The Wrong Way To Think About Competition In Entrepreneurship

If you’re an entrepreneur looking to launch your startup, should you locate in Paris or Berlin? San Francisco or Boulder? Santiago or Brasília?

It’s a trick question. As I tell my students, the second rule of entrepreneurship is always make sure you are answering the right question – which is not necessarily the one being asked.

(Rule number one is that all rules are optional to entrepreneurs.)

The question of Paris or Berlin presupposes that choosing an entrepreneurship community is like a World Cup match, with clear winners and losers. The idea is that each time one region gets better, another gets worse, so after a certain amount of time, there will be a handful of “good” places and a bunch of “bad” places for startups. Avoid the bad places, stick to the good, and your startup will be set for life, regardless of industry.