“We were exporting our talent,” said Gloria Salinas in an interview with Kevin Faldu. “We had the people here, but not always the jobs or the companies to match. That’s what we’ve been working to change.”
It’s not the typical way a fast-growing city describes itself, but it gets to the heart of what Frisco is trying to do now. For years, the city functioned as a place people chose to live rather than a place where they built careers. Residents commuted across the Dallas-Fort Worth region, contributing to a broader economic engine that wasn’t fully anchored locally.
What’s happening now is an effort to reverse that pattern and, in doing so, reshape the city’s role within one of the country’s most active economic corridors.
As Senior Vice President and Chief Growth Officer at the Frisco Economic Development Corporation, Salinas was recruited to lead a more proactive business attraction strategy. The initial goal was to compete for the same companies already moving into North Texas and create opportunities for Frisco residents to work closer to where they live. Over the past several years, that strategy has translated into a steady flow of corporate relocations and expansions across industries, including financial services, consumer brands, and technology.
But attracting companies, Salinas emphasized, is only part of the equation. The more difficult challenge is building an environment where those companies can grow without needing to look elsewhere for their next phase.
That challenge ultimately leads to capital.
“We grow and add about 100 new startups every year in Frisco,” Salinas said. “So finding access to capital in Texas, and in Frisco in particular, is really critical for us. That’s the next layer of growth.”
Frisco’s response has been unusually direct. The city has set a goal of becoming a venture capital hub for the central United States by 2040, not as a branding exercise, but as a continuation of its existing growth strategy. The logic is built around sequencing. The region already has a dense concentration of talent, particularly in software engineering, finance, and telecommunications. It has also proven it can attract corporate activity at scale. What has historically been less concentrated locally is venture capital itself.
Rather than waiting for that layer to develop organically, Frisco is attempting to build it.
That effort includes bringing in a venture capitalist in residence to help connect founders with investors and to align economic development initiatives with investment opportunities. At the same time, the city is working to create incentives that attract venture firms and their portfolio companies, encouraging them not just to invest in Frisco-based businesses but to establish a presence there.
The results are still early, but measurable. A few years ago, venture firms in Frisco could be counted on one hand. Today, that number has moved into the double digits and continues to grow. It is not yet a fully mature ecosystem, but it is no longer hypothetical.
What makes Frisco’s approach distinct is not just its focus on capital, but the range of inputs feeding into that strategy. One of the more unexpected is the role of professional athletes.
Frisco’s identity as “Sports City USA” is rooted in reality. The city is home to the Dallas Cowboys’ headquarters and training facility, FC Dallas, and the PGA of America, among others. That concentration has made Frisco a destination not just for teams, but for athletes who remain in the area after their playing careers.
For many of them, the next chapter involves investing.
“They’re looking for investment opportunities that diversify their cash flow,” Salinas said. “In a growing city like Frisco, you have access to everything from technology companies to restaurants to new retail. There’s a large consumer base here.”
The city has leaned into that dynamic by creating structured opportunities for athletes to engage with the startup ecosystem, including roundtables, summits, and direct introductions to emerging companies. While not a traditional source of venture capital, athlete-investors bring both funding and visibility, helping to accelerate conversations that might otherwise take longer to develop.
That overlap between sports and capital is also shaping the types of companies Frisco is prioritizing. Sectors such as fintech, cybersecurity, and health and performance technology reflect both the existing corporate base and the opportunities created by the city’s sports infrastructure.
A more formal expression of that strategy can be seen in Origin, a recently launched initiative developed in collaboration with Plug and Play. Designed as a platform for startups operating at the intersection of sports, health, and technology, Origin connects early-stage companies with corporate partners, investors, and real-world environments where their products can be tested and refined.
Rather than building an innovation hub in isolation, the model integrates startups directly into Frisco’s existing ecosystem. Teams, facilities, and healthcare systems become part of the development process, allowing companies to move more quickly from concept to application.
All of this is unfolding against the backdrop of a longer growth story that stretches back roughly 30 years. What was once an agricultural community has steadily invested in schools, infrastructure, housing, and transportation, laying the foundation for the current phase of expansion. From the outside, Frisco’s rise can appear sudden. From within, it looks more like the result of sustained, incremental planning.
That preparation has aligned with broader shifts in how companies think about location. In the wake of the pandemic, firms began reassessing where they operate and what those environments need to provide. Access to talent remains critical, but so do quality of life, infrastructure, and the ability to scale efficiently. Frisco’s proximity to Dallas, combined with its evolving commercial landscape, has made it a compelling option in those decisions.
The city is now planning approximately 15 million square feet of new office development over the next 15 years, much of it designed around walkability and integrated amenities. The goal is not simply to accommodate growth, but to shape the kind of environment in which that growth occurs.
In the near term, the priorities remain practical. Salinas and her team are currently working with 25 companies considering relocation or expansion into Frisco, including a number of potential headquarters operations. Securing those projects and translating them into jobs for residents remains the immediate focus.
“Providing jobs for our residents is always the goal,” she said. “Making sure they can live, work, and build their careers here.”
The broader ambition, however, extends beyond individual wins. Frisco is attempting to align the key components of an economy, talent, companies, and capital, within a single geography. If successful, it would shift the city’s role within the Dallas-Fort Worth region from a participant in a larger system to a center of gravity in its own right.
“We’re still building,” Salinas said.
What’s different now is that the pieces are beginning to connect.
Spencer Hulse is the Editorial Director at Grit Daily. He is responsible for overseeing other editors and writers, day-to-day operations, and covering breaking news.
