If anyone needed any additional proof that Texas, and particularly the Austin / Round Rock area, is a fertile ground for businesses here it is. Because of the increasingly difficult environment for companies to startup in California, a large number of them are actually relocating or starting up outside of California. With them, they are taking that innovative spirit that has made Silicon Valley so famous. With the Austin / Round Rock area already home to several large tech companies, this creates a great opportunity to invite and house these new entrepreneurs from California thus creating new local jobs, increased economic activity, and pent-up demand for office space. Chris Tomlinson writes:
Gov. Rick Perry plans to visit California next week to follow up on a small buy of radio ads intended to persuade businesses to relocate to Texas.
Perry is scheduled to fly to the West Coast on Sunday and will meet with executives in San Francisco, the Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and Orange County. A marketing company, using private money, bought $24,000 worth of radio time to air an ad in which the Republican governor says, “I hear building a business in California is next to impossible.”
The governor’s office said he will meet with business leaders in the high tech, biotechnology, financial, insurance and film industries.
California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, earlier this week dismissed the ad buy as insignificant in a state where millions are needed to saturate the market. His office released a statement citing data that shows business relocations have no significant impact on either state’s economy.
Brown’s spokesman, Gil Duran, did not immediately return an email Thursday seeking a response to Perry’s planned visit.
A Republican lawmaker in California, though, said his state should work to keep jobs in the state.
Perry prides himself on keeping taxes low, limiting regulations and restricting lawsuits to create a better business climate. He uses the slogan, “Texas Wide Open for Business.”
Although the friendly rivalry between Texas and California is higher than ever, this may be a match made in heaven where the business friendly environment of Texas meets the innovation and creativity of California. Time will tell but only goods things can come out of this.
