Rhode Island offers the best of all worlds

Would you like to live just a few hours away from New York and Boston, pay a lot less for housing and transportation and do without the horrific commute? How about if some of the most breathtaking natural and man-made scenery on the Atlantic coast is thrown in? Stefan Tornquist, a founder and the director of marketing at Bluestreak, has one thing to say: Newport, Rhode Island. "Usually, Rhode Island sells itself. The quality of life here, compared to San Jose or Boston, is great. And Newport is a lot cheaper -- it's the most beautiful place on the East Coast," he exclaims, pointing out that three of the four founders of the company are originally from the area and knew it was the perfect place to headquarter a high-tech company.

"Bluestreak is a company that provides services and solutions to the online community," Tornquist explains. "What we do allows a variety of interactive marketing devices, like e-commerce in e-mail and banners that let you choose a flight." He reveals that Rhode Island is the perfect place to set up a high-tech company precisely because the state isn't overrun with similar firms. "We wanted to set up a New York or San Jose kind of company in Newport and it's worked out very, very well. There is a much bigger labor pool here than in other parts of the country," Tornquist says, pointing out that the concentrated high-tech areas of the country pay a lot more for an employee who could, in fact, be a lesser asset to the company. "And the cost per square foot is much lower than in New York or San Francisco," he adds.

With 65 employees already, Bluestreak is adding approximately four employees a week at its Rhode Island headquarters, which was founded in February 1999. "You can get the same salary here and live so much better," Tornquist remarks. "It's easy and cheap to own a car, there is no commute. In addition to all of this, the state is small enough that his company is well-known in the area and word-of-mouth supplies the company with a lot of local candidates. Bluestreak is looking to fill all kinds of positions, too, from marketing and sales to product managers and is open to applicants of all skill sets.

Tornquist isn't too worried about convincing the right people to relocate to his state. "All of us love it here. So many people commute out of the state and we're happy to offer an alternative."