Boise’s technology community draws attention, again

Boise will be the subject of a feature story in Forbes’ annual Best Places for Business and Careers rankings, to be released in the spring.

The City of Trees has been on the magazine’s Top 10 list for the last five years, and was even ranked No. 1 in 2005.
But things can change quickly.
The Treasure Valley continues to earn high marks for quality of life, low unemployment, higher education resources and the low cost of business.
But more discouraging events, such as the layoffs at Micron, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s decision to disband the Governor’s Science and Technology and Advisory Council, and the seemingly inevitable departure of the state’s new commerce director – a Silicon Valley veteran who took a leave of absence after only six months on the job – have not gone unnoticed.
According to talking points prepared by the Boise Valley Economic Partnership and the public relations firm Porter Novelli, Forbes believes Boise is at a crossroads.
A reporter from the magazine was here earlier this month, interviewing representatives of local tech companies about the strengths of Boise’s tech community, the advantages of doing business here and the future of the economy.
Jason Crawforth was one of the people interviewed by Forbes. Crawforth, who recently sold his company, Treetop Tech, to MobileDataforce – another Boise technology firm, said Boise has six of the seven things it needs to continue being successful: a strong workforce, access to universities, a large number of technology companies, a good quality of life and a low cost of living.
What it’s lacking, he said, is active participation from the Legislature and the governor.  
“The governor thinks it’s more honorable to bale hay than write code,” he said. “He won’t invest in industries that provide a return on investment. “The governor and the Legislature are the biggest liabilities for future economic vitality.”
Crawforth contends that if tech companies are going to continue to pay taxes to the state of Idaho, they should be seeing a return on the investment.
“Many years ago, [my company] paid a million dollars in state taxes,” he said. “I know, based on statistics, that $38 of what I paid actually went back into developing and promoting the industry that I operate in. There are probably less than 50 people I need to connect the dots for to explain why that isn’t logical, and unfortunately most of them are in the Legislature.”
Idaho companies now compete in a world economy, and the government needs to adapt to that change.
“It’s no longer businesses competing against businesses,” Crawforth said. “It’s businesses and the community they operate in versus businesses and the community THEY operate in. Micron does this too. They compete against Hynix and the subsidies their government gives them. People outside our community are seeing the tech community starting to weaken. Other communities have progressive governments that see themselves as active players. Why do you think Manassas got Micron? They promoted their community.”
Kevin Benedict, CEO of MobileDataforce, wonders why the state government doesn’t find the economics more compelling.
“Why would you cancel your science and tech council when all your exports are coming from that field?” he said. “It’s not so easy to quantify, but it is so important as an entrepreneur that you have a world view that allows you to understand that you can accomplish huge things and not be limited by geographic location. When you land in Boise you know you can do business anywhere.”
MobileDataforce employs 45 people and does business around the world. Nearly all of the company’s revenue comes from outside the state, which Benedict said is a good thing.  
“Most of our employee salary is being sent to us from overseas and around the country,” he said. “That’s how you build your state economy.”
Crawforth said 10 years ago all he wanted was for the government to stay out of the way.
“But as the market changed and I started competing on more of a global basis, I quickly came to realize I was losing my competitive advantage because I didn’t have a partner in the public sector,” he said.
Benedict agrees the government needs to play a bigger role promoting Boise as a high tech mecca.
“All they need to do is promote, promote, promote the value of high tech to the community,” he said. “I’m doing so many interviews right now – BVEP is just on fire promoting us. We need to be promoting the fact that this is where everyone is coming for high tech. We don’t need any money. We don’t need anything else. Just make sure this is a high tech friendly zone.”