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You can often take advantage of the

underutilized capital that exists in a

smaller city.

One way to begin weighing some of the factors, Don’t overemphasize cost
said Pierre Jinghong Liang, Ph.D., professor of Financial elements are only one factor to weigh
accounting at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of when contemplating a move, said Maxim Sytch,
Business in Pittsburgh, is by examining what has Ph.D., professor of management and organizations
made the organization successful and whether a at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of
move would affect that. Business in Ann Arbor, Mich.
“What is your core strength, and how would Don’t “boil all these conversations down to an
a move impact it?” is a question he suggests you issue of cost,” he said. After all, most organiza-
ask yourself. But be mindful of blind spots, he tions don’t compete solely on cost; they might
cautioned. “It’s so easy to see what you’re missing, pride themselves on the quality of their product,
but there may be other things you took for granted their innovation, or their strong customer service.
at your current location.” Simply determining how to save the most

From the coast to the middle of the country

Five years ago, the leaders of Xero, a firm making cloud- Most importantly, Richmond said, “Denver is an amazing place
based accounting software, made a big decision. In 2017, to live and work for our people. The work/life balance is very
after extensive deliberations and discussions, the company good: I can finish work here at 5 and be paddle-boarding
moved its North American headquarters from San Francisco in the mountains in 40 minutes.” He and his team believed
to Denver. Eighteen months later, Xero — a publicly traded that Denver’s quality of life would appeal to Xero’s current
company founded in 2006 with 2.75 million paying subscribers employees and the kind of people it hoped to attract in the
— expanded the Denver office and moved into a large new future.
downtown office building.
Not everyone on staff is in Denver. The company has retained
“San Francisco was the landing pad for our business when we small offices in San Francisco; New York; Austin, Texas; and
launched into the U.S., and I loved it,” said Ben Richmond, Xero’s U.S. Atlanta, and remote workers are based nationwide. Allowing
country manager and a chartered accountant; both he and Xero are staff that freedom is intentional.
originally from New Zealand. “But when we looked at the growth “Employee well-being is very important to us,” Richmond said.
of our business, bringing on more and more talent, it had become “We have to take a forward-thinking approach because people’s
incredibly competitive and expensive in terms of living costs.”
attitudes have changed. You can’t force them back to the 2019
As the company weighed various potential new locations, normal.”
Denver kept rising to the top. The city was becoming a tech hub In the four years since Xero expanded its Denver presence,
in its own right, one characterized by collaboration rather than many other companies have relocated there, driving up the cost
sheer competition, and without San Francisco’s skyrocketing of housing and intensifying the competition for talent. But the
costs or long-ingrained business environment.
growing cluster of like-minded companies allows for greater
And given its location in the center of the United States, the networking and knowledge sharing, and that’s a plus, Richmond
city is an easy plane ride to the coasts and smaller cities in the said. “There’s a true global community starting to thrive here
country’s interior. just in the four years I’ve been here.”

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