Thinking About Startup Density for a City’s Entrepreneurial Success

Tomorrow I’m giving a short talk at the (co) lab summit at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta. One of the sessions is about Fostering Entrepreneurship and I’m speaking on the topic of startup density as an important element of a city’s entrepreneurial success.

Here are a few thoughts on startup density:

• Entrepreneurs, like any tribe, seek to share and learn with other like-minded people
• Urban sprawl, a fact of life for Atlanta, results in startups spread out all over, and little density outside a couple pockets in the city
• The Atlanta Tech Village, combined with ATDC and Hypepotamus, create serious startup density in Buckhead and Midtown
• Serendipitous interactions play an important role in startup success and those interactions are a function of density
• Recycling talent, which happens when members of a failing startup join another startup, increases significantly with density
• Life can be lonely in a startup with the same tiny group of people everyday, thus instant community that comes with density fulfills a real human need and increases the likelihood of success

I’m looking forward to the (co) lab summit tomorrow and sharing a few thoughts on the importance of startup density.

What else? What are your thoughts on startup density for a city’s entrepreneurial success?