Do you remember the exciting news last October that digital services leader Accenture had acquired Advoco, a local technology company? That was a big announcement for the local entrepreneur community! The Advoco news reminded me of a speech I gave several years ago that helped expand my view of local company acquisitions.
In 2014, I was asked to give an update on innovation and entrepreneurship at the Greenville Chamber’s Annual Legislative Breakfast. The Westin Poinsett ballroom was buzzing with elected officials and business leaders from around the region readying for the next legislative session in Columbia. As the program began, I wondered how I could best translate my comments to an influential audience more accustomed to traditional development topics.
As I walked to the podium, it hit me. I smiled to myself and began my remarks with a question:
“Who remembers the economic development announcement celebrating Hitachi Solutions’ recruitment to downtown Greenville earlier this year?”
Before anyone could respond, I quickly raised my hand and warned them not to answer. It was a trick question, I explained. There had been no such announcement because no economic developers or economic development organizations were involved in the company coming to town. Instead, two local entrepreneurs, Scott Millwood and Michael Elliott, “recruited” the global IT business to South Carolina all on their own when they sold them their company, Customer Effective.
That day, I realized yet another benefit to supporting high-impact entrepreneurs — they provide a new pathway to bringing major new tech names here: Through acquisition. Recruiting continues to be an important economic development strategy for the Upstate and there are many ways to succeed in that arena. As we work on continually improving our economic development approach, let’s not forget that supporting high-growth startups can even help with that.
One more thing. There’s another interesting benefit to recruiting companies this way. The community doesn’t have to pay them to come here. Instead, they paid some of our neighbors. Now that’s an intriguing idea.
John Moore is a principal with Momenteum Strategies, an Upstate-based consulting firm specializing in helping communities and their economic development organizations build thriving, impactful innovation ecosystems.
