Colorado Springs named in Inc.’s 2020 Surge Cities List
Inc. today announced its second annual Surge Cities list, a guide to the best 50 cities in America for starting a business. Coming in at #21 on the list is Colorado Springs. This is the first time the city made the list.
Inc.’s Surge Cities partner, innovation policy firm Startup Genome, used public data as well as insights from the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America to compile the city rankings. Startup Genome developed its scoring system based on three traits that determine a surge city: growth, opportunity, and innovation.
“Inc. has long believed in the alchemy of entrepreneurial innovation and community,” Inc. acting editor-in-chief Jon Fine said in a statement. “We’re excited to see, for the second year in a row, how well some smaller cities are competing with—indeed, even besting—the likes of San Francisco, New York, and Boston.”
“We’re excited to make the list and celebrate the many businesses who have started their business here and contributed to our city’s ranking,” said Dani Barger, vice president of marketing and communications with the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC, and board member, Peak Startup.
“The Surge Cities list shows that the proliferation of new businesses is not limited to the largest cities in the U.S.,” said Arnobio Morelix, chief innovation officer at Startup Genome. “For startup founders, local connectedness—the quality and number of relationships you have with other founders, investors, and experts—is what really jumpstarts a young business’s revenue growth. Matter of fact, highly connected founders grow their revenue twice as fast as those with few connections.”
That’s a fact that does not surprise Dirk Draper, president and CEO of the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC. “Our city is in a real sweet spot when it comes to starting a business. We’re big enough to have the resources and network needed to create a thriving business, yet small enough where founders can easily access those resources. This is also a genuinely collaborative community. There are many organizations, ours included, that are working together to help businesses launch, grow, and prosper. We’re honored to be a part of this list, and we’re looking forward to seeing where we land in future years, too.”
To see the complete list go to: inc.com/surge-cities
Introduced in 2018, the Surge Cities list quickly established itself as one of Inc.’s most anticipated franchises for early-stage business owners. This year’s package includes examples of thriving young companies in cities of all sizes across the U.S. in addition to the backstories of several founders’ journeys to success.
Inc.’s Surge Cities issue (Winter 2019) is available online at inc.com/surge-cities and on newsstands beginning December 12. Join the Surge Cities conversation using #IncSurgeCities.