’s a few…
http://maps.google.com/ig/add?synd=mpl&pid=mpl&moduleurl=http://www.texastechpulse.com/map/maplet.xml
Thanks for the map, Ben.
For those that don’t know, Ben has a truly awesome site about Texas technology events that y’all should follow. I do daily.
It’s been interesting to watch this discussion about the Caroline Collective, etc. About 20 years ago, I concluded roughly the same thing, and took a serious look at a building just down the street, 5005 Caroline, I believe it was.
The streets there are beautiful, and the location is near-perfect in many respects, with close proximity to the universities, medical center and downtown. The Galleria and JSC are also not that far away (considering you’d be driving against the traffic to Clear Lake).
That said, there were serious negatives to consider. I haven’t spent much time in that area in many years, so maybe (hopefully) things have improved some, but crime was a serious problem. I was told back then that the accounting firm that had been there before had to lock up all their equipment every night
Also, my wife and I were just starting a family, and it wasn’t really a good location for that. Not long after, we moved to Sugar Land and have been here ever since.
Nevertheless, I do wish it could have worked. The location, geographically, is near perfect. It’s true, though, that Houston isn’t a pedestrian-oriented city, and so parking, etc. is important (the universities are all bad about that, too).
This http://maps.google.com/?mid=1206820413 is a Google map of the current IT clients of the HTC I put together a few months ago. It might give you a clearer picture of where the startup companies in Houston have offices. You can see that there are more than a few that are outside the corridor.
The concept of a Startup corridor is terrific, though I agree that this type of thing is usually an organic process. Access to talent (near top universities), and capital resources (both VCs and Angels) are the most important factors in a startup hub. Other things to consider when picking a place to start a company is inexpensive office space, a favorable tax environment, and proximity to city-to-city travel (in Houston’s case, our airports and driving distance to other Texas cities). So the 3M area (Midtown, Museum, Montrose) makes sense, since capital is clustered near the Galleria and Greenway and that’s close to U of H Downtown, Rice and St. Thomas.
Marc, can you double-check your GoogleMaps link? For some reason, its not coming up for me and I would love to see it.
I like it, although I would consider changing it from a “corridor” to a district” and extending it west to Kirby, including the Rice Village. Some startups like the walkable Village environment, and I know a couple small tech companies in the Kirby corridor.
Try this one: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=117947788751104973751.000439dea691249606a8f&z=9
Very Cool Marc! Thanks!