9/3 Blog Topic: A Stronger “Entrepreneurial Ecosystem” Would Benefit Marin Residents

Written on . Posted in Blog, Recent News

September 3, 2019

It’s no secret the Bay Area is the place to launch your dream business – entrepreneurs flock here like actors to Hollywood. According to crunchbase.com there are 489 publicly traded companies in the San Francisco Bay Area including Marin’s own Autodesk. But it’s not limited to the technology sector; healthcare and food are also big players in this region. So, what is it that breeds these types of successful businesses? It’s not the nice weather, free-spirited attitudes or even innovation, it’s something called an “entrepreneurial ecosystem” and strengthening the one we have in Marin can be a big benefit to our residents.

An entrepreneurial ecosystem describes a set of conditions, some existing, some created, to bring people together and foster economic prosperity and wealth creation. The graphic below identifies the standard elements of any entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Source: Mazzarol 2014

Although the figure is composed of 9 elements, I would argue 4 of them are most significant: funding & finance, support systems/mentors, culture, and human capital & workforce. The strong presence of these four elements have ensured the Bay Area is a leading destination for entrepreneurs. In other regions, elements like “government policy” may have stronger influence on success.

San Francisco and Silicon Valley are responsible for a staggering 40% of all U.S. venture capital funding according to the 2018 PricewaterhouseCoopers/CB Insights MoneyTree report. If you need money to start your company, you come here. As far as human capital, the early technology companies with links to Stanford created a pool of technically skilled entrepreneurs that went on to create their own companies. Fast forward to today and you not only have a fully developed pipeline of high-skilled workers but a culture of entrepreneurship that is part of the Bay Area DNA. Finally, the support systems are excellent; regional incubators and accelerators have world class services that can carry entrepreneurs’ dreams to reality and many successful entrepreneurs have joined the investor and mentoring ranks.

So, how does Marin’s entrepreneurial ecosystem look? Applying a filter of ecosystem elements discussed above, here are some of our findings: 

Marin doesn’t have recognized angel investor networks like other counties in the region do (funding piece) but we do have successful investors among our residents as well as entrepreneurs that understand the necessity of start-up capital;  

We have a workforce of high-skilled residents that work in sectors like media, technology and healthcare who may desire to start or have started companies. Coincidentally these sectors rank in the top-5 for receiving venture capital;

We have coworking spaces like WeWork, VenturePad and The Hivery, but would benefit from a stronger presence of incubators and mentoring networks;

We have two higher-ed institutions (Dominican University and the College of Marin) that could serve as a talent pipeline with strategic partnerships to the business community;

We have elected officials that understand the importance of economic vitality and the need for good jobs for Marin residents; and

We do have a start-up culture in Marin, including known stars like Glassdoor and BioMarin but with fast growing companies like Waggle, Inc., AdvisoryCloud and Sorry Robots LLC. These firms were founded in Marin but are now serving global markets.

These factors confirm the foundations of an entrepreneurial ecosystem already exist in Marin but relative to other regions it could be considered “underappreciated.” Building up the ecosystem could help residents launch companies, strengthen future workforce pipelines for middle and high skill jobs and attract innovative companies with good jobs. How we build it and define what we want it to look like is a conversation we need to start.

Mike Blakeley, CEO
Marin Economic Forum