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A lot can change in a week in the start-up world. Edinburgh was riding high on a wave of optimism after being named . A victory, thanks in no small part to its enviable position in having the largest number of $1bn dollar start-ups per capita – known as Unicorns – outside of the US.

But since then the Scottish capital’s entrepreneurial picture has been up ended, first by local success FanDuel, the world’s largest daily fantasy sports company, merging with rival DraftKings. Quickly followed by the £1.4bn sale of local stablemate Skyscanner, the global travel search engine, to China’s Ctrip. And all topped off with news down the road of cloud-based accounting service Freeagent’s £10m IPO.

The historic city’s leaders rejoiced, as did the rest of its small firms excited by the prospect of a couple hundred new millionaires with deep pockets and experience with scaling up tech companies.

But now, save for the enigmatic emblem of Scotland’s national animal on the plinths of The Meadows, Edinburgh has no Unicorns. And the celebrations could cloud a much more fundamental challenge to the city’s title as start-up capital of the UK.

Without collective action by incubators, universities, colleges and governments to support and encourage the people coming out of these companies, there’s a real risk of an exodus of talent and cash. Many places have seen successes turn to failure as the successful exit of a major company fails to trigger more innovation and entrepreneurship.

It’s critical Edinburgh keeps hold of the expertise and knowledge that has been created in recent years – Skyscanner may have created a number of new millionaires from its sale, but these people have great knowledge and skills related to starting a successful venture, growing it and making money from it. These people need to be retained for Edinburgh to become a recognised world leader in entrepreneurship.

The real question is – what can cities like ours do to keep the city’s home-grown entrepreneurial talent from taking off once they’ve made their money.

Edinburgh’s long had great entrepreneurial successes. In the 80s, Wolfson Microelectronics blazed an international trail after spinning-out from the University of Edinburgh. By the 90s and 2000s the baton had passed to Rockstar – producers of the global phenomenon Grand Theft Auto video game series. And so it’s gone on, success after success.

But the city is now at a crossroads. The major players who’ve grown to make a name for themselves on the international scene and drawn attention to the Scottish capital’s potential have all been sold or merged with other international concerns. There’s a now a very real danger the financial and human capital they nurtured could be lost.

Upstarts Tel Aviv and Berlin are now succeeding in building their own ecosystems to support and attract the next generation of startups. While London and most notably Silicon Valley continue to prove a natural pull.

The latter remains the gold standard when it comes to support networks for entrepreneurs, not only supporting new ideas but providing the funding and mentoring and big business acumen, from the guys who’ve been there and done it, startups need to thrive.

Edinburgh’s network is great, but it’s yet to truly to build the ‘giving back’ culture the California scene has been so brilliant in creating.

But there are good signs. Skyscanner spin-off Yavi has already secured early stage investment and guidance from the flight-comparison giant’s management team, and several successful entrepreneurs have returned as angel investors, providing both cash and mentorship.

Universities, business schools and the government need now to commit to developing and encouraging the network so that money and skills are reinvested in Edinburgh. The University of Edinburgh has a venture which links entrepreneurs to investors and expertise – more of this kind of thing needs to happen.

The Scottish capital has a lot of things in its favour, with a lifestyle and cost of living attractive compared to London. Still, it severely undersells itself. We don’t shout about achievements. The city has more growth companies per capita than almost anywhere else in the UK, but no one knows about it. Where does the money flow? To places people hear about.

The coming months will go a long way in determining whether Edinburgh builds on past entrepreneurial success, or retreats into the shadow of more illustrious destinations.

Dr Ben Spigel, Chancellor’s Fellow in Entrepreneurship at University of Edinburgh Business School. He’ll be speaking at Startup Festival 2017 in Edinburgh on 8 March.