×

Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2005-2024; Paul O'Brien - STARTUP ECONOMIST - All Rights Reserved

Subscribe via Substack

Chicago Startups Industrialized Innovation

Thursday, 11 December 2025 by
This is a city that burned to the ground and responded by inventing the skyscraper. It turned its geography into the nation’s freight yard, its politics into a machine, and its universities into research engines. It engineered futures markets, modern cellular telephony, and now wants to industrialize quantum computing. If you’re trying to understand how
Read more
No Comments

Why Startup Ecosystems Fail at Scale: The Economic Development Playbook for Capacity Building

Friday, 05 December 2025 by
Cities everywhere are doing a lot for entrepreneurs, often sincerely and impressively, and what I’m finding in city after city is that the greatest opportunity is not in another startup program or even fostering a new investor but building capacity. They are supporting some founders, but not more founders. They are helping some investors, but
Read more
38 Comments

Why Doesn’t Europe Have a Silicon Valley

Friday, 07 February 2025 by
Europe is home to some of the world’s most brilliant minds, world-class universities, and a rich history of scientific and technological breakthroughs. The birthplace of modern banking in Italy, the World Wide Web at CERN, and some of the most advanced engineering institutions globally, Europe should—by all logical measures—be a dominant force in the startup
Read more
36 Comments

Regional Startup Ecosystems Must Embrace Distinction

Saturday, 04 January 2025 by
What we can learn from asking of South and Central America You’re failing. Let me cut to that chase. After more nearly two decades in Austin, Texas, and working with cities and regions throughout the world, what holds YOU and your economy back is that you won’t communicate clearly, distinguish your strengths, and acknowledge your
Read more
11 Comments
TOP