In the startup world, Silicon Valley is the indisputable capital. The leading trends and bustling, diverse communities have made it a popular landing pad for startups, investors, and technical hires from around the world looking to connect with "the startup movement." This clustering isn't going to change any time soon, but as the startup movement continues expanding globally, the need to diversify our clustered startup geography and build stronger links between ecosystems is growing. In this article, I argue there is a specific need to strengthen the ties between the startup systems in Europe and Asia.
From One Hub to Rule them All
Silicon Valley is a unique place. The ecosystem is the result of a gradual development over decades: universities and military programs built the foundations for the technology cluster, which eventually spilled over to the private sector and paved the way for a growth in technology firms. One generation of entrepreneurs became experienced investors for the next. As technology evolved so did management practices and the very nature of doing business. This is how the startup movement came to be, and it is why Silicon Valley is at the very centre of it.
The strong cluster effects have made Silicon Valley the go-to place for anyone that wants to leave a mark in technology history. Today, talent and venture capital from around the world flocks to San Francisco, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Cupertino - and even Oakland and Redwood City are drawing founders.
But there's more: the development of the startup movement has also been dependent on new ideas about the role of community and management, nurturing involvement from founders-to-be and students alongside active founders and the investors or mentors who came before them. This virtuous cycle is, too, most powerful in the Bay Area. Given the hunger for great talent and the relative ease of vertical movement, any new arrival will feel the pulse of Silicon Valley's technology entrepreneurs at work -- and often get swept into the fray as a new hire or first-time founder.
Into a Global Movement
In the recent decade, the startup movement has become a global revolution. Ideas about the lean startup, venture accelerators, and community building have spread far beyond California's borders. Even Startup Grind is present in 176 cities across 70 countries -- but the growth has been organic, demanded by the entrepreneurs of each city that is home to a chapter. The startup movement is very much global -- even if the startup infrastructure is still being developed in communities like Iran or Mongolia.
In a study done by Atomic maps where billion dollar software companies has been founded in the last decade, and the data supports the globalization trend: the data shows that even though North America has produced more than half (55 percent) of these companies and that Silicon Valley alone was the birthplace of around 35 percent of the global total, the rest of the world is far from sleeping. 45 percent of the companies were started outside of North America. 30 percent originated in Asia and 15 percent came from Europe. Many of these focused on local markets on other parts of internet than the English speaking one while others are truly becoming global enterprises with presence all over the world.
The Missing Link: Europe and Asia
However, as the startup movement goes global, the nature of its connections should and will become less hierarchical (take, for example, divisive startup community rankings) and more more vertically interconnected by the strengths and needs of each location. Nowhere is this problem as obvious as between Europe and Asia. Both Europe and Asia lack a single hub that can represent the whole regional ecosystem, though not for lack of trying: whether Berlin, Singapore, or Hong Kong, the influence of these hubs rarely reaches investors or talent in the Valley.
The loss of productivity is clear: the lackluster licks between Europe, Asia, and Silicon Valley are resulting in fewer firms finding their way to lucrative new markets, forcing an expanding company to enter the market has to make the journey largely blind. For many, the potential of either the European or Asian markets become evident only after they’ve established themselves in the US. This makes the journey longer and more complicated than necessary, resulting in missed opportunities for hiring, product evolutions, or marketing strategies. In the bigger picture, this leads to a competitive disadvantage to European and Asian startups compared to their Silicon Valley peers.
Integrating the Asian and European startup ecosystem should be a priority for startup community builders, governments, universities, and investors as a means of improving the talent pool, the accessibility of new customers, and cross-border innovation. To achieve this is easier said than done and it is a process that will take time. In the end however it is a bridge worth building, as it is an essential step in build a truly global Startup Movement.