By David Sher

I just finished listening to a podcast on how Chip and Joanna Gaines built a business empire and the extraordinary impact it had on Waco, Texas, their hometown.

We can do the same for Birmingham.

Belief built Waco

Chip and Joanna Gaines, made famous by their HGTV show Fixer Upper, co-founded the Magnolia brand—a lifestyle company that now includes a TV network, magazine, retail stores, and home furnishings—all centered in Waco.

When they opened their first little shop in Waco in 2003, few could have imagined what would follow. For two decades, Waco’s legacy had been defined by the Branch Davidian tragedy. Today, Magnolia Market attracts 1.7 million visitors annually.

One couple, well invested in their city, changed the name and identity of an entire city.

The transformation wasn’t magic—it was belief. Chip and Joanna stayed, invested, and built an empire that changed not just buildings, but perceptions. Birmingham is doing the same thing right now.

Birmingham’s future will not be imported–it will be built

Just as Waco embraced its own entrepreneurs, we must build—and celebrate—ours.

Our entrepreneurs leading the way

Bill Smith

Birmingham doesn’t have many tall buildings, but two of them bear the names of companies founded by one local entrepreneur, Bill Smith.

Smith launched Shipt in 2014. Three years later, Target acquired it for $550 million—and Smith kept the headquarters in Birmingham. Today, the city’s tallest building bears the Shipt name.

Smith then founded Landing, bringing his second startup home to Birmingham and putting that name on another Birmingham building as well.

Last month, Smith put together a fintech deal worth a billion dollars and is headquartering it here—growing our number of public companies.

Shegun Otulana

Shegun Otulana moved from Lagos, Nigeria, to Birmingham in 1998 to study at UAB. In 2021, he sold Therapy Brands for $1.2 billion. Like Smith, he could have gone anywhere. Instead, he founded Harmony Venture Labs with an audacious goal: launch 40 new startups in Birmingham over the next decade.

Last week Innovate Alabama announced it’s committing $5 million in funding to establish the Innovate Alabama Venture Studio and Fund, which will operate out of Harmony Venture Labs.

Del Smith

Dr. Del Smith, CEO of Acclinate, deliberately chose Birmingham as headquarters for his digital health company. His vision? Build a future S&P 500 firm right here.

“Birmingham represents the most compelling opportunity in American business today,” he says. “We’re intentionally building an innovation ecosystem from the ground up.”

He turned down Atlanta and other cities because, in his words, “there’s simply no reason to leave a city with this mix of opportunity and quality of life.”

Julian Maha and Michele Kong

Then there’s KultureCity, a nonprofit founded by Julian Maha and Michele Kong after their son was diagnosed with autism. From its beginnings in Birmingham just 11 years ago, KultureCity has grown into a global movement reaching more than 40 countries. They set the gold standard for sensory accessibility training and pioneered sensory rooms in public venues at scale.

Now they’re transforming Birmingham’s historic Powell Steam Plant into a National Center of Accessibility, Empowerment, and Innovation—a groundbreaking technical college designed specifically for individuals with disabilities, connecting graduates directly to employment opportunities through KultureCity’s partnerships with companies around the world.

Kong says that soon people from around the world will be coming to Birmingham.

Turning our innovators into icons and tell their stories everywhere

Let’s celebrate these leaders the way Waco celebrates the Gaineses.

Identify our promising entrepreneurs, lift them up, and let the world know their names.

Amplify our advantage

As Otulana says, “In a city this size, you’re only one or two connections away from the person who could change your life.”

That’s Birmingham’s secret weapon—world-class medical institutions, a growing tech scene, and entrepreneurs choosing Birmingham over other high-tech cities.

Birmingham’s future

Visitors to Waco say, “You two (Chip and Joanna) are the reason I know about Waco.”

Imagine visitors saying the same about Birmingham—but naming dozens of founders and changemakers.

We don’t need to reinvent our identity—we just need to amplify the authentic excellence already here.

If one couple could rebrand Waco through belief and commitment, imagine what happens when an entire city does it—together.

When we celebrate the people building something remarkable right now, the magic is in the people who stayed, believed, and built.

Birmingham has those people

Now it’s time to make sure the world knows their names.

This is Birmingham’s future. Let’s tell it like we mean it.

David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown.  He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).

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Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. dsher@comebacktown.com