These entrepreneurs ditched New York City to build startup in Raleigh

When Covid-19 struck, a pair of entrepreneurs “wanted to get the heck out of New York.”

Not just to escape rising rates of infection – but to launch a consulting startup. So Chris Andrassy and Alfonso Albuquerque, the brains behind what’s now the Astral Consulting Group, headed south.

In an exclusive interview, Andrassy details why they made the move, and what outside entrepreneurs should really know about the Triangle.

Andrassy and Albuquerque met at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, bonding through the school’s Integrated Business and Engineering program.

“It really planted a seed,” Andrassy said. “I knew something I wanted to do was to start a company.”

But after graduation, the pair went the big five route instead, heading for New York. Andrassy took a job a PwC, Albuquerque at Ernst & Young.

Then the pandemic struck. And the game changed.

“Everyone was working virtually,” Andrassy said. “We saw the writing on the wall and said, if there ever was an opportunity, now is the time. … What’s the worst that could happen?”

But there was a problem: New York. The city had become coronavirus central. And the costs of living in the Big Apple weren’t decreasing. So the pair decided the best – and most efficient – way to start a company was to “get the heck out of New York.”  They knew they wanted to bootstrap their new venture – and they suspected that would be impossible if they had to pay Big Apple rents. So they started looking.

Relatives recommended the Triangle, pointing out the proximity to universities. But they still weren’t convinced, throwing Austin, Texas, into consideration as well.

“Austin was just a little far,” Andrassy said. “The weather wasn’t super attractive. … Austin was five, seven years ahead. Maybe it makes sense to go to a place that’s earlier in its growth trajectory.”

So they decided to give it a year in the Triangle, settling near downtown Raleigh.

They quit their jobs to take the entrepreneurial plunge, starting in a familiar place – finance consulting, cold calling startups and helping them with their revenue projections. Over time, the pair saw demand increasing for business analytics. Companies wanted more than typical financial modeling. They wanted to see what was going on in their company across all functions, from sales to marketing, “in one central location with graphs and charts oriented how they wanted to see it.”

And Astral Consulting was really born. By focusing on custom business intelligence, the company has been able to increase the size of its customers, moving from startups to mid-market firms. Today, it even has a client with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. If all goes well, the firm will be able to hire full time employees in the first quarter.

Andrassy said the Triangle has officially become home – so much so that the firm is looking at coworking possibilities in Raleigh. And he has advice for entrepreneurs in expensive cities looking for outs.

“Now is the chance to get in, I wouldn’t say the ground floor. … the thirtieth floor, and to ride it all the way to the top,” he said.

Inno asked, and here’s the three things Andrassy would tell others in his situation about the Triangle.