Can you really predict which entrepreneurs will strike it rich? Adeo Ressi -- creator of the TheFunded and the The Founder Institute -- thinks so. And if that's the case, Seattle entrepreneurs should come out on top when compared to their counterparts in Silicon Valley, San Diego, New York and Washington, D.C. (Maybe -- as the Olympia beer slogan goes "It's the water" up here).

Ressi, who is opening a branch of his entrepreneurial training program in Seattle this winter, has begun a scientific test to determine which entrepreneurs will be admitted into the program and therefore have the best chance of success.

According to VentureBeat, Seattle entrepreneurs have scored higher than any other group in the personality and aptitude test. About 100 entrepreneurs have taken the test in five cities. And according to Ressi's data, entrepreneurs in Seattle scored, on average, 2.72 out of 5 points.

That compares to Silicon Valley where entrepreneurs scored 2.66 out of 5 points and New York City entrepreneurs who averaged 2.54. Washington D.C. entrepreneurs came in at 2.42, while San Diego entrepreneurs were at the bottom at 2.26.

Here's what Ressi had to say earlier this month when I asked him about the selection process for The Founder Institute.

"We don't pick companies. We pick people. We don't ask applicants for a business idea. We only ask them for what they are passionate about.... We put the applicants through a combined personality and aptitude test and based on the caliber of their application and the results of the test we admit people into the program. So, what's interesting is, there is absolutely no idea selection by us. We don't care what your idea is."

I am intrigued with the concept of measuring one's entrepreneurial abilities with a test, attempting to self-select entrepreneurs based on personality versus ideas. (Programming note: I've asked the director of The Founder Institute in Seattle about taking the test myself, though I am told there's some math involved which would certainly hurt my chances).

After more than a decade of covering the startup beat, there certainly are some common characteristics I've noticed in entrepreneurs (drive/focus, anti-social/non-conformist, individualistic/loners, brilliance).

Seattle -- tucked away in the northwest corner of the continental U.S. -- certainly has its fair share of folks who have one or more of those personality traits. I've always thought that those traits were tied to the region's history, rooted in gold rushes and boom-or-bust industries such as fishing.

The sample size is pretty small in The Founder Institute test results. But as the program grows over time, and more data is collected, it will be fascinating to see what sort of common characteristics emerge among the entrepreneurial group and how each region is different.

John Cook is co-founder of TechFlash. Follow on Twitter @johnhcook.