Why 2 California Entrepreneurs Moved Their Businesses to Chattanooga, TN
Kyle Wiens and Karla Valdivieso run two completely different businesses that have one remarkable thing in common: They both launched in California and ended up setting roots in Chattanooga, TN, after their founders decided to relocate to a city they’d never heard of before.
For Wiens, the move came after two decades building iFixit, the business he launched in 2003 with co-founder Luke Soules, from their home base in San Luis Obispo, California.
“We needed an East Coast distribution facility, so there was a region it had to fall into geographically and that was a pretty big region,” says Wiens, the CEO of iFixit.
Karla Valdivieso and co-founder C.J. Valdivieso launched Shappi in 2018 in Los Angeles and were building it in San Diego when they met the founders of Brickyard, an unconventional startup launchpad in Chattanooga for high-growth businesses.
“We weren’t looking at Chattanooga as an option, but Brickyard invested in us and part of the thesis was to move here,” says Karla Valdivieso, Shappi’s CEO.
Fixed on the Location
The business Wiens and his co-founder launched in 2003 began when they were college students who figured out how to repair an iBook G3. They began harvesting parts from other broken laptops and selling them online and producing repair manuals, and iFixit was born. Now the world’s largest online repair community, iFixit helps thousands of people fix all kinds of broken stuff every day. But after two decades of growth, iFixit needed to pivot.
“We had been running parts distribution out of California, but we ship batteries and you can’t ship batteries on an airplane, and five days on a truck to New York just doesn’t work,” Wiens says. “We figured, it’s our company and we can locate it where we want, so we wanted it to be a fun place to live.”
They started their research with a couple of bigger cities but stumbled across Chattanooga and got hooked. They moved here in 2022, and plan to hire about 200 people over five years at iFixit’s new distribution and innovation hub in a refurbished 60-year-old warehouse downtown. One powerful upside of their new home is its affordability for their workforce, Wiens says.
“We can hire people in California, but they will never be able to buy a house,” he says. “Here you feel like there’s a chance to get ahead.”
Meanwhile, the city’s natural attractions and friendly vibes are also on point, Wiens says.
“Recently, we spent Saturday morning at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum and Saturday afternoon on the Tennessee River and Sunday mountain biking at Walden’s Ridge on Signal Mountain,” he says. “We are thrilled to be here and everyone has been incredibly welcoming.”
Shappi To Be Here
It wasn’t until they met investors from Brickyard that Karla and her Shappi co-founder C.J. even knew Chattanooga existed – but once they knew, their path was set.
“I’m from Ecuador, so I’m not familiar with every place in the United States, but we knew we were building something big, and we couldn’t do it by ourselves,” Karla says.
Brickyard was founded to support driven entrepreneurs in grinding their way to growth without the distractions of a big city. During its first few years in Los Angeles and San Diego, Shappi had attracted some major Silicon Valley investors, but the support of Brickyard was above and beyond, Karla says. “They give you space to work 24/7, and it was one of the best experiences we could have asked for,” she says.
Shappi solves shopping and shipping challenges for the people of Ecuador through an app and a network of Shappi travelers who help goods get where they’re going. The founders relocated to Chattanooga in 2022 and planned to stay a year at Brickyard, but spent 18 months there before Shappi’s operations outgrew the space. When that time came, the Brickyard team helped Shappi snag a spot in the INCubator at the Hamilton County Business Development Center. At 127,000 square feet, the INCubator is the largest incubator in Tennessee and the third-largest in the U.S.
“Every time we thought it was time to graduate from Chattanooga, every door was opening to the possibility of doing something even bigger here,” Karla says.
6 Resources for Entrepreneurs in Greater Chattanooga
Company Lab: Established in 2010, the Company Lab – known as CO.LAB – in downtown Chattanooga offers a wide range of programs to support entrepreneurs. Its newest offering, the Sustainable Mobility Accelerator, connects sustainable mobility startups with key industry players and funding opportunities to help them launch their businesses.
Brickyard: Since its launch in 2021, Chattanooga’s Brickyard has become a magnet for high-octane small businesses driven by founders who want to focus intensely on product-market fit without the distractions of big-city startup life. With founders that included Chattanooga entrepreneurs Cam Doody and Matt Patterson, Brickyard leans hard into its unconventional approach, investing in 10 to 12 technical teams annually, typically in the pre-seed or seed stage.
Dalton Innovation Accelerator: A gem in Northwest Georgia, the Dalton Innovation Accelerator is a startup accelerator about 30 miles south of Chattanooga on Interstate 75. The organization promotes a culture of entrepreneurship in Northwest Georgia, offering a comprehensive suite of services designed to support entrepreneurs at various stages of business development.
Cleveland-Bradley Business Incubator: Situated about 30 miles north of Chattanooga on Interstate 75, the Cleveland-Bradley Business Incubator houses more than 35 businesses where entrepreneurs support one another and have access to resources, knowledge and expertise to help them launch and grow.
Proof Incubator: In the heart of downtown Chattanooga, the Proof Incubator is a dynamic resource center dedicated to supporting food and beverage entrepreneurs. It offers a unique blend of services, including a cocktail bar, a restaurant residency program and a shared commercial kitchen.
The INCubator: The INCubator at the Hamilton County Business Development Center is a premier business development hub that offers a comprehensive three-year program with offices, manufacturing spaces, training rooms and networking opportunities. At 127,000 square feet, the INCubator is the largest incubator in Tennessee and the third-largest in the U.S.
Find Success in Greater Chattanooga
Learn more about the region’s business and economic opportunities at livability.com/chattanooga-region.