Transformation in Atlanta
Rapid technical explosion, metro expansion, “on-set” with film’s best, and exuberant spirits.
Atlanta to me is home — as someone who grew up in Alpharetta in the 90’s and 2000’s, I’ve had the opportunity of observing a large city go through its own set of issues including politics, transportation, lack of resources and at times, a blanket feeling of defeat by its residents.
This last week, I had the opportunity to revisit my home city and was overwhelmed with excitement — passion and energy is truly contagious and the residents of Atlanta embodied this excitement. It is clear the city is going through an amazing transformation with respect to transportation, business, the startup community, and film. The residents seem empowered and on a mission to keep this trend alive. In addition, the city and its people are welcoming, with arms open to anyone motivated to join the cause: to make Atlanta a better place to live. I thought I’d share some of the key takeaways from this last week’s trip.
Technical Explosion
Okay… to be fair, I wasn’t in the “scene” five years ago, but from my research, Atlanta wasn’t necessarily considered a globally competitive tech hub. To the contrary, Forbes recently ranked the city as potentially one of the three next major tech meccas… on a world scale! For a geek (me), this isn’t just exciting — it’s amazing to see my home city compete with the likes of New York City and San Fransisco.
During my trip, I had the opportunity to check out first-hand some of the city’s top tech destinations: Georgia Tech’s Tech Square, Buckhead’s Atlanta Tech Village, Downtown’s Switchyards, and Ponce City Market.
Tech Square
Located in the heart of Georgia Tech’s campus, Tech Square houses some incredible incubators, accelerators, and co-working spaces. It makes sense due to the incredible talent that makes up the Georgia Tech engineering student body. So academically competitive, it even ranks with the Carnegie Foundation as a university with very high research activity. Notable alumni include former Secretary of the Smithsonian Wayne Clough, inventor of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane scale Herbert Saffir, and Coca-Cola CEO John F. Brock… among many, many others.
During my visit, I checked out TechSquare Labs and ATDC — two highly energetic spaces with an atmosphere of entrepreneurship. Innovation centers included in the area are those of Chik-Fil-A, Delta, Home Depot, Boeing, Panasonic, UPS, Georgia Power, and many others.
Atlanta Tech Village (ATV)
Founded in 2012, Atlanta Tech Village sits in the heart of the city’s finance district: Buckhead. The success story of ATV is truly incredible and compelling to any techie or entrepreneur and starts with David Cummings, founder of Hannon Hill and Pardot. After a successful $100M exit from Pardot, Cummings bought, renovated, and created ATV in the same year. The 103k square foot facility is home to near 300 startups and a thousand of Atlanta’s finest entrepreneurs. During my visit, it was clear that the residents… or rather “villagers” embodied the core values of the founder: Pay it Forward, Be Nice, Work Hard/Play Hard, and Dream Big. Last year alone, the Village hosted over 500 events including a lunch every Friday with nearly 250 attendees.
Switchyards
Switchyards boasts a welcoming environment for the B2C community. Designers, content creators, and many other creatives call this facility home. During my visit, I attended a tour where founder Michael Tavani personally gave the rundown on why and how he created Switchyards. Former Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed even has an office located in the building. Weekly, a member of the Switchyards community hosts a specific talk where an industry expert speaks about something unique to his or her skillset. In addition, included in the membership is unlimited coffee… and not just coffee, but your typical $5 lattes, cappuccinos and the likes.
Ponce City Market
Sitting east of downtown and south of Virginia Highlands is Ponce City Market — formally used by Sears, the 2+ million square foot facility is now home to Pinterest, MailChimp, HowStuffWorks, over a dozen or so upscale eateries, and several high-end shopping spots. On the first day of my visit, I attended a Meetup hosted by React ATL — a JavaScript developer’s group with 5,000 strong and it was AWESOME! The talk was given at General Assembly — a coding bootcamp — by two engineers with SalesLoft and the attendees were fun, lively, and enthusiastic about the future of the Atlanta tech scene.
The above were just a few I was fortunate enough to visit during my short trip. There are many other co-working spaces, incubators, accelerators, and startup communities in the Metro Atlanta area.
Metro Expansion
All I will say on this is growing up, MARTA or the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority was not something that many seemed to use as a primary means of transportation. During my trip, when someone told me they took MARTA, I did a double-take out of confusion. It so happens, I met many who claimed to use the transit system as a regular form of transportation and boy does that make me happy.
As everyone in Atlanta knows, one of the primary downfalls and annoyances of the city is the terrible traffic and parking — MARTA can solve this, but has not had the funding or backing it needed in order to do so in the past. According to the AJC, MARTA recently hired a new CEO and executive of transportation in cities like Boston and Connecticut. Upon research, it appears that the transit system looks like it will expand in suburban areas currently riddled with terrible traffic issues. This is a good thing for everyone — not only in the form of reducing traffic issues, but also creates a more unified, accessible Atlanta. Yay!
On-set with Film’s Best
According to Georgia.org, “In FY 2015 alone, Georgia-lensed feature films and television productions generated an economic impact of $6 billion.”
WOW…
So maybe you knew, maybe you didn’t — Georgia is considered the top place for film production in the world. Between the financial incentives offered by the state and the relatively low-cost of high-quality living, Atlanta is attracting top talent and producers to make their permanent move. For someone from Atlanta, this is incredibly exciting news and garners respect from every stretch of the globe.
During my visit, I met with a friend and one of the owners of the new Founder’s Studios located in Tyrone — Mark Sunderland. Mark is a 20-something-year-old with incredible energy and an inspiring vision for the future of Atlanta’s film scene. Currently he and his team are working on some amazing things including the construction of a 200 acre mixed used development centered around a 475,000 square foot production facility right in south Atlanta. Once completed, Founders Studios will provide for the highest-quality production and offer state-of-the-art amenities to film’s finest.
High Spirits
One of my favorite things I was able to do during my trip was to attend an event at the Civil Center for Innovation. This organization is specifically focused on entrepreneurs who build businesses to solve issues in the community — whether that be education, art, energy, or infrastructure. Essentially an incubator, the program takes diversity of thought groups through a rigorous six months with some of Atlanta’s finest executives in an effort to refine and shape the mission of the groups. I can’t possibly convey in words the energy and passion exuded by that group of individuals, but it was absolutely incredible and inspiring.
Overall, the entire trip to Atlanta was packed with serendipitous interactions with various individuals who were high-in-spirit about the city’s rapid growth. It seems that everyone I met mentioned how much they personally loved living in Atlanta and how excited they were for all that there is to come in the next several years.
Conclusion
Subchannel and team are excited about future opportunities in my home city. Between tech and film, Atlanta seems to be the perfect place for Subchannel to call home too. We thank everyone who we met this past week and look forward to coming back soon.
Check out our recap below!
Mentioned:
MailChimp, Pinterest Engineering, HowStuffWorks, Georgia Tech, Explore Georgia, Startup Atlanta, Tech Square ATL, Switchyards.
