Indy startups, tech heavies line up for $100K Steve Case pitch competition
Two former Salesforce leaders, including Scott McCorkle, will pitch their companies when the “Rise of the Rest” tour stops in Indy Oct. 12.
Two former Salesforce leaders, including Scott McCorkle, will pitch their companies when the “Rise of the Rest” tour stops in Indy Oct. 12.
Tech leaders, including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, think Indianapolis would be a great location for Amazon’s second headquarters. And, like other cities in the running, it has some strengths and weaknesses.
The marketing tech company will take about 7,500 square feet in the Guaranty Building, where ExactTarget was located before Salesforce bought it in 2013, and add 50 jobs by 2019.
Vacancy continues to decline as Salesforce takes more space in the city’s tallest building and other tech firms put down stakes. And with the greater demand, rents are escalating.
The Speedway contracts with nine software companies and four tech-services firms that are either based in central Indiana or have a substantial local outpost.
The not-for-profit tech advocacy group has passed the board torch to Scott McCorkle and added two other software executives to the ranks.
A handful of Indianapolis-based ExactTarget alumni have joined Cheetah Digital, which is led in part by an ExactTarget co-founder. And they’re looking for office space downtown.
“We’ve never been more excited about Indianapolis,” the Salesforce CEO said in an interview that covered a wide range of topics, including the company’s hiring plans and new apprenticeship program.
Salesforce officials said the move is part of a broader initiative to help develop the “workforce of tomorrow.”
They’re wondering if Angie’s List will be like ExactTarget, whose acquisition spawned job growth, or if jobs will erode over time. They’re also concerned about losing yet another mature, locally based tech firm with a major corporate presence.
The San Francisco-based tech giant in May will begin occupying 11 floors in the 48-story building.
Salesforce.com Inc. on Tuesday filed permit drawings for its Salesforce Tower signage—finally giving an image to the vision the company set last May when it said it would assume naming rights on the state’s tallest tower.
The company's lease in the Gauranty Building, 20 S. Meridian St., will expire in the first quarter of next year, while a lease for the Century Building, 36 S. Pennsylvania St., runs until 2021. "Salesforce has no plans to vacate the Century office at this time," a spokesperson said.
Speculation that Twitter is ripe for a sale has been swirling for months as the company has failed to lure new users.
Firms signed lease deals for nearly 1 million square feet of office space between mid-2015 and mid-2016 in Indy’s metro area, led by a mammoth deal for Salesforce.com, according to a national study.
In the immediate wake of news Wednesday that Interactive Intelligence Group Inc. had agreed to be acquired for $1.4 billion, Indianapolis tech leaders bubbled with praise for CEO Don Brown and with enthusiasm for the possible impact on the city.
Salesforce would save about $3 million on the tax exemption, if the City-County Council designates a downtown office tower as a high-tech. The tax break would come on top of major incentives deal already promised by the state.
Branding Brand, a Pittsburgh-based retail software company with a few ExactTarget alums of its own, has scooped up Indy-based Waysay, founded last year by two former ET’ers.
If completed, the acquisition would be the largest ever for Salesforce, topping its $2.5 billion purchase of Indianapolis-based ExactTarget Inc. in July 2013. Salesforce has about 1,400 employees in central Indiana.
Since 2014 alone, 14 tech or tech-related companies opened offices within a quarter-mile radius of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. And all told, 26 such companies inhabit that roughly 16-block cluster.