Entrepreneurial ecosystems and industry knowledge: does the winning region take all?

Abstract Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE) are composed not only of startups but also the organizations that support them. Theory has been ambivalent about whether an EE is spatially bounded or includes distant organizations. This exploratory study uses a time series all Internet industry initial public offerings (IPO) to explore locational changes four key service providers: lawyers, investment bankers, venture capitalists, and board directors. We find while became slightly more concentrated, providers concentrated rapidly, as center in Silicon Valley emerged. Our results suggest over life cycle, knowledge exhibits tendency concentrate, this concentration industry-specific even greater than gradual startups. As result, startups, wherever they located, increasingly source services from industrial concentration.