Why These Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs Make Dallas-Fort Worth Home » Dallas Innovates

When someone like tech entrepreneur Nirav Tolia—co-founder of Nextdoor.com, the world’s largest hyperlocal social network—chooses to move from San Francisco to Dallas, people sit up and take notice.

Tolia, who was also employee No. 84 at internet pioneer Yahoo in the 1990s, says he relocated because Dallas and North Texas exude a unique spirit of partnership and positivity.

“There’s a long tradition of entrepreneurship here. There already are giants in this area,” Tolia said at a recent innovation summit in Frisco. “There is incredible optimism and positive attitudes with people in this area.

“So many people are moving here,” he said. “It’s a great place to live. You can raise a family here. You can afford to be here. We shouldn’t take those things for granted, because they don’t exist in almost every other place in the country—if not the world.”

Nextdoor Co-Founder Tolia Nirav, right, talked about entrepreneurship and his move to DFW at Dallas Startup Week 2023. [Photo: The DEC Network]

Tolia, who grew up in West Texas, returned to the Lone Star State with his family in 2021. He and his wife, Megha—the president and COO of global TV production company Shondaland—moved to the Park Cities in part so their children would grow up in a strong community that values hard work and collaboration.

The power couple are hardly alone in their lifestyle decision. Over the last decade or so, the population of North Texas has swelled by more than a million people. 

A welcoming culture

Between 2010 and 2020, the DFW region grew by an estimated 1.3 million residents. That’s roughly the entire population of New Hampshire, and it represents the most growth of any U.S. metro area during that period.

Where did all the new arrivals come from? About 40% relocated from elsewhere in the U.S., 20% arrived from other countries, and the rest were the result of natural population growth. 

For many new residents of North Texas, relocation was compelled by an expanding family, an attractive career or academic opportunity, or simply the quest for a better quality of life.

Tech and media exec Peter Phillips: “There’s a bunch of us who used to work in entertainment, and we’ve found each other” in North Texas.

For Peter Phillips and his wife, a year of social distancing and laying low at their home in the Northeast due to the pandemic made their decision to move to DFW an easy one.    

“We were locked down like the rest of the country, and realized there was nothing really tying us to the area anymore,” Phillips said. “And why pay that much in taxes for schools that your kids no longer attend?”

With both their children attending college in different states—and the rest of the family geographically dispersed as well—the couple sought a new home offering intellectual challenges, ample entertainment options, and a central base for travel. So, in July 2021 they moved to North Texas, ready to open a new chapter in their lives.

Phillips, a veteran tech and media executive who’d worked for high-profile companies including Fandango and Marvel Entertainment, quickly found his footing in DFW by co-founding Colossal Biosciences, which he now advises. Colossal, proclaimed a “most influential company” of 2023 by Time magazine, is best-known for its effort under CEO Ben Lamm to bring back the woolly mammoth in order to preserve biodiversity.

“There’s a bunch of us who used to work in entertainment, and we’ve found each other” in North Texas, Phillips said.

The idea of “finding each other” is something that can happen easily in DFW, whether you’re new to the state or find yourself in a new part of the region. There’s a welcoming culture that fosters connection, as well as an ethos of helpfulness—whether you’re looking for childcare options or a place to learn how to dance the Texas Two-Step.

Growing the business footprint

Business organizations, including local chambers of commerce, are good ways to get plugged in and rooted in an area. As voices of the business community, chambers have insight into what makes their city hum and are accomplished at communicating its assets. Over the last decade, chamber messaging about DFW’s magic business touch has struck a chord with leaders across industries. 

The North Texas business community has been steadily expanding since 2010. In 2023 the region was home to 24 Fortune 500 companies including construction-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar, which moved to Irving from Deerfield, Illinois. The list of Fortune 500s in DFW reflects diverse industries including tech, defense, life sciences, and financial and professional services.

Goldman Sach’s John Waldron says the company’s investment in its 800,000-square-foot campus in Dallas’ Victory Park—set to complete in 2027— is a “testament to the incredible talent and strong client base in the region.”

