How Kannapolis, North Carolina got built, incubated a multi-billion dollar retailer, died in a 1980's corporate takeover, and found new life as an R&D center
Another great post, Zach! Ciudad Morazán has the advantages of a company town in retaining ownership of the land, avoiding destructive regulations like zoning laws, and (as a for-profit company) being subject to market discipline. It avoids the main disadvantage because it can attract a variety of industries with its location near a major port and its low regulatory burden. Before the political uncertainty brought construction to a standstill, there were industrial tenants attracted to the ease of doing business, and residential tenants (especially blue-collar workers) attracted to the safety and quality of life.
Love this post Zach! I wonder if there might exist a middle ground between single-company dependence and total diversification in the beginning.
After all, every city started with some sort of concentrated economic focus. Port cities popped up because of shipping and trade and many other successful towns or cities today were once very concentrated in a single industry. The successful ones were able to diversify, the unsuccessful ones did not.
Again, the analogy to startups is clear: every company starts with a make-or-break product or niche. No company is born as a diversified conglomerate. So too it might be with Startup Cities: impossible to start without some sort of partnership with a company to solve the cold-start problem, but with a goal of diversifying as fast as possible. Remote work makes this easier but those jobs are still more weighted to tech companies. Awesome post!
Another great post, Zach! Ciudad Morazán has the advantages of a company town in retaining ownership of the land, avoiding destructive regulations like zoning laws, and (as a for-profit company) being subject to market discipline. It avoids the main disadvantage because it can attract a variety of industries with its location near a major port and its low regulatory burden. Before the political uncertainty brought construction to a standstill, there were industrial tenants attracted to the ease of doing business, and residential tenants (especially blue-collar workers) attracted to the safety and quality of life.
Love this post Zach! I wonder if there might exist a middle ground between single-company dependence and total diversification in the beginning.
After all, every city started with some sort of concentrated economic focus. Port cities popped up because of shipping and trade and many other successful towns or cities today were once very concentrated in a single industry. The successful ones were able to diversify, the unsuccessful ones did not.
Again, the analogy to startups is clear: every company starts with a make-or-break product or niche. No company is born as a diversified conglomerate. So too it might be with Startup Cities: impossible to start without some sort of partnership with a company to solve the cold-start problem, but with a goal of diversifying as fast as possible. Remote work makes this easier but those jobs are still more weighted to tech companies. Awesome post!