No MO: Kansas City, St. Louis drop off Inc list of ‘50 Best Cities for Starting a Business’
January 6, 2020 | Startland News Staff
Shots fired. A new ranking by Inc. magazine claims startup powerhouse Austin, Texas, is “leading the nation in job creation and high-growth company density — and delish BBQ.”
Kansas City? Not even on the list.
Inc.’s Surge Cities index — detailing what founders can learn from the 50 Best U.S. Cities for Starting a Business in 2020 — totally omitted KC from its latest ranking after putting the City of Fountains at No. 40 in 2019.
St. Louis (ranked No. 33 in 2019) also dropped from the index.
Austin, Texas
The report considered such elements as job creation, population growth, net business creation, rate of entrepreneurship, wage growth, high-growth company density, and early-stage fundraising deals — all areas where Austin excelled, editors said. (The Texas capital city also ranked No. 1 in 2019.)
“Austin is one of the few markets that is able to support a full range of kinds of startups — like Silicon Valley or New York,” said Joshua Baer, the founder of Capital Factory, the city’s dominant startup incubator, in the Inc. report. “It’s because we have a diverse set of strengths in our background.”
In contrast, Kansas City’s business ecosystem is dominated by the health care industry, which accounts four of its top five private sector employers, according to Inc.
Other peer cities on the list: Boise (No. 5); Nashville (No. 11); Oklahoma City (No. 39); Minneapolis (No. 40); Columbus (No. 44); Tulsa (No. 47); Des Moines (No. 48); and Indianapolis (No. 50).
Click here for the full list of Inc.’s 50 Best U.S. Cities for Starting a Business in 2020.
2020 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Nick Ward-Bopp: Local maker community harkens to KC’s creative roots
Editor’s Note: Nick Ward-Bopp co-manages the MakerSpace at the Johnson County Library, helping the community use tools for digital fabrication like 3D printers and laser cutters. He also spends his nights and weekends co-running Maker Village — a small wood and metal shop in Midtown Kansas City — where it focused on building community through workshops…
Kansas City’s slow, steady entrepreneurial growth nabs No. 23 ranking
For the second year in a row, Kansas City maintained its rank as No. 23 out of 40 metros in entrepreneurial activity, according to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s 2016 Main Street Entrepreneurship report. The annual report covers the rate of business owners, established small business density, survival rate and more. These metrics are calculated…
Report: Area Latino business ownership surged in 2015
Latino business ownership is on the rise in the Kansas City area, according to a recent study. While area entrepreneurial activity has largely remained steady, the percent of Latinos that own businesses in Kansas City considerably increased from 2014 to 2015, according to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s Index of Main Street Entrepreneurship. Now just…
Events Preview: Happy Thanksgiving!
There are a plethora of entrepreneurial events hosted in Kansas City on a weekly basis. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor, supporter, or curious community member — we recommend these upcoming events for you. Weekly Events Preview KC Roundtable When: Nov. 24, 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Where: Eggtc KC Roundtable is in existence to provide…