With
Jamie Dixon demonstrating that his heart has always been in Fort Worth despite
all these years of telling Pittsburghers how much he loved being here and at
Pitt, I found it heartening to read that local high tech success story Duolingo
is showing real commitment to staying in Pittsburgh.
Even
more than the fickle world of college athletics [and who can blame players or
staff for chasing gold, given their limited life spans within that ecosystem]
the high tech game is one where start ups have to seek environments conducive
to their success. In other words, go to
where the money, personnel and support resources will do the most to ensure an enterprise’s
longevity.
It
was reported last week that Shadyside-located Duolingo is taking 15,000 square
feet of office space in East Liberty and plans to almost double its employee
count within the next year. That’s all
great news but what caught my eye in the company’s announcement was the founders’
statement: “We’re proud to be a Pittsburgh-based
company and to stick to our roots despite having been advised by leaders in the
space to move elsewhere.”
Moving to greener pastures of funding is absolutely the norm in
the high tech start-up world. But it has all too often been the path taken by
many promising new companies started and fed in Pittsburgh’s nurturing
environment as soon as they bring in some Boston or Silicon Valley or Research
Triangle funding. As I’ve railed against
many times in this blog, the bleeding of local talent has to stop.
Duolingo is one company proving it can make itself a success
right here in Pittsburgh. They may be the billion dollar public “hit” that our
high tech scene has been waiting for and finally breaks the dam to where a
succession of large high tech enterprises call Pittsburgh home.
