Things to Consider When Building a Startup City

Three things play an important role when talking about build-up of a startup city. Firstly, visibility for startups is really important in smaller markets. Take for instance Turkey: 76% of all M&A transactions in Turkey are at a value of $50 million or less. That means that the lions share of all exits do not get massive media headlines and as such most investors don’t fully realize their asset allocation options and possible returns.

** Secondly**, culture is what can make or break an ecosystem. If participants instill a culture of trust, openness, mentorship, helping and sharing – the ecosystem can flourish. This is what’s unique to most entrepreneurial ecosystems is the conditions under which bonds are formed and networks established.

Thirdly, scale can play an important role too. If an ecosystem is full of investors money with necessary incentives already being in place – good job. But if not, you have to think about creating linkages between important institutions that can create those incentives.

Here, close linkage between government policies on innovation is important: in Europe, we see the European Investment Fund being a key limited partner in many VCs. Purchasing in procurement and government inclusion – these solutions can provide an active leeway to the ecosystem building.