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Springing to Life
Entrepreneurial spirit feels right at home in Goleta
By Andrea Estrada
 A
century ago, Goleta counted lemons and avocados among
its greatest commodities, and businessmen with names
like Hollister and Kellogg led the area's expanding
economy. In 2006, much of the farm and ranch land has
given way to urban development and the city's greatest
commercial resources come not from trees, but from the
high-tech research and development companies that have
put down roots here.
“The business terrain in Goleta is
changing,” said Kristen Amyx, president and CEO of the
Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce. “We're going from
having some large employers clustered around a few
technologies such as defense to being more of an
entrepreneurial center.”
According to Dennis Cagan, president
of Santa Barbara Technology Group, a private investment
and consulting firm involved primarily with early stage
technology companies, no fewer than 500 high-tech firms
have gotten started in the Santa Barbara area, including
“dozens and dozens” that have sprung up in Goleta. Their
strength makes the tech industry the “highest-paying,
fastest-growing and most likely component of the economy
to benefit the city and county over the next decades,”
he said.
Mark Mattingly, executive vice
president of Pacifica Commercial Realty, described
Goleta as “the economic engine of Santa Barbara,” with
manufacturing and technology at the center.
“All of Santa Barbara's largest
employers, outside of Cottage Hospital, are located in
Goleta,” he said.
Most companies start out with a small
staff of five to 10 employees and grow to include 200 or
more. Considering the average occupancy rate of four
people per 1,000 square feet of office space and 4.2
million square feet of such space in Goleta, Mattingly
estimates that collectively the high-tech industry
currently provides jobs for nearly 17,000 people.
Added Cagan, “Bargain Network alone
employs 600 people.”
Goleta companies, many of which are tucked away in often
nameless buildings, have attracted the attention of a
host of investors - including many huge financial
players such as Microsoft Corp., American Express
Financial and Chase Capital Partners — that pour
millions of dollars in venture capital into the area's
cutting-edge high-tech research and development. Among
them are Calient Networks, Intuitive Surgical, Inogen,
InTouch Technologies, Infogenysis, Occam Networks and
Superconductor Technologies, all founded or located in
Goleta.
“There are at least 100 businesses
that have received venture capital,” Cagan continued.
An entrepreneurial spirit continues
to serve the technology industry as graduates from UCSB
and Santa Barbara City College choose to stay in the
area and other people relocate to Goleta and Santa
Barbara and bring their business dreams with them.
“All they need is about 2,500 square
feet of space and a roll-up door,” said Amyx.
Many use existing space, such as
Asylum Research, Wyatt Technology Corp. and Bargain
Network Inc., which occupy the building that formerly
housed Applied Magnetics.
The biggest industry trend Cagan has
noticed involves companies remaining in the area even
after they've gone public or been acquired by larger
firms. Rather than closing up shop and consolidating
efforts into one location, many firms, such as ValuClick,
which acquired Commission Junction, are choosing to
maintain divisions in Goleta or Santa Barbara.
Similarly, companies established here
find they can accommodate some business functions
locally while assigning others elsewhere.
“InTouch technologies, for example, will grow to 200 or
300 people. It could be a billion-dollar revenue company
and never leave Goleta,” said Cagan. “Sales, management,
marketing, engineering and finance can be here with
manufacturing and everything else going offshore.”
Continued Amyx, “We are phenomenally blessed with a
healthy, cutting-edge industry and we ought to be
nurturing it as we do the coast and the environment.”
She and Cagan agree that means
addressing housing, and other quality of life issues.
“Say a few people start a successful business. They have
capital, space, and resources. But when they want to get
married and have a family they look around and realize
housing is an issue,” Amyx said.
Whenever you talk about business in
Goleta you always end up talking about housing, she
added. Every thread in the tapestry of the business
community leads back to housing. |
