By drawing on large-scale online data we construct and analyze the time-varying worldwide network of professional relationships among start-ups. The nodes of this network represent companies, while the links model the flow of employees and the associated transfer of know-how across companies.

We use network centrality measures to assess, at an early stage, the likelihood of the long-term positive performance of a start-up, showing that the start-up network has predictive power and provides valuable recommendations doubling the current state of the art performance of venture funds.

Our network-based approach not only offers an effective alternative to the labour-intensive screening processes of venture capital firms, but can also enable entrepreneurs and policy-makers to conduct a more objective assessment of the long-term potentials of innovation ecosystems and to target interventions accordingly.

V. Latora, M. Bonaventura, V. Ciotti, P. Panzarasa, et al., Predicting success in the worldwide start-up network, Sci. Rep. 10 (2020) 345