Why this CEO put his tech startup in Tennessee
Why this CEO put his tech startup in Tennessee
During the first years of the pandemic, while many companies embraced remote work, the early employees of Whisper Aero, an aerospace technology startup, moved in together.
“There was a big risk where we could have ended up hating each other,” said Mark Moore, the company’s founder and CEO.
Prior to starting Whisper Aero, Moore ran engineering at Uber Elevate, a division at the ride-sharing company aimed at developing flying taxis that’s since been spun off into a separate company.
“The last year that I was at Uber Elevate, I was doing a lot of traveling,” said Moore. While he was traveling in Tennessee and thinking about his next steps, a property in Cumberland County, Tennessee, caught his eye.
“I saw this resort on a gorgeous lake right by the airport that was in foreclosure, and I’m like, ‘Man, that would be a really cool place to start the company,’” said Moore. “And so I bought it.”
He purchased the 20-acre resort for around $1.1 million, which is comparable to the median home price in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he was living. “All the engineers just moved in, and we started Whisper Aero,” he said.
“Marketplace” profiled Cumberland County as part of our series “The Age of Work” which is about the opportunities — and challenges — created by an aging workforce. Cumberland County has one of the oldest labor forces in the U.S., according to payroll processor ADP. It’s a retirement destination where about 1 of every 3 residents is 65 or older. It’s not the type of place you’d typically find tech startups with Silicon Valley roots.
“We were sequestered kind of out in the boonies,” said Moore. “And I say that lovingly.”
The company eventually outgrew the resort and moved into a facility in downtown Crossville, the county’s biggest town.
Moore said that convincing employees to stay in Cumberland County became increasingly difficult. “Look, small town living is not for everyone,” he said. “I love it. But, you know, we have a lot of single engineers who are, you know, Ph.D.s from Stanford and [Massachusetts Institute of Technology], and frankly, the dating life in Crossville was not too exciting for them.”
To make recruiting easier, Whisper Aero opened a satellite office in Nashville. “It’s about an hour and a half away between the two offices, but it really works well to give employees the maximum choice of what their lifestyle is,” said Moore.
Click the audio player above to hear “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal’s conversation with Mark Moore and tour Whisper Aero’s facility in Crossville, Tennessee.
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