Where Matters

Stone Mountain, GA, where the author grew up climbing.

To mountain guides and venture capitalists, where matters. There are only a few great ranges in the world suitable for guiding and even fewer that are outstanding day in and day out. In places like Revelstoke, Chamonix or Telluride, there’s a lifetime of guiding to be had. The guides that live there become masters of their complex terrain, attracting clients from over the world, all year long.

Likewise, there are only two great venture capital centers in the USA: the Bay Area for technology and Boston for life sciences. Venture capital funds are concentrated in these two zones and their investments comprise more than 80% of the venture capital market each year. The best entrepreneurs naturally flock to these places where talent and the money is concentrated.

Atlanta, where I was born, will never be a great place for either climbing or venture capital. Atlanta’s business landscape is dominated by Fortune 500 companies and real estate developers, not startups. The local universities, Georgia Tech and Emory, are good schools but have no history of successful technology transfer.

Growing up in Atlanta, my local climbing crag was Stone Mountain, a 600-foot granite dome with a steep north face. I came of age climbing there and my last route was a crack line just right of the giant carving of Civil War heroes chiseled into it; I named it “The Three Losers.” Soon after the carving was completed in 1974, Stone Mountain was permanently closed to climbing and has been ever since.

I moved to Boulder, Colorado, where everyone is a climber and the only symbols on the crag are an occasional banner unfurled to protest fracking. The business landscape here is sculpted by generations of indigenous startups in technology, medicine and natural foods. The University of Colorado has been spinning off successful Boulder companies based on faculty discoveries for 30 years. Real Estate developers in Boulder are generally despised and marijuana is commercially available.

Most importantly, rock climbing has a long and rich history in Boulder. Along with the headquarters of the American Mountain Guides Association, Boulder boasts more mountain guides in residence than any other place in America. Eldorado Canyon, my local crag now, is among the finest traditional climbing spots in the world, and you can see professional mountain guides taking clients up its colorful sandstone walls every day.

Eldorado Canyon, where the author climbs now.

The Flatirons, between Eldo and the city of Boulder, offer fantastic beginner terrain on their low angle east faces, and excellent sport climbing on the steeper north and west aspects. Boulder Canyon, seven minutes from our office on Pearl Street, is a mecca for granite lovers. In total, there are more than 4,500 documented climbs within minutes of Boulder, a concentration of high quality and accessible rock climbing unique on Earth.

If you’re an ambitious and talented young entrepreneur in technology or the life sciences, and the most important thing to you is wealth and status, you’re going to move to Boston or San Francisco.

If you’re an ambitious and talented young entrepreneur in technology or the life sciences, and you have a bad climbing addiction, you’re going to move to Boulder, Colorado.

Where matters.