Youngstown Means Business: An Entrepreneur’s Magazine Top 10 City to start a business

“Youngstown, Ohio, anyone?” offers the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine’s August 2009 issue. The story behind the feature stretches back not just to the inception of the Youngstown Business Incubator but to the very origins of steel at the banks of Yellow Creek with Dan and James Heaton’s primitive blast furnace.

With its affirmation of Youngstown’s record of successful, even historic, business incubation, Entrepreneur Magazine ranks Youngstown alongside nine other innovative and influential cities (in no ranked order):

• “The Opportunity:” Las Vegas (pop. 552,539)
• “The Cooperator:” Portland, Oregon (pop. 550,396)
• “The Coordinator:” Orlando, Florida (pop. 220,186)
• “The Proactivist:” San Diego (pop. 3,001,072)
• “The Expander:” Phoenix (pop. 1,512,986)
• “The Globalizer:” Chapel Hill, North Carolina (pop. 54,492)
• “The Grower:” Atlanta (pop. 537,958)
• “The Diversifier:” Madison, Wisconsin (pop. 223,389)
• “The Dreamer:” Youngstown, Ohio (pop. 73,818)
• “The Cross-Pollinator:” Austin, Texas (pop.757,688)

Youngstown is one of the smallest cities on the list in terms of population, and in all probability has spent the least cash in its drive to the top of the heap with lots to show for it.

There’s something that statistics just can’t capture about the entrepreneurial spirit of a town. In some cities, the do-it-yourself business ethic may spring from a ruined economy. In others, small-business booms were carefully engineered by long-term government policies, or developed as a byproduct of rapid growth. Whatever the case, you’ll know it when you step into an entrepreneurial city: There’s an openness and energy that permeates the whole culture, an infectious enthusiasm throughout the small-business community, and a faith that any problem can be overcome through dedication and smart decisions. Here are 10 cities we think embody the entrepreneurial spirit–and some of the entrepreneurs that power them to greatness.

The Dreamer: Youngstown Ohio

Sure, Youngstown may not have the economic firepower of other cities on this list, but it has one important commodity in spades: hope. This rust belt burnout hit the skids in the late ’70s and early ’80s when the steel industry packed it in, cutting 30,000 jobs and leaving the town synonymous with hard times (listen to Bruce Springsteen’s “Youngstown” for details). But in the last decade, something special has happened in this northeast Ohio city. Jim Cossler and his innovative Youngstown Business Incubator, which offers fledgling B2B software companies mentors, networking and services like office space and bandwidth for free or at a deferred cost, are taking Youngstown’s business future into their own hands. The incubator concept was revolutionary enough to help ignite a renaissance in this small city. “Youngstown fell so far, traditional community leaders threw up their hands and told the younger generation, ‘You guys try,’” Cossler says. “The new generation is envisioning things we wouldn’t have talked about 10 years ago.” Cossler points to the work of the area’s dynamic congressman and energetic young mayor as examples. “They said, ‘Let’s clean the slate and start over again,’” he says. “There’s a radical transformation going on here right now.”

Mike Broderick, Turning Technologies

You wouldn’t expect one of the seven fastest growing tech companies in the country to be located in Youngstown, but founder Mike Broderick thinks it makes perfect sense. “I’ve found Youngstown to be a brilliant place for a startup,” says the area native, whose 134-employee Turning Technologies, which makes the audience response systems used in college lectures, corporate events and even game shows, launched in 2001. “I believe in most places we wouldn’t have been able to expand with the speed we did,” Broderick says. “The affordability here really helped fuel our growth.” Youngstown’s lower-than-average rent and taxes mean dollars stretch further than they would in Silicon Valley. Turning Technologies’ early growth–fast-tracked by the Youngstown Business Incubator, which nurtured the company until it spun off into its current facility–meant startup costs were minimal. What’s more, because he’s based in Youngstown, Broderick has outsized clout. “In most markets, I’d just be running another small company,” he says. “But here, I can dial the congressman or mayor when I’m having problems and they’ll take my call. That gives you the ability to accomplish a lot of things.” [Emphasis added.]

Personalized attention. Low startup cost. Managed-cluster incubation. Politicians on speed dial. Welcome to Youngstown.

Senator Sherrod Brown paid tribute to Youngstown on the Chamber floor. Here is the text of his comments:

Thank you, Mr. President.

I rise to congratulate the community and the business leaders of Youngstown, OH, for showing the rest of the nation what so many of us in Ohio already know: Youngstown is one of the nation’s best places to start a business. Mr. President, I’ve held some 140 community roundtables across Ohio, visiting each of Ohio’s eighty-eight counties at least once since I’ve been in the Senate. In the last two-and-a-half years I’ve met with educators and students, with community and business leaders, with entrepreneurs and workers. I’ve held a half-dozen of these roundtables in the Mahoning Valley, including two in Youngstown, and have traveled along the Mahoning River and across this valley. From the auto worker in Lordstown to the electrician in Warren to the technology entrepreneur in Youngstown to the small business owner in Salem, I’m impressed by their unwavering commitment to rebuilding this region. Youngstown remains a great city in the face of many challenges, and its dedicated and talented workforce is driving today’s innovation and ingenuity.

Each time I visit Youngstown, I learn something new from Mayor Jay Williams, the fine, aggressive, very bright, young mayor of Youngstown, to Chamber of Commerce leader Tom Humphries to dozens of teachers and small businesspeople and workers and citizens. Mr. President, it’s easy to see why Entrepreneur magazine lists Youngstown as one of the top ten U.S. cities to start a business.

