BusinessWeek names Dublin as Best Place to Startup in Ohio

The City of Dublin is the best city in the state to start a business according to BusinessWeek magazine.

BusinessWeek searched for cities in each state -- with populations ranging from 20,000 to 200,000 people -- to compile its list of the best place to start a business in the nation. The cities were selected after an analysis if a variety of demographic, business and geographic variables that impact the probable growth.

"We strive in the City of Dublin to create an environment that positions a business for success," Dana McDaniel, Deputy City Manager and Director of Economic Development said. "Our City's steady and stable growth through our efforts of attraction, retention and entrepreneurial company development is advanced by the diversity of the business community that calls Dublin home."

The BusinessWeek recognition comes on the heels of the City opening the Dublin Entrepreneurial Center, an initiative spearheaded by the City to create a place to house and provide resources to innovative start-up companies.

"As a result, the DEC's environment will nurture small business owners to increase entrepreneurial and technology development resulting in new business, technology and job creation," McDaniel said.

The DEC is located at 7003 Post Road in the heart of the City's next-generation technology park, know as Innovation Par

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Philip Eggers has started six medical device companies in his Dublin, Ohio, hometown. His last five followed a pattern: Eggers would develop the product in his Ohio lab, fly frequently to the Bay Area or Boston to raise money, then relocate the company to one of the coasts when ready to commercialize the product. But Eggers has a different plan in mind for his latest startup, Cardiox, founded in 2006 to develop a noninvasive way to detect heart shunts: He wants to find funding locally and keep his five-employee business in Dublin.

As the economy reels, Eggers is one of many entrepreneurs quick to tout the ease of doing business in small or midsize cities. Plenty of factors make the city of 38,000 outside Columbus attractive for starting up: Abundant, inexpensive office and lab space; a major university, Ohio State, nearby; a growing population; and good local schools to attract workers with families. "It draws the highly skilled and educated people you need to bring in, especially to a high-tech startup company," Eggers says.

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http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/mar2009/sb20090327_385972.htm