Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Who creates them? According to the Kauffman Foundation, most jobs are created by new businesses. We need those jobs, and we need those businesses. And they can’t be developed in a vacuum. Everyone knows Silicon Valley is the mecca for tech company startups, and New York for the media industry. Detroit is the auto industry, and Los Angeles is movies. But what if you don’t live in one of those places? How do you create the conditions for successful entrepreneurship in your own community?
For the past two years, I’ve been working with Gangplank, a Chandler-based collaboration space, to figure out what Arizona needs to be come a successful entrepreneurial hub. Derek Neighbors and Jade Meskill, the entrepreneurs who conceived Gangplank, took a big risk when they decided to sign a lease for a much larger space than their company, Integrum, needed, in order to encourage others to congregate around them. As Gangplank heads into its next phase, which will be a substantial expansion, here are the ingredients they’ve decided are the way forward for Arizona (and probably for anywhere else.)