(Reading from the cover of Entrepreneur magazine) “The Top 10 Best Cities to Start A Business; Youngstown, Ohio, Anyone?” In their August issue, Entrepreneur magazine describes Youngstown as:

“[A] dreamer, where technology innovation is driving job growth and sustaining economic activity. Bold plans and visionary leadership have set the stage for sustained economic growth. Youngstown’s healthy dose of all-American grit and hard work will turn economic potential into economic reality, driving regional economic expansion that strengthens Ohio’s middle class.

It takes what Entrepreneur magazine called “a concept revolutionary enough to help ignite a renaissance in this small city”. It takes a community that understands a transformation must take place from within, from the educators to the innovators, from the community activists to the industry leaders. Faced with a choice, it takes the foresight to invest in the future and not dwell on a sometimes troubled past.

Today we’re seeing the results of a decade-long process of renewal and rebirth for Youngstown and Warren in the Mahoning Valley.

More than a year ago I made my first trip to the Youngstown Business Incubator, an example of community and business leaders nurturing start-up companies that can strengthen the regional economy. Nurtured in the Youngstown Business Incubator in 2002, Turning Technologies, for example, has become one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the nation, according to Entrepreneur magazine. This is no accident. Mike Broderick, pictured here, and Turning Technologies and other emerging businesses say they have relied on the affordable start-up costs, the accessible resources, the transportation network that crisscrosses western Pennsylvania and Ohio, and the community involvement that allow businesses to thrive.

An important part of Youngstown’s favorable business climate is access to talented workers and students. Kent State’s Trumbull campus is a model for workforce training among Ohio colleges and universities. Their educators are training a legion of highly skilled workers for Ohio’s emerging high-tech industries. But more must be done to close the gap between high unemployment . . . (And that part of Ohio and my whole state are still afflicted by very high unemployment in this terrible recession.) . . . But more must be done to close the gap between the high unemployment and the shortage of skilled workers in emerging industries.

Congressman Tim Ryan, with whom the presiding officer and I both served in the House of Representatives, and who represents Youngstown in the House – we recently introduced the Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success Act, the SECTORS Act. SECTORS would help allow businesses and workforce development boards, labor unions and community colleges to connect skilled workers with workforce and community needs. We’ll see that with Youngstown State University in Youngstown, we’ll see that with Kent State’s Trumbull branch in Trumbull County. SECTORS is not only a job skill bill, but also an economic development bill.

But SECTORS is only one part of a citywide strategy to harness the region’s talented workforce and talented students. Youngstown State University (YSU) is training engineers and contributing to workforce needs of an emerging advanced materials sector involving advanced chemical and composite engineering and nanotechnology. I’ve seen some of this technology in the Mahoning Valley and it’s absolutely ready to take off. YSU’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Program, their STEM Program, teaches students the critical skills in the fields of advanced sciences, of information technology, of engineering. If our students are to succeed in this century, in this global economy, we must invest in our young people, who will create the businesses and opportunities for future growth. We must ensure our communities are part of economic revival around the state.

With the [Mahoning] Valley Organizing Collaborative – whom I met in one of my roundtables, sat with for an hour-and-a-half in the basement of a church, with these fifteen community activists, who have a focus that you wouldn’t believe – this collective effort of neighborhood groups and churches and labor unions is another example of citizens taking ownership of their community. The Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative is revitalizing neighborhoods, surveying land to determine future economic use, and cleaning up crime-ridden neighborhoods. Ordinary citizens are organizing to make a difference, and it’s working.

Yet another example of strategic economic development is the Youngstown 2010 citywide plan, which aims to revitalize the city of Youngstown with carefully-planned economic development and urban planning. As Ohio’s cities experience population loss, Youngstown’s efforts to modernize infrastructure to serve current population needs is a harbinger of economic growth in the state.

All of these efforts are part of a collective strategy by workers, by entrepreneurs, by educators and by elected officials to tap into the region’s rich resources and innovative spirit.

And that’s why Entrepreneur magazine wrote some of the things it said. It talks about “Youngstown, the dreamer” and gave each of these ten cities – I believe the other nine all significantly larger than Youngstown – but none of them could equal Youngstown in their hope, in their focus, and in their energy.

But let me read some things they said:

“In the last decade something special has happened in this Northeast Ohio city. The new generation is envisioning things we wouldn’t have talked about ten years ago. Let’s clean the slate and start over again. There’s a radical transformation going on in Youngstown right now. Mike Broderick of Turning Technologies said, ‘I believe in most places we wouldn’t have been able to expand with the speed we did. The affordability here really helped fuel our growth.’ He said, ‘I found Youngstown to be a brilliant place for a start-up.’”

It’s been my pleasure to work with Congressman Ryan, with Mayor Williams, with the Youngstown Business Incubator, with Turning Technologies, and all the community activists who are working hard to create new opportunities for a better and a stronger Youngstown. Ohio’s dedicated workforce and hard-working community leaders are leading examples of how we can turn around our economy, how we can create new jobs, and how we can – across my state, across the Mahoning Valley, across my state of Ohio, and across this country – how we can rebuild our middle class.

We should create some iconography (better than the above) to help promote our status. This is our identity, and it’s our responsibility now to leverage this exposure and make it stick.

Thanks to Shout Youngstown for covering the magazine developments in real time. He had pictures of the cover and inside up the same day this came out.

Chris Barzak also has some thoughts on “The Dreamer.”

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