blogsavannah.com

Good stuff, Drew. Thanks for letting us know about it.

Although you’d think a technocentric, cutting edge organization like TCCi would have a blog of their own to post this on.

I just read the TCCi survey summary added to this posting. I responded to the TCCi survey when solicited earlier this year and I offered several constructive but often contrarian views. As the co-owner of a five-year old software KBB located here in Savannah, I’ve lived all the challenges first hand for years. That said, the published TCCi summary linked to here seems a standard whitewashing (gush about the good, discount/disregard the negative, and apply hyperbole liberally). At the time I offered my written opinions to the survey, I encouraged Chris Miller and company to contact me and discuss our company’s offered insights; I got a pat response stating “they were reviewing the results and would get back to me to discuss my offered opinions”; predictably, that never happened.

How can we ever grow as a “tech community” if we can’t acknowledge and at least attempt to address the deficiencies and challenges presented by the people who are experiencing these issues most acutely? Instead of featuring lots of gushing comments like “What do I like about Savannah? It’s beautiful…the trees are amazing!”, “We’re the sort of people that can get behind a grand vision”, and “TCCi has helped redefine Savannah as a trendy technology friendly place to live”, how about including some constructive comments on possible solutions?

I don’t feel the veracity of the statistics presented in the survey results are in question; rather, I’d suggest there’s no hard/real analysis of these results falls and the quotes and comments that frame the presentation of these same statistics don’t highlight any of the issues or possible resolutions (save throwing the local educational system under the CAT bus which is all too easy). Doesn’t anyone else see it as a problem that there’s a 10-point increase in frustration within local KBBs needing capital? Or the vast majority of KBBs are constrained by the fact that the talent we need just isn’t available here? And if these prevailing issues are what is affecting the ability of Savannah KBBs to grow faster and easier, what’s being done to address these needs? While generating great “Savannah PR/buzz” is a big chunk of a long-term solution (say 40%?), TCCi should double their efforts to provide leadership on the capital formation and promotion front and provide better support for local KBBs in attracting and retaining talent in honest, pragmatic terms. Broad statements about “Savannah is the best”, and “Savannah has more intellectual capacity than most other cities anywhere” come across as disingenuous to those of us who have (and continue) to work elsewhere but live here. And consequently, we hire outside the area too (at least we benefit from all that fiber under the streets in some way!).

After 10 plus years, I guess I’m just not as apt to “continue to drink the KoolAid” as others.