The Beltline was even more abuzz with the grand new opening and ceremonial severing of a ribbon at OneTrust’s office opening. Spectacular, dazzling, and fresh is what I took away from the event. Their view, the near life-size replica of Buzz – Georgia Tech’s mascot – looking over the office, and the brimming crowd eager to explore the new headquarters all looked on as OneTrust’s CEO Kabir Barday shared why here and why now on the Beltline. The roster of VIP’s went down the list from Mayor Andre Dickens to Beltline CEO Clyde Higgs. The monumental moment for Atlanta and ITP enthusiasts was cemented by the AJC press for generations behind us to study. Many will read it as another headline in our vastly growing metropolitan city however this move signalled much more.
Arguably the most successful enterprise software company started in Atlanta over the past 15 years led by a young, charismatic CEO with over 2000 employees just moved their company’s HQ from Sandy Springs on Abernathy Road to the heart of the action on the Eastside Beltline Trail. Approximately 500 of 2000 employees are in Atlanta which means 500 more people in, on, and around the Beltline…with likely several hundred more in the years to come.
Another company moved their HQ to the Beltline, what’s the big deal? Approximately 10-12 software companies started in Atlanta have achieved mammoth scale of $100M in ARR over the past 15 years since the SaaS boom. OneTrust’s runrate is over $500M in ARR and ranked number 21 on the Forbes Cloud 100 Index. Rockstar status has been earned by this Georgia Tech, homegrown success. Other names over the $100M ARR club include Calendly, FlockSafety, Salesloft, Stord, and the acquired MailChimp (now Intuit) just to name a few.
The move from Sandy Springs to the Beltline is an illuminating signal. First, the Beltline, particularly the Eastside Beltline Trail, is the most transformative economic development mechanism for Atlanta since the airport. In 20 years, who knows how much property tax and sales tax the Beltline economy will generate but if the pace of growth is anything equivalent to what we’ve seen in the past 10 years, the number will be significant. Second, this move demonstrates that the future of mobility in Atlanta is less car centric. One doesn’t move offices on the Beltline for parking spots and long commutes. OneTrust is banking that employees of today and tomorrow will leverage the Beltline’s car-less accessibility to the office. Those 500 employees and just as importantly, the hundreds of new employees to be hired will be searching for housing close to the office or quick connectivity to the Beltline.
As the ribbon got cut and camera flashes brightened, the economic progress of OneTrust’s phenomenal success was deservedly celebrated. My grandest wish for them is they turn that $500M+ run rate into $5B+ in ARR, then $50B+ and hire thousands of employees.
Atlanta is beginning to enter its scale phase of growth. To put into perspective how OneTrust, one of Atlanta’s software darlings, compares: Microsoft in 2024 did $261B in revenue with a current market cap of $3.5 Trillion! Amazon, another Seattle name brand, is worth $2.3T! Seattle (and San Francisco) have already hit the software scale phase. As Kabir stated in his grand opening speech: “We know Atlanta has been a great place to start a startup, now we want to prove to the world Atlanta is a great place to scale a startup.”
As exciting as this is for Atlanta and the changes ahead, the biggest question we should be asking ourselves right now: how do we put in the mechanisms today so Atlanta can grow with intention? We know scale is on the way. Generational lessons can be learned from other cities including Seattle and San Francisco so Atlanta can be the best version of ourselves.
In order to grow into the best version of ourselves, below are themes that warrant full-blog size attention. Regardless, let’s enumerate a few of them:
Affordable housing…captial “A” and lower case “a.” Mayor Dickens’ path to 20k affordable housing units is critical to locking in rental rates for the next 15-30 to even 99 years for several Atlantans. As valuable a strategy this is we have to create a culture of affordability. Prioritizing the infrastructure to live an affordable lifestyle is paramount. One of the largest expenses for the American consumers is their car. Atlantans and our leadership will invest wisely into the future if we prioritize quality public transit, bike lanes (for bikes, ebikes, and scooters), and designated ride share areas for Uber’s and the imminent Waymos on the way. Mobility and transportation, if we do this right, will produce opportunities for generations.
Historic Preservation - We only have so many buildings left from a time period where they “just don’t build them like they used to.” If I had a dollar every time a contractor said that on the job in South Downtown, our Phase 1 budget would be doubled. There’s a balance between economic progress, making buildings “pencil” (where the math makes sense) and preservation. The continuum here is sticky with several ardent opinions on each dot of the x axis, however if there is a potential to fall one way or the other, a city is hard pressed to find a more authentic way to marry their city’s roots than preserve its historic buildings. Churchill’s line still rattles in the memory bank often: "The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see."
As mentioned above, essays could be written for the prior two areas and several more including: “homelessness” which was written about on the last post, city zoning for the future, and transportation. All of these, and more, have been navigated in cities where the “scale” phase of software companies has taken those cities and the U.S. economy by the horns.
Economic growth and prosperity is fueled by entrepreneurship. OneTrust, through Kabir’s leadership, is the lodestar of Atlanta and this burgeoning scale phase of growth. I can’t wait to watch them grow too big for this office and expand even more!
