There are almost no basements in California (a basement's purpose is to protect the foundation from shifting during the winter freeze-thaw cycle). Considering how much innovation comes out of CA I'd say that theory is debunked.
What about garages?
Functional equivalent of basements when it comes to marginal space. In colder areas people wouldn't imagine tinkering around in garages as it's way too cold.
California and the entire southwest however, have garages; which serve the same purpose with respect to the entrepreneur assertion. So I wouldn't go debunking anything so quickly.
In California you can replace "basement" with "garage".
California has a lot of garages though. Its a similar sentiment.