I think making the LA startup ecosystem great comes down to two words.
Culver City.
“Making LA a great startup hub” is too vague and broad. Just like no one says “let’s build a kick-ass CRM tool”, we need to be much more specific and start by focusing on a smaller area.
Why Culver City?
It’s walkable, has many great cafes and restaurants (perfect meeting spots), and already has a healthy concentration of startups and founders.
The biggest challenge for LA as a startup hub is its sprawl. Everything is too spread out. In LA, you rarely bump into people. Someone in Beverly Hills and someone in El Segundo might as well live in different cities. Orange County could be another planet.
But bumping into people, or smart people being condensed in a small area, is a critical element of any successful startup ecosystem. SF has Cerebral Valley. Boston has Kendall Square. Everywhere in Manhattan is walkable, or a short subway ride away.
Culver City is LA’s Kendall Square, IMO. It’s walkable, bike-friendly, and small enough that you can actually run into people. It’s also right next to Playa Vista, which already has a booming startup and tech ecosystem, making it easy for activities to spill over.
Santa Monica is supposed to be the “Silicon Beach” city but I think it’s too far out and lately been suffering from issues like homelessness.
If we want to make LA startup ecosystem great, we need our version of Kendall Square, and I think the best candidate is Culver City.