In a recent interview with Scott Gorcester, CEO and Karl Burns Chief Strategy Officer of cloud service provider VirtualQube, we were able to get some insight regarding the major growth seen in Seattle’s tech industry.
BIM- A lot of people think this is Seattle’s Biggest Boom ever, what are your thoughts on this perception?
Scott- I would call my position on whether this is our biggest boom ever as “Cautiously optimistic”. Certainly this is a powerful event in our history, however, the nature of the tech industry allows it to be highly distributed. This means that revenues generated by NW based tech firms do not necessarily flow into our local economy.
BIM- It has been said that Seattle is soon to be “the next silicon valley”. What is your opinion as to the longevity of the cloud business boom in Seattle?
Scott- Will the true Silicon Valley please stand up. Seattle and maybe more appropriately the PNW is certainly a technology hub but will probably never overtake the original Silicon Valley. I have felt for a long time that we are “A” Silicon Valley but not “THE” Silicon Valley”. My opinion is that the tech business and the cloud industry is alive and well and will see sustained growth in this area for the next one to two decades at a minimum. It should be noted however that there are many threats to the “well-being” of tech industry and things can change quickly.
