Rankings aren’t just a scoreboard. They’re a map.
Dealroom’s Yoram Wijngaarde and StartupBlink’s Eli David Rokah join the podcast to unpack ecosystem momentum, enterprise-value growth, and the business-environment factors that move founders, corporates, and capital.
We read the global rankings with Austin as a live case study, setting its momentum against incumbent hubs to find the signal in the noise.
Three Takeaways
1) Rankings are scorecards and decision tools
They compress noisy signals into a fast heuristic for founders, funders, and corporates. A respected list points attention, shapes migration, and bolsters narratives that compound over time.
2) Which matters more: Momentum or Size?
Enterprise value growth is a cleaner signal than raw funding volume. Austin’s 2017–2024 EV multiple leads the field, which is why the momentum story is durable. It’s big and growing.
3) Three Cities, One Powerhouse
Specialize by city, integrate by region. Austin builds at the convergence of atoms, bits, and intelligence. Houston turns energy and materials into products. Dallas scales with Fortune 500 demand and logistics. Together they can lean into each other’s strengths and become more than the sum of the parts.
Links:
Highlights
00:59 Momentum as design choice in rankings
03:22 Enterprise-value growth vs VC funding
07:30 Austin’s outlier growth among peers
11:15 Rankings: conversation starter, decision tool
23:22 Policy mistakes become tailwinds
29:05 Clusters, super-regions, friction costs
37:15 Austin ranked 4th US, 5th global
42:47 AI shocks ecosystem volatility
44:06 What's Next Austin
Guest Bios/Links
Yoram Wijngaard: Founder of Dealroom.co which was launched in 2014 to provide intelligence about the world’s most promising startups and ecosystems. Before founding Dealroom, Yoram was an investment banker at Lehman Brothers, Nomura Securities and NOAH Advisors in New York and London. Yoram has a cum laude Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Amsterdam.
Yoram Wijngaard: X, LinkedIn
Dealroom: Website, The Global Tech Ecosystem Index 2025
Eli David Rokah: Founder and CEO of StartupBlink, advising governments and corporates worldwide and publishing the Global Startup Ecosystem Index.
Eli David Rokah: X, LinkedIn
Startupblink: Website, The Global Startup Ecosystem Index Report 2025
