Multiple Entrepreneurship Centers in a Major City

One of the most popular questions I get when people see the Atlanta Tech Village is “when are you going to do the next one?” Quickly, I respond that it’s a one-and-done but that I think within 24 months we’ll see an entrepreneurship center in each of Atlanta’s major sub-markets, and that’s a good thing. Just in the past few weeks we’ve seen announcements for Switchyards in Downtown and Industrious in Midtown. I know of at least three others that are in the planning phase right now and expect more to come.

Here are a few reasons why having multiple entrepreneurship centers makes sense in a major city:

• Areas of town already cater to different types of people, so it makes sense to play to a sub-market’s strengths with a corresponding entrepreneurship center
• Founders and funders of the entrepreneurship centers have their own unique strengths and expertise, which is often a theme for the startups in the facility (e.g. B2B software is strong at the Village)
• Traffic and commuting is a serious challenge for major cities, thus having multiple centers makes them more accessible to a larger number of entrepreneurs (commute time is a big driver for where entrepreneurs choose to work)
• Entrepreneurial density helps increase the likelihood of success for all entrepreneurs in an area, so if more entrepreneurship centers create more pockets of density, the city is going to benefit from more job creation

Multiple entrepreneurship centers make sense for major cities and I’m looking forward to many more forming in Atlanta.

What else? What are your thoughts on multiple entrepreneurship centers in a major city?