resort town in Northern Michigan, when its customers are scattered far and wide? It’s about quality of life, Snowday says. Traverse City is an all-seasons kind of place with water sports in the summer, snow sports in the winter, and a good school system in a small-town atmosphere. “The cost to the company by being here as opposed to somewhere else is not huge and the benefits by being in a place that’s a great place to live for folks that work here, I think, outweigh that.”
Traverse City is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a technology hub. But Snowday doesn’t see why it cannot become one. He mentions a couple of other tech-oriented companies in the city: VOIP provider Appia Communications and eFulfillment Service, which helps ecommerce merchants fulfill orders. “Those guys aren’t doing business in Traverse City,” Snowday says. “I mean, they’re just here because they like to be here.”
Right now, area tech companies are starting to talk to one another at the “cup of coffee” level. But, he predicts, as more tech companies discover Northern Michigan, those coffee discussions will turn into real talks about what Traverse City can do for them—especially when it comes to infrastructure and resources like more choices for wireless and 3G connectivity.
“We’re just starting,” says Snowday. “But I’m very much into championing this concept of Traverse City as a technology center.”
