This continues our series of blog posts recapping our QuickLaunch University webinar on VC investing and what to expect in 2018. If you missed the first three posts in this series, you can catch up on our Launch Blog.

Investor Perspectives—Venture Fundraising in 2018

Investor Perspectives—Industries to Watch in 2018

Investor Perspectives—Corporate Venture Capital

Many entrepreneurs consider growing their business in hot startup markets on the east and west coasts for easy access to investors and other experts in the startup community—specifically in tech hubs like Silicon Valley, New York and Boston. However, in today's connected world, does location still matter? During our QuickLaunch University webinar with leading VC investors, we asked our panelists to share their perspectives on this issue.

"We have offices in Boston, New York, San Francisco and we're focused on these markets. But I have deals based in Barcelona, Berlin and Africa. We're finding product-focused, customer-first-focused entrepreneurs in interesting areas geographically and you can build these companies anywhere. There are a lot of promising, fast-growing companies in other parts of the world. Silicon Valley is still an obvious hub, but there's a lot of opportunity in a lot of different places." Alex Finkelstein, Spark Capital

"We have offices in New York, DC and San Francisco and we're also doing deals all around the world. I'm spending a lot of time in the Southeast where there's great engineering talent. I think you'll see great companies being founded everywhere, not just the Bay Area. As there are more successful software companies, folks from the Bay Area and from New York are moving back to home states to be closer to family—and they bring their experience and knowledge back with them. Looking forward, I don't think that the coasts will have a monopoly on innovation or successful startups." Vanessa Larco, NEA

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