Predicting team startup growth

[RMiller]

Originally Posted by Chris Fultz

I believe Minnesota had a huge growth primarily due to a government / education system push to get FIRST into schools. That is the big reason for the "double regional" in Minneapolis (actually 2 events the same weekend).

Yes and no.
Yes in that the University of Minnesota has turned into a huge supporter of the program, particularly for teams outside of the Twin Cities and other major cities. In addition, there has always (as far as I remember in my years there) been a major push to be one of the top states for education, part of which has been STEM.
A lot more of it has to do with some individuals who have made contacts with the corporations in the area. If you look at the list of teams and their sponsors, you see a number of corporations that are sponsoring multiple teams and a few of those that have 5+ teams (I don't want to accidentally leave out any of these companies, so I will not list any of them). I can only think of a few teams without a corporate sponsor as their major sponsor.
I do not know the entire story (/plug - if you come to the MN regional this year, I am sure you can talk to a few of the folks who have made it happen - /plug), but my understanding is that a few people got some of the corporations and the word got passed along to the other corporations in the area with the persuasion of the original individuals and year over year success.