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Seattle, Start-ups, and the ‘Goldilocks Theory’

Given we were founded and are headquartered in Seattle, it was exciting to see the Atlantic ranked Seattle as our nation’s leading high-tech mecca (last year). As Richard Florida of the Atlantic wrote:

“The index combines a measure of the concentration of high-tech companies (based on the Milken Institute’s Tech-Pole Index) and two measures of regional innovation, patents per capita and average annual patent growth. The table below lists the top 20 U.S. metros.”

Metro Technology Index Score
1. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA .996
2. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA .983
3. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA .976
4. Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR .956
5. Austin-Round Rock, TX .955
6. Raleigh-Cary, NC .952
7. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos .945
8. Durham, NC .940
9. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH .933
10. Boulder, CO .920
11. Burlington-South Burlington, VT .918
12. Tucson, AZ .912
13. Provo-Orem, UT .909
14. Corvallis, OR .898
15. Huntsville, AL .894
16. Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, NY .893
17. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI .891
17. Madison, WI .891
19. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA .886
20. Manchester-Nashua, NH .885

In more recent news, our own Barry Crist (VP, Enterprise) was just interviewed by Forbes about why he chose to leave his Silicon Valley roots and stake his personal and professional life in the Pacific Northwest. Check out Kelly Clay‘s piece for Forbes here and read about why Barry thinks Seattle is a benefactor of the “Goldilocks Effect”:

“Seattle really is the “Goldilocks” tech market. If a market is too big, then it can be difficult to navigate or make an impact. But if a market’s too small, you don’t have the critical mass to get the money and talent you need to build a great company. Seattle strikes the balance, making it ‘just right’”.

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Lucas Welch

Former Chef Employee