How Startups Flourish in Cities

It may seem contradictory that on one hand I have argued looking for the next "Silicon Valley" is a wasted exercise, and on the other cities are central to building great ecosystems for startups.

Silicon Valley, even for those who like to shoot at its hubris, is one of the most remarkable geographic centers in world history -- up there, I would argue without my own hubris, with Renaissance Florence or early Imperial Rome, as a geographic center of innovation and new thinking. These come pretty rare in history. And today, with ubiquitous access to software, I think it is more likely that there will be many, smaller hubs of innovation from many corners of the world going forward rather than one anchor.

And yet, to the latter point, physical connectedness matters. Technology will only get better in having us feel present, but for a good while to go, actually BEING present matters. Whether it is going by someone's desk at 1:00 am to brain storm product, or going out for a coffee and drink surrounded by the energy of others pushing forward -- the physical matters.

So, it is no surprise, that great cities rising or re-inventing themselves are attracting the best talent, and the network effect of this talent -- the more who are there the more who come -- makes their role more important in leading change to solve problems and seize new opportunities.

I am honored this week to join a Twitter Chat this Wednesday, January 29th at noon, EST to discuss the future of cities and startups with the likes of the legendary Steve Case, Streetline CEO Zia Yusuf, Women Innovate Mobile founder Kelly Hoey, mobile entrepreneur Vinny Lingham and my good friend and 1776 co-founder Donna Harris. Primarily I eagerly look forward to what THEY tweet. But I promise to join in.

Citi has pulled this together as part of their efforts enabling progress through #ProgressMakers, where they gather stories of how the company's core business activities and partnerships with clients are having positive social impacts. Some examples are here https://www.citigroup.com/citi/progress/index.htm

Some good background reading, here's an article from The Atlantic on the connection between VCs and diverse/dense communities - and on the top 15 cities for tech startup investments from Mashable.

Would love to hear your views.

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