

Comparing Startup Ecosystems: SV, London, NYC - bjoernlasseh
http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/10/startup-genome-compares-top-startup-hubs/

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tstonez
As pointed out by @sakai I am surprised there is no mention of sample bias. I
wonder if the results where adjusted to account for over- / under-
representation from certain geographies, especially non-english speaking
(e.g., Beijing) who probably never heard of SGP, much less used their Startup
Compass.

Otherwise all good. By far the most detailed comparison I have seen of
different locations and beats the pointless VC dollars per capita argument
being touted at conferences and all over the interweb.

I guess at the end of the day it is a personal or team decision depending on
many factors (connections, market, investors, family & friends ...etc.) but
the more information to make that decision the better.

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pagekalisedown
I was most surprised by the average age of founders. Early 30s is about a
decade older than the media let me to believe.

Perhaps the median age would've been a more insightful statistic.

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muyuu
The media glorifies youth. Always has, always will.

Even when Kevin Rose raised capital he was portrayed by Businessweek as some
highschool wizkid when he was in his early 30s
<http://images.businessweek.com/mz/06/33/0633covdc.gif>

Cameras will go to kids first, too, and older geeks are typically more
private.

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sakai
This is such a dramatic step above the typical NYC vs. SV start-up reportage
that goes on Techcrunch and GigaOm. Bravo.

That said, it IS based on a lot of survey data, with all the concomitant
warts...

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jcc80
Ah, yet more information to considered when I finally move from the startup
hub that is CT. Biggest surprise for me was the relative size of Boulder.

"Silicon Valley’s ecosystem is currently 3-times bigger than New York City,
4.5-times bigger than London, 12.5-times bigger than Berlin, and 38-times
larger than Boulder."

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jot
Happy to see Santiago, Chile is #12 on this list of top startup hubs.

I was a participant in Start-Up Chile (<http://startupchile.com>) and I do not
believe it would feature at all without the programme. I think this provides
some evidence that you can buy a startup hub. With the same amount of spending
but with better execution (independent of government) I think there is
potential for a developing world country to make it into the top 5. They
really need to get much closer to implementing the model described by PG in
Can You Buy a Silicon Valley: <http://www.paulgraham.com/maybe.html>

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JVIDEL
You either have tons of funding or tons of talent: SV has both which is why
it's the center of the IT universe.

NYC has more funding than engineers, and all other hubs are either a mix of
both or have a serious deficit in one side (or even both) meaning making a
startup there is very difficult, and if it takes off odds are they are going
to move to a bigger hub, like SV.

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koji
Perhaps the greatest contribution of the 'cloud' is that it allows startups to
sprout just about anywhere. These are definitely exciting times we're in!

I'm a little surprised not to see Boston on the top 25 list.

I would love to see a map overlay indicating factors such as wealth and
education in these regions to see how strong the correlation is.

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rglullis
Boston is #18 on the list, isn't it?

But somehow I doubt those numbers. São Paulo is #8 on the list. But I have a
hard time naming 10 relevant startups.

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iag
The bottom of the article lists the top 25 startup ecosystems. I am very
surprised that Beijing is not one of them. I have a hard time believing
DC/Chicago/Montreal's startup throughput is anywhere near Beijing's. What do
you guys think?

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bjoernlasseh
Beijing is growing extremely fast and will probably soon surpass more
established ecosystems DC/Chicago/Montreal. Also , our data are not perfect
for Beijing due to the language barrier.

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IsaacL
Where's the actual report? I got an email from the startup genome guys about
this but it only links to the TC article. I'd like to read the complete
findings, not just the summarised version.

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nextstep
>2\. New York City (NYC, Brooklyn) NYC means New York City. And Brooklyn is
part of NYC, it's one of the 5 boroughs.

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laowai
Beijing should be #2 on the list. Understood that it's tough to get data due
to the language barrier, but for such a gigantic hub like Beijing it's worth
reaching out to some people to really drive that data collection next time
around. I'm happy to help in the future.

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scott_w
I know you're probably saying this to be controversial, but why should Beijing
be #2? Are there any studies (even in Chinese) that back this statement up?

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laowai
Scott, with a straight face and no controversy at all I'm definitely saying
it. Beijing is indisputably not only the 'Silicon Valley of China' but also
for all of Asia. It was initially sparked since the seat of gov't is here and
there are so many universities here but there are many other reasons why it's
become the hub for the largest wireless and largest internet market in the
world. But due to language, the Great Firewall of China and failures of so
many int'l internet companies here in the Middle Kingdom, and other reasons
there's relatively little press about the thriving geekosystem here. However
on just about every metric it is surely the #2 behind the Valley.

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minikomi
Tokyo notably yet I suppose unsurprisingly absent..

