By: Courtney Klein, co-founder and CEO of SEED SPOT This guest post is the first in a series by Kauffman Foundation grantees and other partners sharing insights on entrepreneurship diversity and inclusion. These timely topics will be discussed at this year’s Mayors Conference on Entrepreneurship, Dec. 1-2, in St. Petersburg, Florida. There has been a lot of pressure in recent years for cities to emulate Silicon Valley. If you Google “the next Silicon Valley,” you will find hundreds of articles listing different cities as the next Silicon beach, desert, forest, etc. Being the mayor of a city is like being the CEO of a startup in a constant cycle of iteration, failure and success. Just like business leaders, mayors have to look at market trends and high impact opportunities while adapting to constant change, stakeholder pressures and unexpected crisis. Yet, any good startup CEO knows that the only way to ensure long-term success is to align unique assets with market demand. How does that philosophy convert when you are the mayor of a city that aspires to become the next Silicon Valley? Own what only you can own. Stop trying to become the next Silicon Valley. While Alicia Keys may be the driving voice behind the “do you” mantra these days, there is truth in owning what is uniquely yours. Silicon Valley has a corner on the capital market, but money alone does not build strong companies. A strong business model is key, and more cities should be helping entrepreneurs…
Read More: How Cities can Become Better Than the Next Silicon Valley