Annual CityScope® Business Issue
Photography by Rich Smith / Shot on Location at Whiskey Thief
Thanks to a close proximity to major interstates, tax incentives, fast internet, and everything our city has to offer, many businesses have chosen Chattanooga as their landing place. Here, we speak with four thriving local businesses who were eager to call the Scenic City home.
Ambition is a sales performance management platform that helps Fortune 500 companies get the most out of their sales teams and drive revenue growth.
We were trying to find somewhere the fit into the “Goldilocks zone” – we wanted a city with unique outdoor and quality of life perks, a place that was affordable to live and operate a business, and a city you could find exceptional talent in and recruit new people to because they genuinely wanted to live there. Chattanooga checked all three boxes, even as a smaller city. When people come here for the first time they are blown away. Not to mention, the venture capital and talent network that Ted Alling, Allan Davis, Barry Large, and Jack Studer were starting at that time was so unique and authentic. A lot of our decision to stay and build is a credit to them.
It’s an incredible place to live. The natural beauty is astounding with our lakes, river, and the mountains. This is a fantastic place to raise a family.
Chattanooga is unique in that entrepreneurship is really a core part of the business ethos. Different cities have different vibes and cultures, but a consistent theme here is so many people are involved in starting something, investing in, or supporting new companies. That is certainly not the same everywhere. Regardless of what type of company or the scale of the vision – people in Chattanooga are very proud of this entrepreneurial bend.
Without incredible people, our business doesn’t work. We can’t under appreciate how important having a city people want to live in or visit and spend time in is for our success. So many people visit us here and are wowed by their experience. One of the amazing parts of Chattanooga is the city really is still small. You can get your arms around it. You can see and connect with people so easily here, and there is a willingness here to say yes.
– Brian Trautschold
Co-Founder & COO
Founded in 2017 by Akeen Anthony, Top Gear Athletics offers premium athletic gear for a variety of sports such as softball, baseball, football, soccer, volleyball, and more, available online and at their retail space.
I would call it a “divine” accident. I came to Chattanooga because I was working on my master’s degree at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. When we got married, the business moved with Akeen. When I graduated in 2018 and was offered a job in town, we had a decision to make. Once we started looking at all the opportunities around us and what the area had to offer, it made our decision fairly easy. We decided to stay. Chatta-nooga not only has such a rich history, but it is by far the most beautiful and unique place we have ever visited.
Chattanooga is a great hub for sports activity and tourism. It serves as a great location to service a large number of customers, not only in the local community, but also multiple states. It is a business-forward city that has embraced the growth mindset. It has been exciting to see how Chattanooga has developed over the years. Where there is development, there is more opportunity to serve.
The people. Even though Chattanooga has been growing, it has that small town, tight community feeling: where neighbors look after one another and make sure you are taken care of. This mindset of the community makes Chattanooga special like no other city.
At first, it was difficult finding people to connect with and figure out how to grow our network. Figuring out how to grow a business is challenging, but with that community mindset, people gave us a shot. Those early connections have now turned into partnerships, which have really been pivotal to our growth. Since the beginning, our standard has always been about treating people right and nourishing relationships. We believe in the Golden Rule by treating others the way we want to be treated. We found that going by these standards has opened the door to other people wanting to do business with us as well.
– Bella Anthony
Co-Owner
Emily Warr began The Rustic House (TRH) in 2013 with $500, saved recycled glass, and a dream. The Rustic House candles, made in small batches with high-quality ingredients, are now available in all 50 states and a dozen countries.
It’s the quality of life in Chattanooga that makes it such a great place to do business. The affordability, the vibrant city life, the fastest internet in the world, and the ability to get out in nature daily. Our business thrives because of our community support. Chattanoogans are loyal to local brands they believe in. I am so thankful for every retailer/brand/person in Chattanooga who allows me to share my dream with a little bit of yours.
One of our local customer’s girlfriends, living in New York City, sent me a letter last year thanking me for “creating such beautifully scented products.” She said that her boyfriend (now husband) would send her their favorite TRH scent during long stints apart. She said our candles got her through some of her toughest days without him and that once lit, the smell brought her so much joy and serenity. In a recent update from my new long-distance pen pal, she shared, “Today, we are happily married in NYC and are loyal TRH candle fans for life!”
I was embraced with encouragement and support from my Chattanooga Market family and the patrons attending. This is not something I had experienced before in my hometown. After 10 years of doing business here, customers still show up with their empty recycled containers for a discount on their next purchase. I am so grateful for the people who continue to support us and purchase our candles.
We have a new home! We just moved our 3,000-square-foot manufacturing warehouse to the south side of Chattanooga to a place called “Onion Bottom,” an old dump site for produce in the early 1900s. As hilarious and ironic as this is, I believe our role for this new space is to bring some better smells to Southside and its community.
– Emily Warr
Founder
WorkHound enables businesses to capture workforce feedback, allowing them to retain their workforce and improve their business.
We actually started the company in Des Moines, Iowa, and decided to open an office in Chattanooga a year later. One of the biggest reasons why we grew our presence here was because of the community’s focus on the supply chain. When Dynamo Ventures was running their accelerator, we came down for three months and were able to double our revenue and land our first enterprise customer. I kept thinking to myself, “It would be crazy if we didn’t have a presence here.” I knew that Chattanooga would be a place where we could recruit talent that was drawn to the same things that I was. The connections here were outstanding. It helps that there’s a really nice quality of life. I can go from the office to being on a trail in five minutes.
If I need guidance or connections in this town and reach out, usually someone is willing to help me. For example, I ran into Mayor Tim Kelly at a Chattanooga FC soccer game and asked him to meet so I could learn from him about how he’s navigated hard challenges in his career. That is one of the ugly realities of business: You have to work through hard stuff. He did meet with me – and he was incredibly helpful, empathetic, and supportive. There have been other leaders like that who will take time to connect if I ever ask. That means the world to me – because building a business is riding a roller coaster.
What stood out to me when we made the decision to have a presence in Chattanooga was the collaborative nature of the community and the focus on the supply chain. Most of our customers are everywhere else in the country, so Chattanooga has been a good place to go heads down as we build our business.
– Max Farrell
Co-Founder & CEO
