The chapters in this book compare and contrast Silicon Valley with regions that imitate the valley in a particular way; these regions have, consciously or unconsciously, pursued a path of growth through entrepreneurship. This chapter uses data on flows of venture capital to entrepreneurial companies to compare and contrast dozens of regions in the United States on the extent to which their venture financing activity resembles that found in Silicon Valley. The premise employed here is that venture capital flows are a key contributor to “growth through entrepreneurship,” a great statistic for tracking entrepreneurial activity. Nascent technology clusters reveal themselves early on in the kind and quantity of venture capital financing flowing to their indigenous startups. By looking at venture capital flows at the regional level – how much, from where, of what type – one can garner an understanding of the kinds of innovation and entrepreneurship being pursued in a region.

This chapter is, inherently, an exercise in presenting data – data that speak to regional differences in the pace of new business formation across major metropolitan regions of the United States. It is tempting to draw stronger economic growth conclusions from regional differences in the pace of innovative activity resulting from different levels of venture capital financing. However, the link between innovation activity, facilitated by venture capital finance, and economic growth is not established or tested in this chapter using empirical methods; rather, it is taken as a given, and little formal analysis is attempted here to substantiate anything more than assumptions of cause and effect.