RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Former Cisco President and CEO John Chambers warned on Thursday that a continued exodus of entrepreneurs and businesses from California could mean further growth for North Carolina and other states.
Noting that the startups he did business with are not looking at Silicon Valley as a destination – bad news for the state, the tech industry icon warned that California is “in trouble”.
“Does this opportunity create opportunities for Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, my home state, West Virginia? Absolutely, ”Chambers told CNBC in an interview on Thursday. “You have to create the right environment for start-ups and we learned that with the pandemic, you can put your resources anywhere.”
While entrepreneurs like Elon Musk moved from California to Texas, tech giants like Oracle and HP chose to move their headquarters there.
In the Triangle, the technology company Avaya recently transferred its HQ to Durham, although it has maintained other operations already located in California.
Chambers warned that the future does not look very good for California now.
“We are in trouble. We are a state that is taking a rights approach, it is not a good state for doing business,” said Chambers.
(By the way, North Carolina was recently selected by an economic development magazine as No. 1 for business.)
“You are seeing a lot of companies thinking about leaving and, even worse, none of my start-ups are thinking of coming to California. … “If California is not careful, they will lose their leadership and the jobs created with it.”
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