A startup ecosystem is formed by people, startups in their various stages and various types of organizations in a location (physical or virtual), interacting as a system to create and scale new startup companies. These organizations can be further divided into categories such as universities, funding organizations, support organizations (like incubators, accelerators, co-working spaces etc.), research organizations, service provider organizations (like legal, financial services etc.) and large corporations. Local Governments and Government organizations such as Commerce / Industry / Economic Development departments also play an important role in startup ecosystem. Different organizations typically focus on specific parts of the ecosystem function and startups at their specific development stage(s).
Ideas, inventions and research i.e. Intellectual property rights (IPR)
Entrepreneurship Education
Startups at various stages
Entrepreneurs
Start up team members
Angel investors
Startup mentors
Startup advisors
Other business-oriented people
People from other organizations with start-up activities
Startup events
Venture Capitalists
Universities
Students
Advisory and mentoring organizations
Startup incubators
Startup accelerators
Coworking spaces
Service providers (Consulting, Accounting, Legal, etc.)
Event organizers
Start-up competitions
Startup Business Model Evaluators
Business Angel Networks
Venture capital companies
Equity Crowdfunding portals
Corporates (telcos, banking, health, food, etc.)
Other funding providers (loans, grants etc.)
Start-up blogs and social networks
Other facilitators
Investors from these roles are linked together through shared events, activities, locations and interactions. Startup ecosystems generally encompass the network of interactions between people, organizations, and their environment. Any particular start-up ecosystem is defined by its collection of specific cities or online communities.
In addition, resources like skills, time and money are also essential components of a start-up ecosystem.