“Lured by Louisiana, tech companies fall short of goals…” was frustratingly inaccurate.
Local, national and global tech companies setting up shop here is essential to diversifying our economy. Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson is right when he asserts that “Some short-term volatility is inevitable, but the alternative — sitting out the digital revolution entirely — would create far greater risk for our state in the long term.”
At a more detailed level, the article has concerning omissions. While it mentions that TurboSquid sold for $75 million (thank you!), the piece neglects to mention that Lucid, another homegrown example, sold for $1.1 billion and is still headquartered in New Orleans.
The article also focuses on “clawbacks” for incentives, but the fact is that the most important program for software companies, the Louisiana Digital Media Incentive, is performance-based: Companies only get rebates after they spend their own cash. I know because TurboSquid used it to build our staff and compete globally.
The descriptions of existing companies are incomplete. DXC survived COVID turmoil and is employing 300 people in Louisiana, at an average salary of $90,000+, hardly a failure. And the only state money spent on DXC has gone to higher education — not the company.
Further, recent successes are strangely omitted. Excella is expanding to New Orleans, with an average salary of over $140,000. Testronic, which announced a target of 150 full-time employees right before the pandemic, has beaten their estimate by over 50%. Big Fish Games, part of Australia’s Pixel United, just announced a New Orleans tech hub. And Techstars, the largest accelerator program in the world, announced it is opening a program in New Orleans — elevating us to the “big league” of investable markets.
If our goal is long-term diversification, Louisiana is successfully working toward that objective.
MATT WISDOM
New Orleans
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