[ economy ]
The Startup State
SAMANTHA CART
INTUIT & JC2 VENTURES
Tech giants and West Virginia natives Brad Smith and John Chambers are using their experience and resources to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem and rebrand the Mountain State as a place where businesses are born .
In 2018 , Brad Smith , chairman and CEO of Intuit at the time , announced a $ 25 million gift to the Marshall University Lewis College of Business . Within 24 hours of the announcement , West Virginia University ( WVU ) announced a gift of time , talent and resources by alumnus John Chambers , former executive chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems Inc . and founder and CEO of JC2 Ventures , to its college of business and economics . These investments led to the renaming of both business schools in their honor . More importantly , it sparked a conversation that is changing the face of the Mountain State ’ s industrial landscape .
“ As soon as I saw the announcement , I picked up the phone , called John and said , ‘ What do you say we work together and figure out how we ’ re complementary in this approach ?’” Smith recalls . “ John said he already had something in the works he wanted to tell me about , and we started to share ideas .”
Since that time , the friends and colleagues have worked together on their commitment to building West Virginia up as the startup state . With the added partnership of Marshall and WVU , the team is committed to teaching entrepreneurial skills and design thinking to all students at both universities , building incubators and attracting venture capital to the state .
“ We ’ re starting to create a whole new gestalt that West Virginia can be the startup state ,” says Smith . “ We don ’ t need to bid for a company to come in and build their headquarters here — we can build the jobs ourselves .”
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