What is it with Winthrop?

Why is the tiny town of Winthrop, WA such an entrepreneurial hotspot? That is a question that continues to intrigue me, ever since Maury Foreman told me of the town. After all, Winthrop only has a population of 349.

I reviewed some case studies on the town from the Center to Bridge the Digital Divide (http://cbdd.wsu.edu) this past week. John Larson’s HomeMovie.com (www.homemovie.com) started this entrepreneurial shift and is detailed in one of the case studies. He also started a project with local support called “Bring Back the Kids” which he describes as, “I want to reach out to people in the community with kids who have graduated high school and moved away. If we are going to see the kind of economic growth we want here, we need these kids, with their skills, experience and love of the community back in Winthrop.”

Another entrepreneurial start-up in Winthrop is NC Teleserve (www.ncteleserve.com), started by George Dale and his wife. He had worked for the past 25 years in call center development and consulting. He fell in love with Winthrop, raised funds from investors and began operations in his new home. His firm is dedicated to a mission of lowering call center expenses while improving customer service. Winthrop’s rural location and superior workforce allow him the opportunity to do both.

Larson is building a new conference center in Winthrop that he hopes to lure Seattle and other large city based companies to use for retreats and conferences. I’m guessing that with Winthrop’s early entrepreneurial success, you’ll be hearing a lot more of this tiny town. How many other Winthrop’s are there out there in the USA? How many could/should there be?