Every City Has a Superpower

Why cities thrive when they stop imitating Silicon Valley and start honoring their own strengths

Cities used to treat innovation like a recipe.
Watch what Silicon Valley was cooking, write down the ingredients, and hope the dish tastes the same.

New incubators. A startup week. A couple of a

ngel groups. A co-working space in an old bank building.
Everyone wanted the same thing. Everyone tried to imitate the same playbook.

But the truth is that most cities never had a Silicon Valley problem.
They had a self-awareness problem.

Because imitation creates strings, I have seen the same pattern repeat for fifteen years.

First, the region decides to invest only in local companies. Then they loosen the rule a little and say outside investors can join, but they must invest inside the region. Then they relax it again and bring in coastal investors, but limit them to only backing local founders. Each step feels like progress, but each step is still anchored to the wrong belief.

You cannot imitate your way into a thriving ecosystem.