• Place is defensibility. Top metros treat geography as strategy, building local stickiness so more residents can start and scale.
• It’s a flywheel, not a fad. Capital, education pipelines, welcoming relocation pathways and pro-founder policy work together once there’s an organizing and communications strategy in place.
• Entrepreneurs first, capital follows. VC totals vary widely; what’s common is a clearer pathway that gets and keeps more founders on the growth track.
For entrepreneurs, place is strategy.
That’s the headline from the new Advancing Regional Innovation Economies (ARIE) report from the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center. Backed by JP Morgan Chase, the report analyzed nearly 250 US metros to understand where entrepreneurs from all communities get on (and stay on) the growth path.
“Place and space might just be the greatest business defensibility available to every entrepreneur in America,” said Nicola Corzine, the center’s executive director, in our recent Builders Live conversation. “Under one condition: We all act like stakeholders in making it true.”
The report is rigorous. Quantitative research was led by a team from Penn State University and nonprofit “think-and-do tank” Heartland Forward, and complemented by dozens of interviews. Technical.ly was brought in to analyze their findings to develop narratives.
One clear signal: Entrepreneur-first systems beat capital-first mythology.
The research focused on regions that created more homegrown entrepreneurs who financially outperformed the median: people with companies that got into high-growth cycles, including but not limited to those backed by venture capital.
One clear signal, per Corzine: Entrepreneur-first systems beat capital-first mythology. The 20 regions that most outperformed peers are an eclectic mix — from overlooked Albany to prominent Seattle to well-regarded Pittsburgh — but all have assembled an entrepreneur-first economic development strategy.
The report and our conversation point to a simple, repeatable flywheel any region can build, if they’re motivated.
Corzine and team emphasize this isn’t intended as a top-20 “ranking” for ranking’s sake, but rather an effort to pick at how entrepreneurial ecosystems flourish.
“Every region has something to improve upon,” Corizne said.
Researchers combined census-level, income-based indicators (to see where all identities are advancing) and growth of incorporated firms in high-growth industries, as well as qualitative dives in standout metros. The report looks at how regions help more residents become entrepreneurs and grow, not just how much venture money landed last quarter.
“There’s next to no direct correlation between a metro’s VC dollar rank and performance in our benchmark,” Corzine told me. “The pathway for entrepreneurs comes first. Capital follows.”
Four common themes among high-performing ecosystems
Tracking with years of Technical.ly reporting, the new report brings the proof and the playbook. It elevants four themes and explores how they come together.
The highest-performing regions have the following:
- Capital: All had relative capital efficiency, if not necessarily high levels of venture capital. 60% of all formally-recognized angel groups operate in one of the 20 top-performing regions. All have a traditional lender that is informed on ecosystem trends and matches entrepreneurs to SBA programs like 504 loans.
- Education: All have a continuum of entrepreneurial activity from some version of K-12 programming, community colleges, workforce programming and elite or other research university that generates intellectual property.
- Relocation: All benefited from some driver of new residents, be it domestic migration or immigration, via employers, universities or tourism and culture. Relative cost and accessibility played a role.
- Policy: All had a durable statewide pro-entrepreneurship coalition, reinforced locally. The question on every regulation or legislation becomes: Does this help founders start, hire and expand here?
Critically, once these four themes are present, the report highlights the need for a “flywheel,” which is typically a high-performing network and communications plan, because entrepreneurs can benefit from what they don’t know about (Yup, that can be a storytelling strategy).
Why this matters (and who has homework)
What stood out to me: the mix of metros performing well. There were some heavyweights (San Francisco, Seattle, Austin) alongside several undersung midsize markets (Albany, Kansas City, Richmond, New Orleans, Baltimore, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Portland and more). Different sizes, different playbooks, but shared habits.
“Nowhere is capital access not discussed, but many tools can help smooth the gaps, and angels are uniquely place-based.” Corzine said. “Organized, accredited angel groups pair mentorship and patient capital, and they show up disproportionately in top ecosystems.”
Another surprise, Corzine added: “Don’t pick one ‘it’ industry. The best regions show balanced industry representation linked to their talent base.”
Predictions of the end of Silicon Valley are misguided, the region is still a major economic superpower. Seattle too is a top-tier region, but both must tackle the high-cost of living, and are confronting immigration pressures.
Medium-sized regions, like New Orleans and Richmond, need more engagement and identity building at the statewide level, where meaningful policy takes place, the report argues.
Most of even these high-performing regions still balance the need for a primary “front-door” entrepreneur support org, while still allowing for other doors and programs to thrive.
For regions that underperformed, there are lessons from the report. Those that did look strong have work too.
“This is research-to-action, not passive research,” Corzine said. “Make it easy for entrepreneurs to know who to go to, and when, [and] open the doors.”
