The success of any company is not based on its solutions alone – it’s also all about the people, the culture and the buzz of the workplace that makes things happen and that brings successful outcomes to projects. It’s also about the broader ecosystem, the supporting community that you can learn from, and the melting pot of ideas generated by like-minded individuals from a range of companies coming together to share their ideas and experiences.
It’s that open culture of innovation that has propelled our solutions to the forefront of research and development teams across the world. R&D investment is expected to top US$2 trillion in 2017, and with today’s economic pressures, businesses are being forced more than ever to make intelligent investment decisions. Until now, R&D investment has been largely a case of rolling the dice, with no guarantee of ROI. PatSnap’s over 3,000 global customers understand the need to look before you leap, and as the world’s largest R&D spender, this need is recognised no better than in the USA. So much that at the time of writing, about 60% of our customers reside in the USA, representing growth driven by PatSnap’s London office.
We have a great appreciation for the need for dedicated, local customer support in an industry where the risks are astronomic, which has influenced our decision to open a brand new office in California, which has by far the highest number of patent applications per year than any other state.
This means that we had to choose our new home wisely, however, and after a long and painstaking process, we have decided to make Los Angeles our new home. The vibe here is very much one of a resurgence of techies, entrepreneurs and motivated professionals, choosing to make LA their base for their business and livelihood. Indeed, they call people who move from different states "transplants," and there are definitely a great deal of them. But does that make it right for us?
Well, the answer is a resounding yes. So in this article, I wanted to share a couple of initial impressions - and to set down just some of the reasons why LA is the right choice for us and why I’m excited about the future.
LA – a perfect match for PatSnap
Firstly, with LAX airport so close to the heart of the tech environment, I was able to identify a really encouraging trend very early on – namely, that many professionals from the Bay area now want to settle in LA, due to the cost of living there being so high. Added to that, more engineers are graduating here compared to anywhere else in the US, thanks to the twenty-five or so universities based in the greater vicinity.
The area is well established and, being full of enthusiastic and driven people, it has an instant energetic feel to it. There are many SaaS companies popping up left right centre, so a lot of the people that I bump into work in tech and form a part of the eclectic mix of a growing tech community in a truly beautiful part of the world. It chimes perfectly with PatSnap’s DNA of achieving success by fostering a spirit of collaborative innovation. LA provides us the ideal ecosystem for further developing and scaling our business, sustainably but with the necessary speed.
This is backed up by the visible signs of investment. There is a drive towards making LA a huge tech metropolis, with clear signs of this coming from investment in new infrastructure (last year, for example, an expo rail line opened from Santa Monica to Downtown), an ever growing talent pool, and the rising number of tech giants who are choosing to invest in LA as their new home.
A vibrant setting
We’re truly excited to be surrounded by household names, the likes of Facebook, Youtube and Snapchat. However, it’s equally as inspiring to be immersed among other rising, high growth companies such as PatientPop, MomentFeed, 12Twenty and The Honest Company. Not to forget, of course, the established conventional SaaS players like Annex Cloud, Cornerstone and SteelHouse, keeping the talent pool flowing.
All these great companies are adding immense value to a tech scene scaling at high velocity and seeing these organizations in action validates our decision. From an early stage, our CEO Jeffrey Tiong laid the foundations for an organization that infuses huge levels of personal development and one that fosters entrepreneurial spirit.
Join us on the journey
Of course, it’s not all just work. There is a fantastic work-life balance and on the weekends everyone likes a good hike, with places such as Tuna Canyon Park in Malibu a stone's throw away. Meanwhile, I am either on the phone or meeting the candidates applying with us every day and simultaneously experiencing this movement first hand.
It’s my view that to drive innovation there needs to be a flourishing entrepreneurial ecosystem where people can learn off each other – and this is why LA will continue to grow and draw in companies, along with new talent. It’s a fundamental reason why we're here too. And if you want to join us, please message me and get involved.
