A new report shows a growing San Antonio technology sector. The report called "Long Live The Geek: charts the 5 year growth of one of the city's chief tech hubs, Geekdom.
Speaking at the annual "State of the Ecosystem" event Monday, Geekdom CEO Lorenzo Gomez says there are several highlights for him from the 5-year analysis of Geekdom: There are jobs in tech for everyone, a tech company can raise money in San Antonio, and more importantly cities should be taking note that small businesses generate more jobs.
"The strategy of chasing a big company is better suited chasing small companies or bringing tools programs initiatives that help small companies here," Gomez says.
Geekdom is the co-working space founded by Graham Weston and Nick Longo to help tech companies grow through mentorship and networking.
The report released Monday says companies that were founded or were directly impacted by Geekdom have generated more than 650 jobs. If it were a single company, Gomez says, it would be the 17th largest employer in the city. Also, these jobs pay nearly 20,000 more than the median salary for San Antonio.
Brett Piatt says without Geekdom he and his investors wouldn't have purchased jungle disk in January.
"You get out there as a small company, and not having a community makes it very difficult. Here we have a team of 25 but we really have a team of 658. There's other folks to ask questions, to learn from to work with, to bounce ideas off of," he says.
Geekdom currently has more than 1,200 members in its Rand Building HQ downtown and hopes to continue growing companies downtown to create a tech district of employers and buildings.