Some companies have preferred to test the area first with a smaller presence, and then expand. Goldman Sachs is a case in point. Having first moved to the region in 1968, the investment bank and financial services company broke ground on an 800,000-square-foot tower in Dallas’ Victory Park neighborhood in 2023. Once completed in 2027, the building will be able to accommodate 5,000 employees—1,000 more Goldman employees than currently work in the Dallas area. John Waldron, the company’s president and chief operating officer, called the investment a “testament to the incredible talent and strong client base in the region.”

Goldman’s growth mirrors that enjoyed by other companies across the region. DFW is consistently near the top of the list when it comes to the creation of new jobs. That translates to an abundance of opportunity for anyone looking to start, grow, or change their career.

The advantages of diversity

DFW’s growing population represents a diversity not just of backgrounds, but of thought as well. The result is a dynamic environment that enhances quality of life. It’s also something the business community appreciates, as it helps create a strong pipeline of workplace talent.

Whether someone is looking for formal education, mid-career upskilling opportunities, or some other kind of learning, opportunities for all of them are woven throughout the fabric of North Texas. DFW is the state’s No. 1 region for higher education, boasting more than 70 accredited colleges and universities.

Hundreds of thousands of post-secondary students are enrolled each semester in North Texas, and a whopping 72% of them stay to work in the region after graduation. That’s the sixth-highest “retention” rate in the country. DFW also is the No. 1 Texas metro for Carnegie-designated R1 and R2 doctoral research universities.

Entrepreneur Veena Somareddy: “I was looking at a couple of cities, and Dallas has such a big Indian community—it made me feel safer.”

Indeed, the high concentration of good colleges and universities in North Texas is what initially attracted Veena Somareddy, CEO of Neuro Rehab VR, to the area.

“I was looking at a couple of cities, and Dallas has such a big Indian community—it made me feel safer,” Somareddy said. 

Situated in the center of the country, with direct flights to more than 190 domestic locations and nearly 70 international cities, DFW is rooted in geographic diversity. In fact, more than 230 languages are spoken in the region.   Somareddy chose the University of Texas at Dallas to study for her master’s degree, and it was at UTD that her interest in video-game development evolved into a desire to create products to help people.

In 2017 she co-founded Fort Worth-based Neuro Rehab, a successful physical-therapy company utilizing virtual reality.

DFW’s pioneering spirit

Like Somareddy, investor Chris Gannett saw and capitalized on North Texas opportunities.

Former American Idol CMO Chris Gannett, now founder and CEO of Gannett.Partners, says Dallas has an “entrepreneurial heritage that has endured through the years.” [Courtesy photo]

“There’s this entrepreneurial heritage that has endured through the years,” Gannett said. “Dallas was created by pioneers who were pushing west. They were courageous and creative.”

Gannett, the founder and CEO of Gannett Partners, moved with his family to DFW in 2016. It was a homecoming of sorts for him—and a reminder of an enduring advertising campaign his father once created for the region.

“My dad was an ad guy of the ‘Mad Men’ variety, and he created this campaign for [Dallas] in the 1970s that was recognized by the mayor, and that stuck with me personally,” Gannett said. “It essentially communicated, ‘Dallas wasn’t born with a silver spoon; we built this city by picking ourselves up by our bootstraps.’”

After working with startup companies and holding executive roles at Sony and with hit TV shows “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance,” Gannett reintegrated into DFW, serving on the Dallas Museum of Art marketing committee and joining the steering committee for Venture Dallas.

He says some members of his Dallas “tribe” are reformed Hollywood and tech types like himself. Now, they’re plugging into local organizations that align with their missions and interests.

Experts say DFW benefits from the state’s business-friendly policies and a local innovation ecosystem, the combination of which enables the region to continually reinvent itself.

It’s something it’s been doing since Dallas’ pioneer days, Gannett said, and he sees the same spirit reflected in the region’s citizens today.

“I think a lot of the personality of DFW can be traced back to those settlers,” he said.

It’s likely the area’s 21st-century pioneers—like Tovia, Phillips, and Somareddy—would agree.

Voices contributor Nicole Ward is a data journalist for the Dallas Regional Chamber. A version of this story first appeared in the DALLAS Newcomer + Relocation Guide, 2024 No. 1.