Five Reasons for Businesses to Love Texas Right Now

There’s lots to love about the Lone Star State’s business culture.

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Texas is a business-friendly state, and for that we credit our unique culture. Here are five key reasons why Texas is such a great environment for commerce—and why KGBTexas’ own Texas-oriented culture can be a boon for you and your clients.

1. Texans have a well-known entrepreneurial streak.

Traditionally the beneficiary of low taxes and few regulations, Texas possesses a nurturing environment for businesses, including startups. This is due in large part to the supportive policies created by our state’s government. In an interview on KGBTexas’ podcast More to the Point, Glenn Hamer, president and CEO of the Texas Association of Business, shares: “There is the sense that there is bipartisan support for the fundamentals that have made Texas great.” To Hamer’s point, Texas doesn’t have a personal income tax. Constitutionally protected, it currently requires two-thirds of both legislative branches to approve a change before being presented to the public for a vote to modify the status quo.

In fact, the current business-friendly atmosphere may be (at least partly) responsible for so many big companies leaving former startup havens like Silicon Valley to leverage Texas perks. Hewlett Packard, once headquartered in San Jose, has migrated to Houston, and the city is already one of Amazon’s tech hubs. Not to mention Austin is such a corporate magnet it drew in Oracle from Redwood City and Tesla from Palo Alto. And nearby San Antonio is growing so rapidly that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has talked of building a transportation tunnel along the eighty-mile I-35 to connect the two cities, which Austin Mayor Steve Adler is calling the “next great U.S. metroplex.” The Austin–San Antonio corridor is already a busy area—in San Antonio suburb New Braunfels, for example, automated driving pioneer Continental Automotive has built a $110 million, 215,000 foot, state-of-the-art facility that will employ almost 600 workers.

“Texas is not a state; it’s a country,” Hamer added. “Texas, right now, is the center of the free market system. It’s the most functional, dynamic economy in the world.”

2. Texans are risk takers by nature.

Few things are riskier than striking out on your own to launch a new business. Luckily, Texas makes it easy on its naturally intrepid entrepreneurs. Many of its cities are high on the list in WalletHub’s top 100 large cities to start a business, especially South Texas, where KGBTexas is headquartered. Austin ranked No. 11, Houston was No. 35, and San Antonio clocked in at No. 45.

All three cities received the highest marks for their pro-business environment, including five-year business survival rates and average growth of business revenues. It’s no surprise that the number of startups per capita was also a measure of each city’s success: San Antonio is the fastest-growing city in the country (the Austin–San Antonio corridor is expected to reach 6 to 7 million people by 2030), Austin inspires innovation with corporations such as Tesla, and Houston is in Harris County, well-known for its enriching diversity—as well as being the third most populous U.S. county at an estimated 4.7 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

3. Texans are bold.

In addition to being risk-takers, Texans know how to take their businesses to the next level and know how to make a “splash.” Example: In Katy, just west of Houston, a 255-foot-long Buc-ee’s car wash made the Guinness Book of World Records for being the longest car wash in the world. According to ABC13, “It takes five minutes to ride through the 255-foot-long automated tunnel o’ suds, which features pulsing lights and bright multicolored water and waxes.”

The KGBTexas team was proud to work with Buc-ee’s to promote the big and bold announcement, holding a press conference and working with local and regional media to spread the splashy news. (Also, rumor has it that Buc-ee’s plans to spend $6 million to add a car wash “tunnel” at its Baytown location, targeting a May 2023 opening. Stay tuned!)

 

4. Texans are community oriented.

In an ideal world, private companies and charities collaborate to help communities. Texas just might supply that optimal setting. The San Antonio Food Bank, for example, serves 100,000 people weekly and distributes 74,000,000 meals every year. Here at KGBTexas, we work with our corporate clients to support their efforts. Papa John’s offers a $3 donation to the San Antonio Food Bank for every order placed in the San Antonio area as part of the company’s “Feed Your Family, Feed Your Community” program. This is a significant amount of money, as every dollar donated provided seven meals—that’s twenty-one meals per order! To foster community spirit, Papa John’s also rewarded 250 food bank employees and volunteers with a treat for their hard work.

Working as a team can pay off big-time. Between April 15 and September 15, 2022, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center collaborated with community members to raise over $1 million in their “Give Cancer the Boot” campaign. IBC Bank then matched their sizable donation dollar for dollar for a total of $2.2 million to support cancer research through the James P. Allison Institute at MD Anderson—which oversees the largest clinical trials program in the country. The exciting check presentation took place in Houston, Texas, at IBC Bank’s Kirby Drive location.

5. Texans care about each other.

Southern hospitality is big in Texas. In San Antonio, Texas’ (and U.S.’s) fastest-growing city, there are increasingly more people to care about, and we do our best to make room. In 2021, San Antonio’s traffic congestion ranked 41st among major cities according to TomTom, a company that analyzes international traffic data, with far less congestion than every top-ten American city other than Phoenix.  To stay ahead of gridlock, VIA Metropolitan Transit devised a plan to acquire the funding to expand services and bolster its infrastructure.

But when the COVID-19 pandemic threatened the city’s plans, KGBTexas stepped up to address public health concerns while ensuring businesses stayed open by helping essential workers get to their jobs. Our campaign, Keep SA Moving, combined paid media, earned media, and out-of-home assets to rally the public in support of the measure. The response from the community was overwhelming—67.8% of San Antonio voters turned out in favor of increasing funding for VIA’s transit plan. Beginning in 2026, we’re expecting this to lead to a $36 million increase (in 2019 dollars) in annual revenue, and as more people get on board, it’ll only grow from there.

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Are you interested in learning more about how partnering with KGBTexas could help you tap into Texas’ one-of-a-kind business culture? Please contact us today.