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Visitors to the launch party for Social Media Week Los Angeles at a private club in Santa Monica saw a strange sight this past September: Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti energetically working the crowd. As a New Yorker used to the imperial bearing of outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg, it was a strange sight to see--a mayor glad-handing and schmoozing a social media conference like the head of a startup. But Garcetti's demeanor, combined with a suite of incentives Los Angeles offers small tech firms, adds up to an unambiguous message: Los Angeles wants startups.
Garcetti told Fast Company that "Los Angeles is the creative capital of the world and home to more than 2200 startups. Our diverse population, talent pool, great universities, Pacific Rim location, and innovative make L.A. the ideal city to foster new ideas and businesses." But in order to get those startups, the City of Angels has to tackle some challenges. For one, it has lots of talent, lots of startups, but not so much venture capital, according to the semi-annual Los Angeles Startup Ecosystem Report, published by incubator Be Great Partners with the assistance of Los Angeles's city government and provided in advance of publication to Fast Company. It paints a picture of a booming tech sector that, surprisingly, is fueled mainly by business products, mobile services, and biotech rather than entertainment. Compared to other prominent secondary startup hubs like Boston and Chicago, Los Angeles is lagging in attracting venture capitalists. Here's more
The Geography Issue
Compared to the geographically tidy Bay Area or New York, Los Angeles startups are decentralized...
