10 Can't Miss Quotes From Steve Case's Visit to ATL
A few weeks ago Steve Case, the Co-Founder of AOL and Founder & Partner of Revolution Growth, came through Atlanta to check out our innovation spaces and meet some of the best startups we have to offer. Case sat down with the Sandbox Crew's Scott Henderson and a few community leaders to talk about the local tech scene. Here we give you the best of the best of what was said:
GT PRESIDENT BUD PETERSON ON INNOVATION CENTERS IN TECH SQUARE
Tech Square is actually 12 years old, going on 13 here. Prior to that, it was a lot of open fields, barbed wire, razor wire, broken glass, and parking lots, and it has been completely transformed. Georgia Tech jumped the connector, came across, put the College of Business over here, the bookstore, the foundation, the hotel and conference center. And this innovation center or ecosystem has just grown and erupted.
We wanted to create some kind of innovation zone where people could come together and create new ideas, new businesses, and build on some of the synergy that exists with the information, the expertise, and the knowledge that exists over at Georgia Tech. What we're creating is an environment where large companies can place a landing party, an innovation center. They can come in and try to access the expertise and knowledge and technologies that exist.
Just within the past several months, we got announcements that Coca-Cola Enterprises is coming here. NCR is coming. Southern Company is opening an innovation center just in the first floor in the main lobby over here. WorldPay is locating over in Atlantic Station. NCR's world headquarters is going to be just right 150 yards that direction. A number of other companies that have been here for a while… ThyssenKrupp, Panasonic, AT&T Mobility, great to have them here. - Bud Peterson
SANDBOX CREW MANAGING DIRECTOR SCOTT HENDERSON ON THE NEXT ERA OF TECH SQUARE
I think when you talk about ecosystem, you talk about soil. And we are standing on the same soil where the Union and the Confederate Artillery was dueling during the Siege of Atlanta. Coca-Cola owned most of this chunk of land and then donated it to Georgia Tech. Then the University Financing Foundation in Gateway, this part of the block got developed. And then Georgia Tech developed the South part of the block. Novare took over Biltmore. And in like an 18-month time point, it went from empty lots, empty buildings, to what you see.
15 years ago you wouldn't want to be here, 12 years ago you did, and today, you're going to really want to be here because in just a couple of months, we've got Square on Fifth (SQ5) and University House opening up. We will have 1300 students living at Tech Square. You want to talk about a different vibe, a different heartbeat, a different soundtrack. That's happening. So the next era of Tech Square is happening. - Scott Henderson
STEVE CASE ON REBUILDING COMMUNITIES, INVESTMENTS, PARTNERSHIPS & INCLUSION
The Ponce City Market is showing that Atlanta recognizes the role startups and entrepreneurs play, and not just building products and services and companies and creating jobs and growth, but also helping to strengthen, in some cases, actually rebuild communities.
And most of the investment capital, the venture capital, is as well. Last year, 75% of venture capital went to the three states: California, New York, and Massachusetts. The other 47 states, including Georgia, fought over the other 25%. We hope that five years from now, 10 years from now, more than 25% of the venture capital is spread around the other 47 states.
Trying to position Atlanta, not just in terms of sectors like FinTech and security and others we've heard about, but maybe being the best example in the country of large companies partnering with small companies in a way that helps those small companies someday become large companies, but also helps those large companies stay large companies.
The problem in this country isn't just that all the venture capital goes to three states. It's also all the venture capital goes to white guys like me. And that's why it was great to see the diversity of the presenters in terms of so many women, but also what they're doing now with a hundred companies.
If we get this right, if we make sure the rest rise and we make sure that everybody has a shot, if they have a good idea, no matter who they are or where they come from, I think this country can remain the most innovative entrepreneurial nation despite the fact that things are getting much more competitive globally. I think we're close, and in Atlanta, you're further along than some. We were even joking about this on the way, that we're talking about the Rise of the Rest. And in some ways, Atlanta already has risen. - Steve Case
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