Coolness in Economic Development, why coolness matters, how to get cool.

1. How to be cool….when coolness
matters….
WEDN Leadership Conference
casey steinbacher
founder

2. Here’s the storyline……
How Casey discovered COOL
Coolness in economic development
Story of Durham
The Attitude of Coolness
Embracing coolness…how Casey did
it and you can too!

3. What is economic
development….
Creating economic prosperity…
Jobs…investment
Creating vibrant communities….
People….places

4. How we do that….has
changed dramatically……..
Corporate
decisions….Talent
Sense of Place…
Community Vibe…
Diversity and
Authenticity…

5. The Story of Durham,
North Carolina
Durham County…285,000 people
Durham City….245,000 people
80% of the Research Triangle Park
Duke Univeristy, North Carolina Central
University
Black Wall Street
Tobacco and Textile

6. The Story of Durham, North
Carolina….
1980-1993
Decline of Tobacco
Decline of Textiles
Regional Growth
Decline of Downtown

7. It all began with
the decision to
build the Durham
Bulls a new ball
park downtown…
BUT….
It’s the only minor league
ballpark in the world with an
onsite brewery….player
uniforms featuring Star Wars,
Game of Thrones, Lego’s, Mario
Brothers, and emoji characters…

8. A 1.3M sq ft renovated tobacco warehouse with offices that feature stackable
glass cube meeting rooms, stadium seating conference rooms, happy hour bar
shops down the hallways, hammock parks, fire pit eating areas, life size chess
sets, and a basketball /dodge ball court.
American Tobacco Campus
Downtown Durham, NC

9. Where Lion King, Neil DeGrasee Tyson, Aretha
Franklin, Whale Watching Tour 2016, Blood
Red Orange and John Legend all sell out!
Pollstar rated top 5 nationally,
top 10 world wide in ticket
sales
$1M or better to the bottom line
of the City of Durham every year
since it opened
Latest season:
338,998 guests
224 events
112 sell out performances
15,167 season ticket holders

10. 250 start up companies….3 locations in
Durham…1500 employees….Google
Entrepreneurial HUB…won every Google Pitch
Contest…average $40M in venture funding…
7 company exists for $1.5B
Features a sliding board from the first floor to the basement, razor
scooters, a rapper in residence, and smoffices….UNDERGROUND

11. DowntownDurham: Then and Now
1993-2015
3,800 to 16,500 employees
180 t0 500 downtown businesses
112 to 1,700 residential units
187 to 742 hotel rooms
160 to 2,500 residents living in downtown
Median age from 55 to 36 years old
Median salary from $30,000 to $58,000 annually
1.1M visitors to 3M annual visitors
1M SF of office at 70% occupied to 3M SF at 94% occupied
$1.7B in investment since 2000
20% of the investment and job growth of the entire county in an area that represents
0.05% of the county SM… .751 square miles! And competes with a 7000 acre RTP…

12. The attitude of
coolness…
authentic
diverse
vibe/energy/feeling
purposeful
collision based
innovation

13. Why Coolness
Matters?
Because it matters to
the Millennials who
are the largest talent
pool in the current US
Labor market…

14. What matters to
millennials…
First Global generation
Learn by trying/failure part of learning
Work must be purposeful
Live, work, learn, play are co-mingled
The place is as important as the work
Will only engage if impactful
Career is less about the job experience and more about
the life experience

15. How Casey Got
Cool….
Hired a DCAS
Got over my fear of
failure
Embraced LWLP
Leveraged the early
wins….
Learned to drink
beer

16. The attitude of coolness…
wasn’t a choice for some of
us….
authentic
diverse
vibe/energy/feeling
purposeful
collision based
innovation

17. Coolness is
an attitude….
It’s not about what you
do…it’s not about how old
you are…it’s all about how
you think and learn and
feel…

18. Embracing
Coolness….
Knit hats….
Ear buds
Skinny jeans
cellphone addiction
Beer and Pizza…

19. “True wisdom only comes when you are at an
age in which you have more wrinkles than
orgasm’s!”
My favorite slutty romance novel