Original post by Marissa Feinberg via FORBES
Simon Walker is in the middle of whirring about the top 10 startup cities in America in order to answer every entrepreneurs’ burning-est question:Where is the grass greenest?
Even the most brilliant ideas and talented teams need rich, fertile ground to grow. So what city has the best coworking spaces? Where do I really need to go to meet the right connections? Is my idea unique, or is there someone in every city trying to do the same thing? The answers, my friends, will be presented in full in documentary form when the LEEAP Project concludes.
Simon’s working his way up the East coast now, on the last leg of his trip. He’s interviewed entrepreneurs, investors, coworking space owners and inhabitants, accelerators, and VC firms. Among his elbow rubs so far are Mike Jones (ex-ceo of Myspace, founder of Science Inc), Jason Calacanis (Weblogs, Sequoia Capital, Mahalo), Mitch Thrower (Bump Network), and the Microsoft Bing Fund people.
So. The Top 10 Cities for Startups in America?
Huge point of contention right there, beyond the big two: NYC and SFO/the Valley! Folks are always asking Simon why this one’s on the list and that’s not. I’ll skip that debate and we’ll discuss the ones Simon’s been to so far.
Something in the water. In Austin at least.
I spoke with Simon at 9 p.m. one night when he was in Austin, and he started by informing me that this was his 15th interview of a “humongous day.” But his was not the voice of exhaustion. Simon was positively jacked up about the tour so far and brimming with stories.
