Where the 'real' Silicon Valley is (opens in new tab)

Some of this is simply looking at the characteristics of companies that are more mature (eg. incorporated, trademarks) as a predictor of success.

I wonder if the data takes into account the companies that incorporate in DE.

with quotes like "we were able to 'find' silicon valey" and findings like "the best indicators of entrepreneurial quality were characteristics like a company's name", it is surprising that the article does not discuss the role that 'correlation' and similar phenomenon might have played in this study.

>the model showed that corporations are six times more likely to do well compared with companies that aren't incorporated.

Perhaps they have this backwards. Those companies are incorporated because they are doing well, they aren't doing well because they are incorporated.

Direct link to a related paper (Massachusets not SV) by the authors since there's no reference in the article: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c13493.pdf

Science article: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c13493.pdf

[Beware here be paywalls etc.]

I'm not sure what to think overall. EQI strikes me as a somewhat strange idea. But then again I'm interested in all approaches that go byound my crude: networking and investors are there as are other tech companies so gogogo. Also weather is fine but internet connections may suck :P

Edit: Nevermind, the link is at the bottom of the article. The "Source" thingy is kind of hard to see.

At first I was a bit confused by this article, and it looked like there was likely a large correlation/causation bias in determining quality.

Especially since the two outcomes they were looking for were IPO and potential for acquisition.

But after thinking a bit more about the topic, I think they have basically determined how to detect tech companies as a proportion of new business registrants per county. (Especially tech companies have a higher potential for some form of exit, over the typical company given the pervasiveness of acqui-hires)

As they said law firms (i.e. firms with the name of the founders in the name) had less positive outcomes.

why would you ever do a startup that was not "incorporated" being a joint stock company with limited liability has too many adavatges not to go that route