Is this actually Silicon Valley? It is no longer just a Bay Area center funded by Sand Hill Road investors in 2021; it is all over the place. The decentralization of financing to developing ecosystems has affected our work as journalists in addition to empowering local businesses to raise that follow-on round.
We decided to discuss our thoughts on the trend’s long-term implications after Mary Ann released an exclusive look at how fundraising is spreading outside Silicon Valley. Following up on her findings, Mary Ann shared her comments on the emergence of startup clusters across America is nothing new and certainly nothing to be concerned about?
Natasha and Alex looked at data-driven reporting, which is becoming more popular as the startup journalism business grows. What can we say; the Equity crew just will not shut up!
In a world of fast-moving mergers and the death of HQs, I am going to go out on a limb and claim that startup location data has never been more important. Now that you are paying attention, I will gently qualify that by stating that this divisive worldview excludes emerging markets. For a long time, startup data has been useful in determining how an entrepreneurial landscape is developing.
For example, the concentration of capital in late-stage agreements would indicate that the winners are winning, but at the expense of lesser upstarts. A robust angel scene would indicate that pre-seed firms would benefit from an infusion of activation energy.
However, what happens when traditional geographic boundaries vanish? You can have a Boston-based business, but where do the majority of your workers live? What is the location of your investors? You may have answers, but they may only be valid for the next month.
Aside from digital nomads, my argument is that the growing popularity of dispersed work obscures some of our traditional “local startup” news coverage. The scene in Detroit is growing, but it is all thanks to a nod from Miami and a tip from Boston.
This, I believe, means that our data should focus more on networks than ever before, allowing us to see how a startup’s success affects other groups at a macro level. To put it another way, Duolingo’s public debut may have benefited Pittsburgh’s local startup culture, but what if the company’s future development will be limited to overseas markets? That is only a guess, but I believe we will need to dig further into financing statistics and ground-level victories.
