and [the] BrightStar [Wisconsin Foundation] have been doing has been really positive, from a funding perspective.
What I think is in shorter supply is … there are fewer people who are knowledgeable, either as board members or advisors to early stage companies. That kind of advice is really important. In other markets, the ecosystem has been built out better to accommodate those sorts of things.
X: What are your thoughts on the enormous Foxconn display-manufacturing facility that’s now under construction? Is Foxconn’s presence likely to be a boon for entrepreneurship in southeastern Wisconsin, as some have suggested?
DL: I think it’s going to be outstanding for the economy, generally. I think it will be very good for the supply chain in technology and technology-enabled service businesses.
Whether that also translates to startups—I think that still remains to be seen. It will create a much bigger, more robust talent pool of tech-savvy folks who will contribute to the ecosystem.
X: So you think there’s a good chance Foxconn will buy local when it comes to purchasing the supplies and machinery needed to operate its plant?
DL: They seem to be committed to that, and that seems to be the case already, with the contractors [they’ve named].
The other thing that happens, I think, is that supply chain will also follow them. Companies will come here and build near Foxconn. There will be a concentration of businesses that will grow up around the needs of Foxconn.
We’ve seen this at other periods of time with other industries. You have a strong financial services [sector] in the Milwaukee area—companies like Fiserv and Metavante and Deluxe Data Systems. Businesses that service financial services companies end up growing here.
They don’t always stay forever, but even when they’re not headquartered here … take the old Metavante. There still are several thousand employees of FIS in Wisconsin, even though the company is now headquartered in Jacksonville, FL. Those are technology-related jobs, for the most part.
I think that’s part of what we’re going to see with a player like Foxconn when they come into the marketplace. My guess is that Corning (NYSE: [[ticker:GLW]]) and others will probably build glass factories. I think there will be all kinds of ancillary development that will take place.
X: But you think we’ll have to wait a while to see whether the ripple effects of the Foxconn project extend to startups?
DL: I think the impact on the venture side will happen; it’s likely to have a longer tail. The more immediate impact will be things closer to the supply chain, probably with more mature companies.
But there’s no doubt that money and talent will be attracted to the startup world, as well. The most important thing for a startup company is to have somebody that buys their stuff. And so you have Foxconn that has to buy a lot of stuff. When you’ve got an infrastructure, an ecosystem where people do buy locally and have access to local leaders, that is really positive.
