Building a Robust Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, Network Analysis - Presentation @Facebook Conference

Think Locally, Act Locally
Building a Robust Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
Arnobio Morelix
San Francisco, August 15, 2014
© 2013 Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
www.kauffman.org

Startup Communities and
Local Networks
By:
• Yasuyuki Motoyama
• Jared Konczal
• Jordan Bell-Masterson
• Arnobio Morelix
Motoyama, Yasuyuki and Konczal, Jared and
Bell-Masterson, Jordan and Morelix, Arnobio,
Think Locally, Act Locally: Building a Robust
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (April 2014).
Mobile survey, web survey, and Twitter-based
approach

Kauffman Foundation
• The Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan
foundation.
• Foster entrepreneurship and education.
• Founded by late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing
Marion Kauffman. Based in Kansas City, Mo., $2 billion
endowment.
• Research & Policy Department.
www.kauffman.org

Startup Communities
• Boulder Thesis
1. Led by entrepreneurs
o Leaders (entrepreneurs) and Feeders (e.g.:
professors, policymakers)
2. Inclusive and diverse
o Serial entrepreneurs, beginners, supporters
3. Focused engagement
o Entrepreneurial-focused activities VS., for
instance, cocktail parties
4. Long-term commitment
o 20+ years timeframe for leaders
Underlying argument: connections
and networks are important for the
entrepreneurial process

Startup Communities
• Boulder Thesis
1. Led by entrepreneurs
o Leaders (entrepreneurs) and Feeders (e.g.:
professors, policymakers)
2. Inclusive and diverse
o Serial entrepreneurs, beginners, supporters
3. Focused engagement
o Entrepreneurial-focused activities VS., for
instance, cocktail parties
4. Long-term commitment
o 20+ years timeframe for leaders
Underlying argument: connections
and networks at the local level are
important for the entrepreneurial
process

Research Questions
Who entrepreneurs learn from? Global or local?
“Digital Age” conventional wisdom VS. Feld’s hypothesis
1. Where entrepreneurs in KC get their information from? Local
VS. Global
2. What are the network patterns of the entrepreneurship
program participants in the network among themselves?
3. Do “online” Twitter resemble “offline” networks? How are
these entrepreneurs connected to other entrepreneurship
programs?

1 Million Cups
• Weekly meet ups for entrepreneurs and startups. Primarily tech.
• 250 attendees/week in Kansas City alone.
• Growing nationally.
• 50 different cities, E.g.:
o Boulder, CO;
o Chicago, IL;
o Dallas, TX;
o Denver, CO;
o Kansas City, MO;
o San Diego, CA.
• Pilot tool to be expanded. Community we were interested in investigating
(+convenience).

Method
• Survey Period: May, 2013 and January, 2014.
• Sample Size: 132 entrepreneurs.
o 74 provided Twitter handle.
o Small sample, but not a small sliver of tech entrepreneurs in Kansas City.
• Twitter profiles: 18,929 (2013) and 22,339 (2014) Twitter
profiles followed by this group.
• Latent networks: who they follow in common.
• Data Collection:
o Mobile survey;
o Web survey;
o Twitter API (who entrepreneurs follow – information flows).

Latent network - 18,929 feeds
• Vast majority followed by 1 or 2 entrepreneurs
• 1% of total feeds, top 10% most followed (weighted)
Source:
Y. Han;
S.J. Goetz
Penn State
Febr. 2014

Descriptive findings
• Entrepreneurs follow entrepreneurs. While the most popular Twitter
accounts in the United States belong to celebrities, entrepreneurs are
following primarily local entrepreneurship-focused accounts.
• Entrepreneurship as a local phenomenon. The most influential
Twitter feeds among the entrepreneurs surveyed are primarily local.
• Online connections resemble offline connections. Twitter following
patterns are consistent with ‘offline’ program participation pattern.
• Population:
o Most (27%) age 25-34.
o Males outnumber females 2-to-1
o Tech-oriented.

1) Where entrepreneurs in KC get their
information from? Local VS. Global
• Who do entrepreneurs in KC follow?
• Where do entrepreneurs get their information from?
• What is the geographical scope?
• Do they look like the average Twitter user?

Source:
Y. Han;
S.J. Goetz
Penn State
Febr. 2014

Most Followed Twitter Feeds
by # of followers
# Feeds Followers # Feeds Followers
1 1millioncups 50 11 Prentiss Earl III 26
2 Kauffman Foundation 41 11 Local Ruckus 26
3 Silicon Prairie News 39 13 KC Business Journal 25
4 Launch KC 36 13 Kansas City 25
5 KCSourceLink 35 15 Big Kansas City 23
6 Kauffman Labs 32 15 Adam Arredondo 23
6 KC Startup Village 32 17 Nate Olson 22
8 Mayor Sly James 30 17 Kansas City Star 22
9 Cameron Cushman 28 17 Ryan Weber 22
10 KCNext 27
• Top 20 almost exclusively entrepreneurship-related. “Celebrities” very little represented.

Top 10% most followed feeds, weighted
More local, more followers

Top 10% most followed feeds, weighted

National Figures?
o Kauffman Foundation (40 followers in January 2014);
o Brad Feld (16 followers);
o Startup Weekend (13 followers);
o Mark Cuban (12 followers).
• Mashable, 10 Essential Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter;
• Huffington Post, The 8 Best Entrepreneurs To Follow On Twitter
• TNW (The Next Web), The 25 Most Influential People Tweeting
About Entrepreneurship;
• Nibletz, Follow Friday: 50 Startup Related Twitter Accounts To
Follow Everywhere Else;
• Under30CEO, 25 Twitter Chats Every Entrepreneur Must Know

2) What are the network patterns of the
entrepreneurship program participants in the
network among themselves?
• Within the network, connection over time.
• 35% are more connected with other participants in the
May-13 Jan-14
sample.
20
15
10
5
0
35 33
0 1 2 3-5 6-9 10-14 15-18

3) How are these entrepreneurs connected
to other entrepreneurship programs? Do
“online” Twitter resemble “offline” networks?
• Twitter following patterns consistent with “offline”
program participation pattern.

Participation of 1MC attendees in other local networks and programs
(May 2013)
mobile and
web surveys

Descriptive findings
• Despite “digital age” intuition, these entrepreneurs follow
overwhelmingly local entities.
• Entrepreneurs follow mostly entrepreneurs and
entrepreneurship-related accounts.
• Twitter following patterns consistent with “offline”
program participation patterns.

Research Challenges
• More extensive data collection. More locations, more
people, more social networks.
• How representative are social media connections? How
representative are social media populations?

Thank you!
amorelix@kauffman.org
• Let me know of anything I can help you with.

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