century, any number of American municipalities with similar access to talent, materials, investment, and transportation might have emerged as the beating heart of the automobile industry. But Detroit prevailed in large part because a handful of companies within the auto manufacturing community served as “tentpoles,” firms so powerful and successful that they anchored an entire economic ecosystem.
Since 2010, roughly a dozen venture-backed unicorns have emerged in and around Salt Lake, in no small part because Qualtrics put the city on the map for founders and VCs. When Qualtrics was acquired by SAP for $8 billion, the city saw itself more authentically as a seedbed of innovation. Distant skeptics also took note, and the belief that “innovation can happen here” proliferated.
It would be interesting to see some research on this…