Ohio’s Outshining the Silicon Valley

While many other states depend on a single industry or a small group of industries, which often limits the opportunities for doing business within the state, Ohio is doing just the opposite. The state’s top 10 industries, which include aerospace, agriculture, automotive, bioscience, energy, logistics, manufacturing, polymer/plastics and professional/financial services, gross more than $500 billion annually. Ohio’s cornucopia of industries is attractive for companies in other industries, such as information technology, that are looking to escape the over crowdedness and tight competition in hubs like the Silicon Valley.

I recently spoke with Ravi Kunduru, CEO and founder of Ventech Solutions, the world's first Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Level 5 (v 1.2) software company serving companies in the United States and globally. Ravi was poised to move his young firm to San Jose in 2000, but when the market softened, he waited. To his delight, Ventech continued to grow in Ohio's stable, diverse economy while IT companies "where the action was" struggled.

Deciding to stay in Ohio was a decision that quickly paid off for Ravi. As other IT companies cut staff, he was adding skilled employees from Ohio's highly educated talent pool and pulling those from the west coast looking for a better balance between work and play.

Click here for the complete interview with Ravi Kunduru.

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• Published under Ohio Business Climate Improvement