With the increased penetration of digital technologies into entrepreneurship, the traditional need for proximity to specific locations or large amounts of funding for infrastructure development has diminished. Instead, digital entrepreneurs now pursue locations that provide more opportunities for funding (rounds) and greater social network support. In this paper, we empirically estimate the role of social networks and funding opportunities in a location on entrepreneurs’ decisions to create a start-up in their existing or a new location. We use economic indicators made publicly available by the U.S. government; investment information from CrunchBase and PricewaterhouseCoopers; and demographics, professional histories, and network data from LinkedIn. Analysis of 1,418 entrepreneurs who successfully secured funding suggests that funding rounds per year play a significant and positive role in influencing start-up creation in that location, and local social network density creates stickiness to that location, thus negatively influencing entrepreneurs' willingness to relocate. If entrepreneurs do relocate, we assume that they will create a start-up immediately or delay it only by a short time. In the latter case, our results show that larger social network density (in a new location) affects start-up creation decision. Additionally, we find empirical evidence that midcareer individuals (like millennials) are more likely than early-career or late-career-stage individuals to create a successful technology start-up in the same or a new location. Also, entrepreneurs are less likely to relocate for an Internet-based start-up but are likely to move if they have larger social network density in the new location. This research enhances our understanding of the factors that influence decisions to launch a start-up in a particular location and contributes to the limited literature on technology entrepreneurship in the field of information systems.

中文翻译：

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社交网络，资金和技术创业的区域优势：实证分析

随着数字技术越来越多地渗透到企业家中，传统上靠近特定地点或为基础设施开发提供大量资金的需求已经减少。取而代之的是，数字企业家现在寻求的地点提供了更多的融资机会（回合）和更多的社交网络支持。在本文中，我们根据经验估算社交网络和融资机会在企业家决定在其现有地点或新地点创建初创企业的地点中的作用。我们使用美国政府公开提供的经济指标；来自CrunchBase和PricewaterhouseCoopers的投资信息；以及来自LinkedIn的人口统计，专业历史记录和网络数据。分析1 418位成功获得资金的企业家表示，每年的融资回合在影响该地区的创业创造方面起着重要而积极的作用，而当地的社交网络密度则对该地区产生了黏性，从而对企业家的搬迁意愿产生了负面影响。如果企业家确实搬家，我们认为他们将立即创建一家初创企业或将其推迟一小段时间。在后一种情况下，我们的结果表明，较大的社交网络密度（在新的位置）会影响创业创建的决策。此外，我们发现经验证据表明，职业中期（如千禧一代）比职业早期或职业后期的个体更有可能在同一地点或新地点创建成功的技术创业公司。也，企业家不太可能迁移到基于Internet的初创公司，但如果他们在新位置具有较大的社交网络密度，他们很可能会搬家。这项研究增强了我们对影响在特定位置启动企业的决定的因素的理解，并为信息系统领域中有关技术创业的有限文献做出了贡献。