UGBT: "I (Steak) Omaha!" Also, "Des Moines HELL YEAH!"
I saw both of those slogans on T-shirts during my recent swing through the Midwest. I asked Jeff Slobotski to mail me the first one, as the store was closed, and plan to order the second one on this rad site.
Why? Well, Omaha does have good steaks. And both Omaha and Des Moines have a genuine, not obnoxious self-promotional culture that I've seen in few places. Cities like New York, San Francisco, and LA don't really have to promote themselves. They're like the cool guy at the party who's like, "Yeah, I know you're into me..." Atlanta, Phoenix and Nashville are almost the cool guy at the party who got to ride with him and wants to MAKE SURE YOU KNOW IT! (That guy is annoying.) Meanwhile cities like Memphis and Detroit have inferiority complexes, so they're frequently self-deprecating even when they have something to brag about.
Omaha and Des Moines aren't pushy about it-- but they love their cities and want you to know why. It must be a Midwestern thing because the same thing struck me about Chicago. I flew there several years back when BusinessWeek was trying to get me to move there and everyone from the cab driver at the airport to the desk clerk at the hotel told me how much they loved Chicago and how much I would to. There's something undeniably endearing about it.
Beyond that, there were some other (hopefully more salient) impressions about the Midwest I wanted to share.
I'll start with Omaha. As Mr. Lacy and I discussed in the playground
video, we were stunned and impressed by the creative vibe of Omaha and
creativity is far more of a central ingredient in Web 2.0 than any
other Valley-centric tech wave. But what really impressed me about
Omaha is the clear idea of what they want. As Tom Chapman of the local Chamber of Commerce put it at
breakfast, "I want Omaha to be a place my kids can chose to live in and
have careers." Others at the table elaborated on the need to build new
civic leaders. Omaha is now ruled (or is perceived to be ruled) by
seven wealthy and powerful men who are all in or approaching their 70s.
These men have built out many a civic project in Omaha and employed
thousands in the city and surrounding areas. But they all started out
as unknown entrepreneurs chasing a dream. Somehow that Omaha entrepreneurial
spirit skipped the generation that came just after. So as city leaders
and people who care about the city realize those seven men won't always
be around, they want to make sure they do everything they can to
encourage the up-and-coming generation to take the entrepreneurial
plunge. And at least philosophically, I think they're going about it the right way.
What I loved about this answer is that it's specific and local and at no time did anyone say, "We want to be the next Silicon Valley." That's what every city said in the Web 1.0 era as they saw companies go from idea to publicly traded company in a few years and got dollar signs in their eyes. It didn't work. Silicon Valley is what it is because of decades of constructing a unique cultural primordial soup of entrepreneurship. You don't just wave a magic wand full of economic development dollars to recreate that. Instead, Omaha is looking at what it has-- a different culture of innovation, very low costs of living, and a creative class-- and trying to build a community that will support anyone who has a good idea and the stomach to try to start something. In other words, these are not simply people looking for a self-interested economic bounce. They live and breathe the Web 2.0 movement, are excited by it, and want to jump in. (BTW, Chapman was one of the single smartest chamber people I've met in any city. I've asked him to write a few guest posts for Sarahlacy.com, so look for them soon!)
I think Des Moines has less of a clear focus, but that desire and enthusiasm is there. Web enthusiasts have seized onto Twitter, for example, in a way you don't see in a lot of "Middle America" cities. And ideas are shooting off from that. Rich Drake makes "TweetUp" badges for Des Moines and cities all over the U.S. and Daniel and Abbie Shipton have started the first Des Moines coworking space -- an idea they say they couldn't have turned into a reality without Twitter. This will hopefully encourage more people to leave the security of large Midwestern companies and try their own thing. Impromptu Studio opened on Monday and I'm anxious to hear how it goes. (Coworking fans: Video interview with the Shiptons is coming soon on sarahlacy.com) I even stopped by to help paint:
By the time I hit Des Moines I started to notice something else. Most of the activity (read: events and get togethers and press) is being driven by people like Jeff Slobotski, Dusty Davidson in Omaha and Nathan Wright and Mike Templeton in Des Moines. These guys are all entrepreneurial in the way I am: They've (mostly) quit secured jobs and are building their own thing that clearly leverages and supports the larger Web movement. But they aren't exactly starting Web businesses in the traditional sense. They're almost working harder to feather the nest for the next Mark Zuckerberg or Max Levchin with a good idea who happens to live in the Midwest more than they themselves are working to build a multi-billion-dollar powerhouse. I didn't see that in the 1990s so much, in fact, professional services surrounding startups (lawyers, bloggers, evangelists) were a big thing missing in many communities that sought to emulate the Valley. But it's fitting given how much this wave of Web companies is all about "the community." It's also fitting that I somewhat randomly called Omaha "Feather city" in a previous, sleep-deprived post!
Bear in mind, I only spent a few days in each city, so take these observations for what they're worth! Cultural nuances amid the global entrepreneurship craze are always hard to parse, but have huge, huge impacts on what a city produces. Midwesterners: Let us know what you think in the comments!
