Out-Of-Towners You can start a business anywhere. Just make sure you know what you're getting into when you go there.

The heady economy and Internet speed of the new millennium aregiving rise to the belief that you can start a high-tech company ina low-tech farmland; start a hot catalog house in cool and remoteMaine; or launch a global cable television network far from thecanyons of New York City or Los Angeles. In fact, it's beendone more than once (see "Hall of Fame," on page 180C).But if you hope to succeed at launching your business in anunlikely place, be prepared to scale obstacles--and don't tryto go it alone.

"If you take the broadest examples of entrepreneurship, youcan start a business anywhere," says Andrew Zacharakis,professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College in Wellesley,Massachusetts. "Landscaping, housecleaning and restaurants areall businesses you can start practically wherever you choose. Butmost specialized businesses are more likely to succeed in placeswhere there's infrastructure to support them." He pointsout that Gateway Computers is a great example because the companystarted in a Midwestern cow pasture.

Still, the success of such businesses is not an accident. To setup a sophisticated and high-potential business in an unlikelyplace, you should follow eight basic rules: