Mississippi’s tech scene is in a catch-22. How can it move forward?

Mississippi was named the least innovative state by the Consumer Technology Association and sits at the bottom of other lists for the size of its tech industry per capita. Louisiana isn’t much better. Look beyond the tech darling city of Huntsville and Alabama is in the same situation. These states have missed out on the industry's massive growth of high paying jobs in hubs like Boston and San Francisco. 

But several of Mississippi's entrepreneurs believe the state is not far from its own tech boom. For all of its shortcomings, the Magnolia State also has some advantages.

“If you’re gonna come to Mississippi and be here before the boom I think now is the time,” Cohoon said. “Mississippi is definitely gonna be on the rise.”

Despite the poor rankings, Mississippians have plenty of in-state opportunities for tech training at the collegiate level. The University of Mississippi opened its Center for Innovation and Technology last year,  Mississippi State has its Center for Cyber Innovation and Southern Mississippi University has a Center for Digital Humanities. 

But state tech leaders lament that as soon as those students graduate, they often leave for other states. 

“Our universities turn out these really talented young folks and unfortunately they’re across the border before the ink’s dry on their diplomas,” Gerard Gibert, chairman of Innovate Mississippi, said. 

Mississippi’s tech industry is caught in a catch-22, as Gibert describes. Startups leave Mississippi because they can’t find a skilled workforce. New graduates leave because they can’t find tech companies to hire them. Neither stick around long enough to match with the other. 

Gibert believes one solution to this “chicken or the egg” dilemma is remote work.Despite all the talk about return to office orders, telework is still up from where it was two years ago, with more than 10% of U.S. workers being fully remote.

Remote workers from out of state could sustain Mississippi employers while new grads can get that San Francisco tech job without moving away. V2 Forensics has two positions in Mississippi with four working outside the state, Cohoon said. 

More workers are coming from out of state to live in South Mississippi, enjoying cheap beach life and a shorter commute, according to the Sun Herald — which could help explain why it’s the fastest-growing part of the state.  

“If I were to take my office and be a block from the beach in San Francisco, I could never afford it,” Cohoon said. “But here I am in mighty Mississippi.” 

Still, other challenges persist. Remote work requires a solid internet connection, and Mississippi ranks 48th for internet access, according to U.S. News and World Report. 

Along with internet shortcomings, Mississippi’s failure to catch on in the tech world stems from a lack of focus in both location and area of expertise, according to Bill Rayburn. He’s started several multi-million dollar tech companies in Mississippi, including his current venture mTrade — a platform banks and insurance companies use to buy and sell mortgage loans. 

Take Alabama for example, where Huntsville is both the epicenter of the state’s efforts and primarily works with the aerospace and defense industries. 

“Mississippi has got to pick its niche,” Rayburn said. “We want to be everything to everybody all over the state. If you focus on everything you focus on nothing.” 

One possible tech lane some state leaders are eyeing for Mississippi is being a data center hub. 

Amazon Web Services is building a $10 billion data center in Madison County, which is tied for the largest private investment in state history, according to the governor’s office. The co-title holder is a data center campus under construction in Meridian, Mississippi. 

Data center companies look for two main factors when deciding where to build — cheap land and if there’s available power to fuel the air conditioning needed to keep those servers cool. 

Mississippi can provide both, according to Gibert. Mississippi Power, for example, extended the life of some of its coal operations until the mid-2030s to fuel the upcoming Meridian data centers, according to Mississippi Today. 

But despite the massive financial scale of these projects and importance for supporting the country’s tech infrastructure, the actual centers create few jobs where they’re built. They function more like warehouses that store data, similar to how other warehouses are filled with physical products, like cars or iPhones. As much as those goods drive the economy, most of the actual jobs and work happen far from where they’re stored. 

The hope, instead, is that these centers will just be a starting point to attract other tech jobs and talent. But Rayburn isn’t convinced they’ll do either. 

He believes software companies, like mTrade, are key to bringing good tech jobs to Mississippi, rather than dealing with the hardware. 

He also believes that financial tech is the niche Mississippi could take over, and has even floated Oxford, Mississippi, as the hub for it — though he admits he has some self-interest given mTrade’s home base is in Oxford.

But beyond software or hardware, Rayburn argues growing Mississippi’s tech scene is about amenities, too. He said Oxford’s high quality schools and entertainment have helped build the city’s tech workforce. 

He believes the city should build out more religious facilities to make Oxford more attractive to workers of different faiths, pointing out how the city already has a mosque. Making sure people of all faiths are welcome in the community is part of a thriving tech scene, Rayburn said. 

And while Mississippi doesn’t have the luxury of being San Francisco, which can take on any kind of tech startup as the country’s leading tech hub, Cohoon said he doesn’t want Mississippi to become like the California city or even try. He’d rather the state keep its quiet charm. Part of the appeal of having a business here is the specialized attention. He received support from community leaders, banks and the Gulf Blue Navigator. 

That last one is an initiative from the University of Southern Mississippi to grow the tech sector around Mississippi’s ocean. For Cohoon, that meant access to labs and aquatic drones that would be much more expensive than traditional drones for him to purchase on his own. 

He said for a tech company like his, Mississippi will provide more support than any other state. 

“If you want to bootstrap and build a company, Mississippi is an awesome place to do it,” he said.

This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.