Beijing and Shanghai are no longer the only preferred places for young people to start up businesses and realize their dreams. More and more talented youngsters are starting their careers in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province.

Inside a 100-square-meter office building in Guiyang, 37-year-old Yu Chuan and his team are an example of this.

The team attracted the attention of people around the world when they used a 3D printer to create a drone.

Born and raised in Guiyang, Yu quit a well-paid job and started the Team Flex workshop with friends and schoolmates in 2012.

"We tried many different ideas and eventually decided to focus on the area of micro intelligence drone with 3D printing technology," Yu recalled.

Like all young entrepreneurs starting out a lack of funds was the first barrier that Yu had to overcome.

To raise money, Yu and his team put the prototype and idea of the drone on a crowd funding platform but were not all that optimistic about the potential outcome.

"We managed to raise $10,000 within four hours after we put the prototype online, which we couldn't believe," said Yu.

Team Flex received $560,000 from Kickstarter, one of the most popular crowd funding websites in the world, and the amount topped the record for projects from Asia.

Yu and team were the only group from China accepted to participate in the South by Southwest Festival, which is held in mid-March each year in Austin, Texas.

South by Southwest is a series of film, interactive and music festivals and conferences and is one of the most influential events for innovation technology developers.

During the event, Team Flex demonstrated their creation and captured the attention of an even wider audience.

"A lot people still don't believe we are a team that comes from Guiyang, which is a city many of them have never heard of," Yu said.

He said that contrary to traditional industries, technology companies suffered the least in terms of being located regionally.

"Most of our business and work is based on the Internet, although developed cities have the advantage in funding and talents, but the lower cost of living helps new companies to survive," Yu noted.

Team Flex has grown to 12 members, including two Americans and a Canadian-Indian. Yu said the group's multinational culture boosted the team's innovation and diversity.

Cities in the province are promising places for young people to chase their dreams, said Yu. He added that to help youngsters like himself succeed local governments issued policies and built platforms for small companies to expand their businesses.

"We are planning to set up an office in Shenzhen and possibly the United States this year for better manufacturing and marketing," said Yu.

"Many people used to leave Guiyang but now see the opportunities here and have decided to come back. If success can be found anywhere, why not at home?" Yu said.

Since 2013 the provincial government has offered a batch of favorable policies to support start-ups in the high-tech sector.

The government announced it would offer 200 million yuan ($32.7 million) to lure top-level personnel to the province every year from 2013.

Preferential policies in fundraising, housing and tax are also provided.

zhaokai@chinadaily.com.cn