Here's a bit of depressing news for anyone who believes that Seattle has what it takes to become a top startup hub. I just spent the past 10 minutes browsing Alley Insider's annual list of the 100 most valuable Internet startups in the world. And guess what? It's not pretty picture for the rain-soaked entrepreneurs of the Pacific Northwest.

I encountered startups from Mishawaka, Indiana (Better World Books) and Buffalo, New York (Synacor) before I found one from Seattle. In fact, I had to scroll all the way down to #99 on the list before a Seattle logo appeared.

That company was Zillow.com, which fell 42 slots in this year's ranking with an estimated value of $60 million. (That's less money than the Seattle online upstart has raised in venture capital over the past five years, so hardly a ringing endorsement).

As Alley Insider publisher Henry Blodget notes, valuing companies is a "subjective exercise" which becomes especially difficult for private companies where information is sparse. (I am guessing that Zillow's new CEO, Spencer Rascoff, would take issue with the $60 million valuation).

Nonetheless, you'd think that Seattle -- which over the years has created companies such as Amazon.com, Expedia, F5 Networks, Microsoft and Concur -- would at least have a few more up-and-comers on the list.

I've been harping on this topic for some time now, pointing out how Seattle entrepreneurs seem to lack a "home run" mentality. It's not necessarily a bad thing to swing for singles and doubles -- mirroring the exploits of Ichiro on the ballfield.

But at some point, Seattle will need a breakout startup success story or two before this region gets taken seriously. After all, it's been some time since we've seen a home-grown venture-backed startup emerge as a serious contender for an IPO.

By my count, there have been only three tech-oriented IPOs in Washington state in the past three years. And none of them (Motricity, Omeros and Clearwire) really came through the traditional startup ranks.

The scary thing about the Alley Insider list is that it doesn't even appear that many groundbreaking startup companies are even in the pipeline. Well, at least, we are better off than Portland which didn't have any companies on the list.

As I pointed out last year, you do need to take any sort of startup ranking with a grain of salt. And there are certainly some up-and-comers in Seattle -- Apptio, PopCap Games, Redfin, Blue Kai, etc.

However, you've got to wonder why none of the top 10 companies -- or top 98 for that matter -- are from Seattle.

I raised this issue in an interview last week with Andy Sack, the Seattle angel investor who is leading Founder's Co-op and TechStars Seattle. He too is concerned.

"I worry about the amount of support for startups," said Sack. "It is just about building up that community, and building up the people who want to take risk and want to grow something. I am nervous that there aren't enough people who are doing that."

Unfortunately, it looks like Alley Insider has come to the same conclusion.

I'd be interested to hear what others think on this issue. Is Seattle really a backwoods entrepreneurial center? What's it going to take to create for Seattle to create the next Groupon or LinkedIn or Zynga?