A growing group of CEOs, founders and investors are choosing the Capital Region over Silicon Valley as a place to launch their businesses and careers, especially in fields such as clean energy and agricultural technology. We spoke to a few to understand why.
I was at an event at the Urban Hive last October, mingling with entrepreneurs from the Capital Region for the unveiling of a cool new aircraft. (Yes, an indoor unveiling.) It was an advanced hybrid, vertical lift six-passenger plane that has the capability of rising straight up like a helicopter instead of needing a long runway like a jet. The electric aircraft made by PLANA, a Sacramento-based company originally founded in South Korea, hopes to one day cut the commute times between Sacramento and San Francisco and other cities nationwide.
I was looking at the model aircraft with five rotors and thought what an impressive idea that was. Surrounding it, deep in thought and full of questions, were venture capitalists pondering whether to invest in the next iteration of travel.
A month earlier, I was having dinner on the lawn of the expansive Haneyville, the compound home of local entrepreneur Mark Haney, founder of the Growth Factory in Rocklin, a pre-seed accelerator and venture fund. Surrounding me were about 200 entrepreneurs from all over the Capital Region who chose to invest their ideas, time and money into where we live. As a person who has lived in big cities like Los Angeles and grew up just outside New York City, I thought, wow, Sacramento is really starting to do cool things.
James Stout talked to some of the people leading these cool things about why they are choosing the Capital Region over the Silicon Valley.
– Judy Farah, editor
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