Legend holds that in 1833 French-born U.S. Army Captain B.L.E. Bonneville glimpsed a distant verdant ribbon of growth punctuating the heart of what is now Idaho’s Treasure Valley. He then shouted to members of his expedition, “Les bois! Voyez les bois!”(The Trees! Look at the trees!) For Bonneville and his men, after trekking for weeks through the Snake River Plain’s high desert, this green oasis with its fresh trout and cool, clear water must have seemed a godsend.

Today, the Boise metropolis—still known as the City of Trees—continues to hold promise for a different kind of explorer—business people seeking fresh frontiers.

Once a treasured secret, Idaho’s capital city now basks in the limelight of the world stage. For four years straight, it has appeared among the top five in the Forbes annual list of the Best Places for Businesses and Careers, a comparative ranking of metropolitan cities in the United States. This year it trumped all but Raleigh, North Carolina. And Forbes isn’t alone—both Kiplinger’s and Inc. magazines have recentlyplaced Boise at or near the top of similar lists.

So what makes Boise such an attractive place for business? One of the factors weighed by the Forbes list is the cost of electricity in each metropolitan area. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, no one in the country enjoys lower rates; this is mostly due to the clean power produced by Idaho’s many hydroelectric generators.

Another factor is the relative cost of labor. Chris Bounds, CFO of Boise-based MarkMonitor, Inc., credits much of the company’s success to an extraordinarily high rate of customer satisfaction. “And what really makes that go,” he explained, “is the quality of people that we can hire here in Boise economically. We’re able to hire college graduates with good experience who are likable, competent people … and those types of people, we believe, cost us 30 to 40% less than they would cost us if we were to do something similar in the Bay Area or Los Angeles.”

MarkMonitor is a pioneer in the field of protecting the brands of its corporate clients from online abuses, such as defamation and counterfeit sales. The company was founded in Boise almost eight years ago, and its client list now reads like a Who’s Who of global industry, including more than 50 of the 100 largest U.S. corporations. “I’m convinced our company would not have grown or been successful if we weren’t able to develop our client services support team here,” Bounds concluded.

The Forbes ranking also measures local costs for housing, transportation and food, crucial details for employees choosing where they want to live and work. For Boise-area local Margie Milam, who gave up a partnership in a Los Angeles law firm to take a position as MarkMonitor’s general counsel, there’s no question. “A lot of it is affordability,” she remarked, “because … you can live well here. The kind of house that we have here we would have to pay several million dollars for in Los Angeles.” In Boise, Milam and her husband discovered a lifestyle foreign to the one they knew in California, one that includes time for their kids and their careers. It also includes a horse, several sheep, and a gaggle of award-winning geese. Her former law partners “get a kick out of that, because it’s so different than the LA grind.”

The City of Trees Keeps Growing
Boise’s home state has had unprecedented levels of growth throughout the last 20 years, consistently topping national charts since 2003. Not even the recessions of 1991 and 2001 could stop its upward climb. The affordability here is nice, but it’s not the only factor in Boise’s ability to defy national trends.

The community boasts a strong entrepreneurial tradition. Historically, big-name companies have been spawned here, including the huge agri-business the J.R. Simplot Company and Albertson’s grocery stores. Even United Airlines traces its roots to Boise. Varney Airlines, the earliest forerunner of United, was based in Boise and commencing April 6, 1926 flew mail routes between Boise, Pasco, Washington and Elko, Nevada. More recently, Idaho’s capital has become a magnet for the electronics industry. Semiconductor-maker Micron Technology, a Boise startup, grew to become one of the city’s biggest employers. Hewlett-Packard’s printer division is also based here, as well as dozens of smaller high-tech businesses. This segment has led Boise’s economic growth during the last decade. However, it’s just one piece of the puzzle.

According to Don Holley, a professor of economics at Boise State University, current growth isn’t coming from any single industry. At a time when many businesses can choose to locate wherever they want, it’s flowing in from every direction. He points to professionals such as lawyers, architects and engineers. They might serve clients across the country or throughout the world and much of the work they do can be performed from any location, so why wouldn’t they choose a nice one? Possibly, Boise’s extraordinary quality of life has become its most valuable asset.

Acclaimed ballet choreographer Trey McIntyre agrees wholeheartedly. Previously based in New York City, San Francisco, Portland, and Houston, the Trey McIntyre Project recently chose Boise as its new home. The dance company, which tours internationally, could have picked any city. “We started off with 10 real contenders for places to live,” McIntyre explained, “and Boise entered into that list because we had toured here every year since the beginning and essentially fell in love with it … in terms of the quality of life and the kind of people that were here.”

The city is “on the verge,” praised John Michael Schert, McIntyre’s Company Manager. He has a sense that it is poised to become a major center of creativity, like Portland did in the 1990s. “Everywhere we go, we sing the praises of Boise,” he added, “and any time we meet like-minded people we encourage them to move to Boise. There’s a lot of amazingly talented, gifted artists and professionals who can afford to retire and are looking for a place, like we were, where they can have an impact and really be involved.”

A Strong Argument for Diversity
Another ingredient in the city’s success formula is an unusually diverse range of industries. As Professor Holley observed, “There are a lot of small companies, not necessarily high-tech, but just producing interesting little products, that are drawn to Boise for its unique advantages.” This affords us an edge when it comes to weathering major market instabilities. “Whatever we produce here, we sell outside the Boise area. And so what we do here depends on the national and international market. If all we did was one product, then we would rise and fall with that one product. We just have a variety of firms in Boise. That gives us a real diversification in the things we produce. And so the stability comes from the diversification we’ve realized in the last few years.” This is expressed in a surprising array of Idaho-made goods from designer glass tiles to clinical skin care products.

For example, CEO Terri Raudenbauch’s small manufacturing business, Sandhill Industries, makes exquisite tiles out of 100% recycled glass. She and her husband moved the operation here from Fairbanks, Alaska in 2002 to be closer to their source of raw materials: waste from area glass producers that would otherwise be bound for landfills. The company markets in a big, broad fashion, she explained, to reach architects and designers across the U.S. and Canada. The eco-friendly tiles are in high demand from ecologically conscious businesses, like the American Honda Motor Company, and have been featured on the Martha Stewart Show.

Another locally born manufacturer, Episciences, Inc., was founded five years ago by area dermatologist Dr. Carl Thornfeldt. Its products, with all-natural plant and fruit extracts, are uniquely effective against psoriasis and other kinds of dermatitis. They are distributed through medical clinics and spas throughout America and the U.K. and will soon be available in Japan. Trish Stack, Episciences’ Director of Communications, explained that when the company was founded five years ago, its management team was spread around the country but soon moved to Boise. “I think quality of life did have a piece in decision making. All of those pieces put together, the outdoor lifestyle, the good weather … the housing prices, that all came into play.”

“I think there’s very much an entrepreneurial spirit because people just want to stay here.” Stack added, “And so there’s the drive to create business so that they don’t have to leave.”

Ultimately, Boise’s success comes from people like these. Historically, the area has attracted certain kinds of personalities–those willing to take risks and work hard to enjoy a superior lifestyle. As choreographer McIntyre observed, “There’s such a can-do spirit here. The city is, for all intents and purposes, isolated. You have to go a long way to get to the next populated area. People here have had to make things happen by virtue of their own gumption. And that speaks to one of the greatest aspects of the American spirit.”

 

 

 

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