In July 2008, Sarah Lacy wrote the following words of wisdom about the importance of place to the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Every center of innovation needs a cocktail of things:
-wild, almost naive ambition
-money
-a culture of risk taking
-a social scene where Valley-like serendipitous moments can happen. (You know, stuff like: Oh, hey! I haven’t seen you in forever! You’re starting a company? OMG I know an angel investor who’s really into that space! etc)
-big companies techies can spin off from
-universities
Sounds like Portland, except for the part about money. But I didn’t re-post this list to make it about any particular city or that city’s suitability for growth. I think the list can be re-purposed any number of ways. For instance, every “ad scene” needs the above cocktail of things. Hell, most new businesses need these things to grow.
Speaking of new business, Hugh MacLeod, captures the spirit of an entrepreneur pretty well in the following piece.