How kevin plank, tony hsieh and others Are Investing in Their Hometowns
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Every successful founder remembers how difficult it was to get the resources needed to launch a new business. Inc. looks at how today’s entrepreneurial icons are aiming to help small businesses get a better head start.
Kevin Plank, Under Armour
Born in Kensington, Maryland, Plank originally launched Under Armour from his grandmother’s basement in Washington, D.C. in 1996 before moving its headquarters to Baltimore two years later.
The Plan to Give Back
Through his investing arm, Plank wants to boost economic growth in the Port Covington area of Baltimore. At the heart of the multi billion-dollar plan lies City Garage, which is part maker space, part incubator, and part manufacturing space for Under Armour.
Tony Hsieh, Zappos
Hsieh founded the online shoe retailer in San Francisco in 1999 but moved it to Henderson, Nevada in 2004. Hsieh then moved the offices to Downtown Las Vegas in 2013, inspired after meeting a downtown Las Vegas bar owner who wanted to revitalize the area.
The Plan to Give Back
Hsieh planned to invest $350 million of his own money over five years into revitalizing downtown Vegas with a live/work community. The plan has drawn scrutiny for its lack of focus, however, and became the subject of a 2017 book.
Jim McKelvey, Square
McKelvey co-founded Square in St. Louis in 2009 with Jack Dorsey, but the company moved its headquarters to San Francisco due to a lack of tech talent in the Gateway City.
The Plan to Give Back
In 2013, McKelvey launched SixThirty, a fintech accelerator, followed by LaunchCode, a nonprofit that helps coders find jobs with St. Louis-based companies–all in the name of convincing local startups to stay put.
Dan Gilbert, Quicken Loans
The chairman and founder of Quicken Loans, Gilbert is most well-known for moving his company headquarters to downtown Detroit in 2010 to show that the economically depressed city was still a great place to do business.
The Plan to Give Back
The real estate arm of Gilbert’s VC firm, Rock Ventures, has bought and renovated nearly 95 abandoned buildings in Downtown Detroit, while he’s reported to have invested nearly $2 billion of his own money into revitalizing Detroit.
Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe
The CEO of genetic testing company 23andMe, Wojckicki moved to the 30,000-person town of Los Altos, Calfornia, in 2005 with her then-husband Sergey Brin.
The Plan to Give Back
Wojcicki has since opened a restaurant and arts-and-crafts store, while also leasing property through a real estate firm. “My goal was, ‘How do I create an environment where it’s super vibrant and people want to go hang out in town,'” Wojcicki previously toldInc.
