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Technical.ly
06-05-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Why every city has a ‘startup week' now — and whether they should
When first launched Philly Tech Week 15 years ago, the logic was straightforward: gather scattered entrepreneurs and technologists together, put the city on the map, and throw a few great parties along the way. A decade and a half later, nearly every US city with entrepreneurial aspirations seems to host a version of a 'startup week.' But as economic conditions, work habits and generational preferences shift, some are reevaluating whether the week-long event model is still effective — or necessary. 'The 'week' was proof that a city had arrived,' said Brian Brackeen, general partner at Lightship Capital and co-organizer of Black Tech Week, a national conference hosted since 2014. 'You had enough happening to fill multiple days.' The model flourished because it allowed cities to showcase a critical mass of entrepreneurial activity while providing flexible attendance options. 'If someone couldn't make Thursday or Friday, they could still attend events earlier in the week,' said Maria Underwood, a veteran ecosystem builder based in Birmingham, Alabama, which hosts the multi-day founded in 2015. Victor Hwang, founder of entrepreneur advocacy network Right to Start, believes a full week's slate of events encourages more local partnerships. Multiple groups could host their own gatherings under the larger banner, he said, relieving pressure from a single organizer and fostering greater community participation. Yet some old-school supporters — including CEO Chris Wink, who was instrumental in creating the original Philadelphia model — are skeptical the format still fits. 'Funding isn't there anymore to sponsor beer-soaked warehouse parties,' Wink said. He described the era of 'throwing 300-person parties subsidized by private equity firms' as 'insane by today's standards.' Instead, Wink said, founders now emphasize business value, intentional connections and efficiency in events — priorities that seem to clash with sprawling multi-day schedules. 'Happy hours are a dime a dozen' Brackeen, of Lightship Capital, echoed this shift toward intentionality. Black Tech Week, for example, has evolved to include highly structured investor-founder matchmaking sessions and corporate 'biz-dev days,'maximizing direct business outcomes rather than casual networking. Birmingham's Underwood agreed. 'Happy hours are a dime a dozen,' She said. 'The events that will sustain are ones creating intentional, strategic connections for founders.' Economic realities have also changed. CEO Wink cited the post-pandemic reevaluation of work-life balance and tighter capital environments as reasons why the sprawling event model might no longer be economically sustainable — or desirable. Still, 'weeks' remain valuable to emerging ecosystems. 'There's still a 26-year-old who was 12 when you first threw those parties,' Brackeen reminded Wink. 'They deserve their chance to experience it, too.' Though some places are still launching 'week'-themed editions — DC Tech Week was new on the scene last year, offering two dozen events across several days in the nation's capital — a rising trend is the startup 'weekend' instead. That's the branding for a program offered by Techstars, which partners on the three-day events in cities from Pittsburgh to New Orleans to Rome and Sao Paulo.. Ultimately, ecosystem leaders agree that while the week model once signaled vibrancy and ambition, its future might lie in hybrid, focused programming emphasizing specific business outcomes over sheer volume of activity. 'The vibe has shifted from 'cool and fun' to practical resilience,' Hwang said. 'People still care, but they care differently.'
Technical.ly
04-05-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
When do direct flights boost economic output (and venture capital deals)?
Though the US already has more liquid capital than any other country, regions short on institutional money still chase outside investors with tactics like subsidizing direct flights and flying in VCs for 1:1 meetings. Research does show startups gain measurable innovation advantages (more patents and citations) when direct flights link them to VC centers — with effects far stronger on international routes than domestic ones. So yes, ecosystem leaders should invite investors and host meet-and-greets, but not universally fixate on capital, because entrepreneurs need many resources, including quality of life. → Read on for details and join Chris Wink's weekly newsletter for more Pressed to choose between being a home for investors and entrepreneurs, choose the entrepreneurs every time. Venture capitalists are bankers with better branding. So forgive me for raising my eyebrows whenever I hear an economic development leader tell me they're working on attracting more capital to their region — or that an entrepreneur thinks her hometown just 'needs more capital.' Everybody says this everywhere. The United States has more liquid capital markets than any other country on the planet. We also have more airports than anywhere else. Stop complaining. Still, I admit research shows there are cases where that is sound economic development strategy. So when is it smart for regional economic development groups to chase venture capitalists? And what does it have to do with direct flights? 'Venture capitalists monitor their investments closely,' said Brian Brackeen, the Lightship Capital general partner whose Black Tech Week event series in Cincinnati matches startups directly with VC investors and corporate clients. 'Founders think constantly about capital. They prefer not to, but they have to.' Brackeen was my foil on this topic in the last Builders Live podcast alongside our cohosts Victor Hwang of Right to Start and Maria Underwood, an ecosystem builder turned startup COO from Birmingham, Alabama. Our conversation veered into the role of local events to bring in outside investors — the topic of a separate future story — but our original debate centered on when local ecosystems chasing outside capital made sense. Brackeen assured me that no 'sensible' local economic leader is expecting to attract a top-tier investment firm to open an office in their city or state on a whim. Most US regions are without much institutional capital. Local rich grandees might be angel investors, but can often be unsavvy, or at least limited in their checkbooks. Many economic leaders want to create ties to bigger pools of money to accelerate homegrown inventors — and limit departures for bigger investment hubs. Air travel is often regarded as an economic salve for such far-flung places. One signature initiative from Jobs Ohio, the liquor-tax funded, state economic development powerhouse, is its ' air service restoration program,' in which it effectively subsidizes direct flights from its airports to major financial centers at up to $10 million annually. Northwest Arkansas's entrepreneur support organization is organizing a VC immersion program, in which it flies in investors for 1:1 meetings with inventors. Ecosystem organizer Serafina Lalany posted a video of her team happily distributing posters of the campaign. 'Bringing investors to your city works,' said Underwood, who led efforts to integrate investor pitches into Birmingham's upcoming Sloss Tech event. 'We bring VCs who've never been to Birmingham to meet our founders. It's economical and effective.' Research backs her up, to a point. Startups gain measurable innovation advantages when connected by direct flights to venture capitalists, according to a 2016 MIT paper, with a 3.1% increase in patent filings and a 5.8% increase in patent citations. Interestingly, US communities don't benefit from new direct flights anywhere near as much as international cities do, at least according to a 2018 paper. Foreign cities with new direct flights to Silicon Valley saw an additional $23 million in VC funding over the next year. Any connection between big enough domestic and foreign hubs did the trick. With each newly introduced direct route between a U.S. and Chinese city increased annual M&A transaction volumes by approximately $50 million, according to a 2021 paper. Domestic cities didn't see the same boost. 'For companies farther away, particularly internationally, direct flights matter immensely,' wrote Waters. This advantage is magnified by geographical distance and cultural barriers. Selling bits of an early-stage private company for infusions of cash is always tricky, especially for first-time founders and in untested markets. Network effect is real, and local organizers can change that. Invite investors to your annual events and organize meet-and-greets, but ecosystem leaders ought not universally fixate on venture capital. Entrepreneurs need many resources. As Hwang put it: 'Making connections for entrepreneurs will make good things happen in lots of unexpected ways.'
