The Silicon Gulf: Why Houston Tech is Winning

Directly under the swollen shadow of a collapsing oil industry stands the underdog; Houston's scrappy tech industry. The Silicon Gulf witness 45% growth in new jobs created in 2015, outpacing California's Silicon Valley, New York's Silicon Alley and any other silicon based geographical feature the country had to offer. What's remarkable about the visible explosion in momentum that the Silicon Gulf has witness is the fact that it's still IT's best kept secret...and why wouldn't it be? Without the roaring bells and whistles of a Tesla, Apple, Google and Amazon, Houstonian tech has been designed to operate on uncommon set of rules. These familiar Texan ideals have created uniquely independent industry characteristics that you must understand in order to play. These characteristics are the reasons why Houston's tech is winning.

I'm a citizen of Houston Texas. My AC comes on in February, 30 minutes away is 'almost there', and my commute can be used by the air force as a battle simulator. A few years ago I left the slow paced smile and wave comfort of my peachy Nebraskan suburb to rough it out in Houston after learning an important tip of (i'll explain later) about the Silicon Gulf. Years later I'm battle hardened by life in H-town and love every scar bum and bruise it has awarded me. I'm, like may millennials are among the new 49ers, rushing to a new generation of boom towns and find gold buried in the unknown.

The tip off was the following: California is old news, Houston tech is booming. This simple declaration spiked enough curiosity in my to get on the ground and get my nails dirty sifting through the soil like may others. What I came to witness was the definition of break-neck growth. Companies expanding work forces eight fold, three man teams servicing multi-national oil, energy and medical giants, single programmers working for two to three companies because the demand was so high. Employers ask you how you want to work here because more than anything they need you on board and they need you on board yesterday! Many in the industry set their own rules and exercises a level of value and autonomy uncommon in any American workplace. This is all happening under the radar of the California crazed tech and business media, who have more or less become Uber and Elon Musk paparazzi.

The momentum in software is drifting south in a major way. With all of the excitement aimed towards Houston, it's still important to remember; this ain't California. The Silicon Gulf has been developed on a foundation of Texan independence, southern custom, immigrant can-do, and lone-star grit that makes it a radically different business environment than what you'll see on the West Coast. From my own experience I can confidently tell you that without respecting it's uniqueness, you can not full engage in the promising developments in the Silicon Gulf. These are the three characteristics that make Houston tech unique. In order to succeed in this frenzied growth environment, consider the following.

Silicon Gulf is Business to Business driven

After scaling the industry map, the consistent feature that the leaders in their arena share is a strong business to business orientation. Those at the forefront of the boom are those who have harnessed the entrepreneurial culture of Houston, and rewarding business environment and created solutions accordingly. From the presence and success of ERP, CRM and other big data solution providers to back end and automation development, the primary business in the Silicon Gulf is business it's self.

Houston's Diversity is fueling it's Tech Boom

Houston is America's most diverse metropolitan area, and ranks in the top ten for foreign-born residents. To best understand the characteristics of the Silicon Gulf, this is a factor to consider. According to the Small Business Administration one out of ten immigrants owns a business, double the rate of the average American. Houston's foreign born population open 31% of all new businesses in the city in 2010 and today many of these same companies and leading the tech charge. Despite rising national apprehension towards the relationship between immigration and the availability or jobs, Houston has proven to the nation that immigration and the availability of job creators can go hand-in-hand. As Silicon valley struggles with containing the pace of outsourcing local development needs to foreign developers, the Silicon Gulf's embrace diversity is pulling those developers to US soil.

The Silicon Gulf works with each other, not against

My specialty is in software sales. Companies contact me, request a set amount of new contracts in a set amount of time and I hit the ground running, combing the city and more often the country bringing them their results. Still, time and time again, I find the commendatory in the Silicon Gulf very interesting. Perhaps it's a luxury afforded by the massive market and little competition, but the collaboration and partnership appears to be the most common mode of operation in this arena.