Atlanta Tech Village for the Second Atlanta Location

One of the goals for the Atlanta Tech Village is to be a great spot for an Atlanta office for technology companies headquartered in other cities. Atlanta has such strong natural resources in software engineering/product management as well as sales and marketing that it’s the perfect spot for a remote office. There’s another need in the market that I didn’t anticipate: technology companies headquartered in Atlanta that want a second Atlanta location to do new product development.

Much like Steve Jobs, when inventing the Mac, put his team in a separate building down the road from Apple headquarters (with a pirate flag on top!), there’s a desire for engineering and innovation of new products to take place in an environment that isn’t encumbered by the traditional way of thinking and current product offering. Tech companies, especially small-to-medium sized companies, struggle building new products, which is one of the reasons why startups continue to be successful. Absent acquiring a startup, one of the best ways to launch a new product is to put a team on it in a different physical location.

Atlanta Tech Village is a great spot for that second Atlanta location to do innovation with an amazing community and without all the overhead of a traditional office.

What else? What are your thoughts on having a second location in the same city as headquarters to work on a new product?