Why You Should Start a Company in... Kansas City

I'm hesitant to share such a poorly written article, but the topic is a great one. It highlights a great city here in the Midwest that is starting to do some great things in the startup world. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the Kauffman Labs is able to produce.

It looks like the startup climate in Midwest is starting to get focused. With the state of the economy right now that is a great thing for everyone.

One thing that swayed us as a company to move to Austin was the great business climate offered by Texas. One of the stated purposes of the Texas government is to "get out of the way" so a company can focus on the competition, and they seem to do that very well. That along with the favorable tax climate (no personal income tax, and a relatively high threshold before any corporate/franchise tax kicks in) made Austin seem very attractive to us. You don't even need a business license in Austin. Basically, you can keep and reinvest a lot more of what you earn.

Maybe Kansas City can take a look at what Austin has to offer and use some of the positives to build an even "greater" startup atmosphere than you guys have now.

Here is a YouTube speech by the governor of Texas outlining the Texas philosophy about startups. He pretty much hits on all of the points that we found attractive when locating here. Maybe you guys could use some of these ideas too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbOtHDshfj4

Surprised that there's no mention of Django, which came from Lawrence, KS, only 40 miles away. That makes me think this is an MBA-led/business plan/top down startup scene, rather than a techie-led scene.

Make sure to check their health insurance laws. I have friends whose child is uninsurable in the state because of a minor, treatable condition, even though his father is a significant level employee of a very large government agency.

Depending how you locate, your employees who need to could live on the Missouri side and get access to the state high risk pool, but with a 12 month pre-existing condition exemption, and no coverage for most cancer treatments.

Scroll to the bottom and you'll get links to the other cities, outside of Silicon Valley, you should start a company in. A lot of potential in the Midwest; Chicago has already been covered and I expect a spotlight on Detroit in the future - opportunities to do business with a reshaped auto industry, wealth of IT people, access to VCs and incubators, easy access to Canada, etc.