Comparing Startup Ecosystems: SV, London, NYC | Hacker News Reader

Comparing Startup Ecosystems: SV, London, NYC

techcrunch.com

49 pointsbjoernlasseh18 comments

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.

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.

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.

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...

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."

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

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.

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.

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.

Boston was not on the list previously. We hadn't aggregated the greater Boston area and just did.

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

Tokyo notably yet I suppose unsurprisingly absent..

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