The Bay Area is the undisputed king of the startup world, recognized around the world as the epicenter of venture capital. As such its draw for young startups is magnetic. Yet the astronomical cost of rents and doing business in the Bay Area compared to other cities presents a significant barrier for many.

Sacramento’s proximity to the Bay Area and much lower cost of living make it a very attractive option for our local startups. That, along with a strong sense of community, collaboration and growing vibrancy has many Sacramento startup founders here very excited about setting their roots in SacTown. One of my standard questions when interviewing Sacramento startup founders for the StartupSac podcast is to get their thoughts on our local startup scene. Following are some those responses.

 

The Startup scene is thriving in the Sacramento area, you’re starting to see more co-working spaces and more entrepreneur type events and activities happening around town. With the right investors, founders, and successful startups, It’s just a matter of time before that startup scene will be just as big in Sacramento as in the Bay area. ~ Michael Purnell, Founder Sievent

 

One thing I’ve learned working Sacramento now since 2004 is how vibrant and exciting the Sacramento startup community has become, especially in the last five years. I think support the moral support, the emotional support, the great intellectual support has been a great boon to entrepreneurs in the area. ~ Clare Price, Co-founder Octain

I would second that for sure it’s definitely a great place to be starting a company like this. I would say another big lesson for me has been to get out there you know having an ecosystem means step into it and make the connections. ~ Lacye Martini, Co-founder Octain

 

We’ve got a lot of educated people around here that are very passionate about what they do. We have a good social scene where people can actually come together and share ideas.  And one of the nice things about it is we’re kind of in this tech triangle where we get a lot of support and things from the Bay Area but we also have the ability to reach out into communities that are underserved by investments so I think we have an opportunity because there’s kind of a missing space out here of people looking at companies and we have the knowledge base. ~ Thomas Hall, Executive Director CleanStart

 

I feel really lucky to a member of it… It’s been really welcoming… 1 Million Cups has been really big for me. It’s proximity to the Bay Area is a HUGE value add. To be down there, grab that energy, grab that wealth of knowledge, come [back] here and focus. ~ Mike Mendelson, Founder Splor

 

Sacramento has done tremendous things over the course of the last year. Kevin Johnson and his initiatives to try and support entrepreneurs I think has been fantastic. I think incoming Mayor Darrell Steinberg is going to be an enormous driver for growth in Sacramento as far as the entrepreneurial community and for clean energy. ~ Mike Hart, Sierra Energy

 

We love being in Sacramento. I think the Sacramento startup community has been absolutely phenomenal. When we launched, that was when SARTA was around, so Laura Good, David Sanders, and everyone inside the startup community was just very supportive and I think that was crucial for the first couple of months to have that support system. People were really cheering you on which helps you get through some of the tough times you’ll have. I can’t be more thankful to everyone in the Sacramento that’s actively growing the startup community.

It’s a great community. I think everyone’s in it for the right reasons. Everyone’s looking to give to who is in front of them, who’s around them in terms of going to the startup community events. It really is a give first mentality and it’s very rare to find a give first mentality when someone’s actually not looking for anything in return. I think that speaks volumes to the people here in Sacramento. That’s why we like to stay here in Sacramento. ~ John Parilo, Founder wimZr

 

Catch more profiles and interviews with Sacramento startup founders.