Why It’s So Hard to Build the Next Silicon Valley
Google brought its high-speed internet to Kansas City, but it didn’t turn the city into a tech paradise.
When Brandon Schatz learned in December 2012 that Kansas City, Kansas had become the first city in the nation to get Google Fiber, a superfast Internet service, he started making plans to move his nascent sports photography business there. The day after Christmas, he drove the 165 miles from his home in Springfield, Missouri, to check it out. By February 1, he had settled into his new house. By February 4, he was connected to the network.
That was exactly what officials had wanted. When the area (first Kansas City, Kansas, with Kansas City, Missouri added weeks later) won a challenge to be the first to get Google Fiber, local boosters celebrated, hoping to kickstart an economic renaissance: attracting entrepreneurs, cultivating emerging business districts, and becoming known as a major startup hub.