Six years in and San Antonio's Geekdom is proving to be an economic juggernaut, 1200 WOAI reports.
"All the energy was here," co-founder and former Rackspace CEO Graham Weston says. "I think what has happened is that we tapped in to it."
The annual economic impact report, released this week, shows that the high tech collaborative workspace had a combined projected revenue of $52.4 million. A total of 731 jobs have been created since 2011, and 140 more are expected in 2018.
Weston says what is amazing is that 78 percent of those new positions will not require a college degree.
"If you don’t have a degree, it's very easy to think that you're stuck in a job that has no future. All of these jobs have futures."
Geekdom Chairman Lorenzo Gomez credits a partnership with USAA for the growth. The San Antonio-based financial services company underwrites Geekdom memberships for veterans.
"I also credit partnering with the city. We're the first city that has ever joined the entrepreneurial community with the city government,” he explains. "It's going to take us to the next level."
Weston and co-founder Nick Longo started Geekdom on the 11th floor of the Weston Center as a place where entrepreneurs could collaborate on projects or just help each other out when they ran into an issue. In 2013, Weston purchased the historic Rand building, a few blocks away. Three years later, that building became full when Google Fiber moved in.
Last year, Geekdom surpassed 1500 members, and $79.1 million in capital was raised by their member companies.
The report shows that the median salary paid by companies in Geekdom is $65,010. That's compared to the median in San Antonio, which sits at $46,317.