There is no one answer for this question, as it depends on a number of variables:
What type of startup are you?
While there are an infinite number of ideas and ways to execute, there are really only two types of startups:
Product or Service
If you are a service company, you can be located pretty much anywhere, and then source talent locally (it will be harder to find people in people in Iowa than in California, but it can be done.)
If you are a Product company, however, you will want to be located in a place where you can source materials the most inexpensively. For example, if you are making hardware that require a lot of microprocessors, you might want to think about partnering up with someone in Asia. If you are a fashion company, you might want to think about a warehouse in New York. Like financial products? think Shoreditch or Boston. UAV’s and nanotechnology? Vegas is your place.
What is the market for your startup?
Another part to the puzzle is where to launch. You may have an awesome idea that is for middle America but doesn’t work as well in large cities (to start.) Headquartering in Minneapolis, Chicago or Kansas City will give you the flexibility you need to do market research and attract those customers.
What is the stage of your startup?
If you are early on, the best place for you to be is exactly where you are. It’s not the time to waste money moving when you can be building MVP.
If you are farther along, see the first two questions.
What is your funding goal?
If you intend to bootstrap forever, then stay where your customers need you.
If looking for outside funding or acquisition, be prepared to move to wherever the Big Fish for your product or service is. While the majority of the world’s Vc money is in the Bay Area, there are Investments made around the world.
My first recommendation is always going to be to work with what you have available locally, with your schools, businesses and other people, and find any other people you need online. If you have the ability to, though, the list above are the top 20 cities in the world for startup ecosystems. What that means is that you’ll find the highest concentration of startups, startup talent, people investing in startups, and people who are able to mentor startups in those cities.
Of those cities, I highly recommend Vancouver or Boston as a good “feeder” city. Silicon Valley is obviously the #1 city across the board, but everyone there is busy. In Vancouver and Boston, the startup people are still busy, but they’re also nice, and helpful. They’re both really great communities for mentorship.
Note: Missing from this list are Las Vegas, NV, where I live, and Albuquerque, NM. Both are burgeoning Startup Cities – there is a lot of room to grow and they have very strong infrastructure to help their communities.
Know the market and your place in it – that’s how you find where to go.
Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/Where-are-the-best-ecosystems-for-startups-right-now
Originally Posted On: 2016-01-14