When you think of the geography of hot tech startups, you generally think of northern California in Silicon Valley. Companies small to large, from venerable names like Google to newcomers like Pinterest, call the Valley home. Well, it looks like recent strides by Detroit businesses and real estate investors have made waves, because today Twitter announced the opening of a Detroit office.
Detroit’s Dan Gilbert, who is the Chairman of Rock Ventures, helped court the tech company as part of a larger “tech corridor” initiative along Detroit’s Woodward Avenue (Gilbert, conveniently, happens to own some pretty prime real estate along the corridor). Twitter’s new office will be opening in the Madison building, a historic office building constructed in 1917 (they’re calling it the M@dison now, but that’s just lame), that Rock Ventures renovated. The Madison is also home to Detroit-based startups Detroit Labs, UpTo, and many others.
Twitter is certainly not the first Valley tech company to open a Detroit branch—Google and Microsoft both have presences in the area due to the proximity and importance of the automotive business. Twitter’s Detroit office will house be a sales and promoted products team; again, to court said automotive industry.
Gilbert said, “Twitter chose Detroit because of the city’s growing, young and energetic environment. This is further proof that the country is starting to wake up and take notice – if you want to create a thriving, growing tech business, downtown Detroit is one of the best places to be.”
Hey Twitter, welcome to the D. If you need anything, let us know.
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