Issue link: http://endeavor.uberflip.com/i/1202586
Network analysis suggests that the fintech entrepreneurship community in Milan has a unique character, and it can be leveraged to support the sector's growth in the future. 1 6 N E T W O R K A N A LY S I S To identify opportunities in order to strengthen the fintech sector in Milan and to help more companies reaching scale, Endeavor Insight used network analysis to analyze connections between entrepreneurs and support organizations in the sector. Endeavor Insight mapped six types of connections between entrepreneurs and organization who support them: serial entrepreneurship, former employment, mentorship, investment, acceleration or network membership. These connections illustrate the ways in which local founders take knowledge and other resources acquired from founding one company and use it to help launching another. This snapshot of the entrepreneurship community is a useful tool to follow the flow of people, capital, and information in the fintech sector, and identify network characteristics with long lasting implications for future productivity. Certain connections between entrepreneurs drive productivity, while others impede growth. Former employment at a scaleup company with 100 employees or more, as well as mentorship, investment, and support from experienced founders who built or operated companies like that is associated with two to threefold chance of becoming one of the most prominent employers among companies founded in the same year. At the same time, receiving support or mentorship from someone with no experience in entrepreneurship lowers a founder's chances of becoming a top employer. 19 Over time, connections shape entrepreneurship communities through patterns of influence. Influential actors transmit their values through the network. Some networks help good practices to spread through a robust support system for scaling entrepreneurs. Other networks are clicky and dysfunctional. Within these latter, resources do not reach the entrepreneurs who could generate employment and revenue for their communities. For instance, Bangalore is a spectacular case of entrepreneurial success, where the most influential actors — measured by their closeness centrality in the network — are experienced entrepreneurs and where reaching scale is highly valued in the entrepreneurship community. On the other hand, as demonstrated by the case of Nairobi's tech ecosystems, if the most influential actors are people with no experience in reaching scale with their companies, other characteristics are going to be valued in the network, and the community, as a whole, will be less productive as measured by the number of jobs it generates. 20 The social network map across the page represents the employment, serial entrepreneurship, mentorship, support, and investment connections that exist in the Milan fintech ecosystem. Founders are represented with their most prominent company. To demonstrate the importance of networks, all companies in the Fintech District community are highlighted in a light blue halo. The fintech entrepreneurship community in Milan has a unique character, and it can be leveraged to support the sector's growth in the future. There were a total of 101 connections between companies in Milan, but its most influential actors were investors, networks, and accelerators, who are working to support entrepreneurs grow in Milan.