Mountain views, multiple tours, so many passionate ecosystem builders, and a dance party like no other… SCN Shenandoah was an unforgettable experience and an amazing way to kick off our 10 Year Anniversary! We want to thank Anika Horn, Debbie Irwin, Ryan Hall, and the Shenandoah Community Capital Team (SCCF) for all of their hard work ensuring our summit had good food, lots of time to connect and plenty of ideas and inspiration to take back to your ecosystem.

This summit was the first rural ecosystem we visited and we were blown away by the incredible collaboration happening across 11 counties. While we didn’t get to experience each county, we did get to know Harrisonburg, Staunton, and Waynesboro and also hear from ecosystem builders from across the region. Attendees got to experience firsthand some of the challenges faced by ecosystem builders who navigate a wide region when we took the bus tour from one ecosystem to the next. 

Placemaking

In Waynesboro, we saw the impact placemaking can have on an ecosystem through the eyes of three entrepreneurs who took a risk on an area of town and built a community in the process. 

“One of the conversations I was most excited about was a fireside chat with Bart Lanman of Basic City Beer Co. and the Foundry, Aaron Mallory of Happ Coffee, and Patt Eagan of Commonwealth Crush. All three entrepreneurs intentionally chose Waynesboro, an otherwise unassuming exit off of I-64, as the home for their brick-and-mortar businesses. 

Rather than opening their tasting rooms and storefronts in downtown Waynesboro, Bart and his brother decided to help revitalize a part of town that - back then - was mostly known for drugs and homelessness. Ten years ago, the Virginia Metalcrafters Building was a crumbling warehouse. Today, thanks to the vision of local entrepreneurs, the building is shaping up as a hotspot for small businesses that roast and brew high-quality coffee, incubate local winemakers and host national music acts with up to 800 people. 

In a startup world where bigger is always better, Aaron Mallory, for example, explained that success at Happ Coffee means building community and people in a cozy coffee shop to spend time in, drink world-class coffee, and connect with one another. Commonwealth Crush, featured in Entrepreneur Magazine for their custom crush approach to winemaking, is quickly becoming the launchpad for a local ecosystem of winemakers and they are striving towards reaching capacity and shipping nationwide, but without sacrificing the quality of their operation.” - Anika Horn, co-host of the Summit 

In Staunton, we spread out to have dinner with ecosystem builders who also build their own communities: Staunton Innovation Hub, Silver Line Theater, and Shenandoah LGBTQ Center. Each dinner had its own unique takeaways, but the placemaking theme remained at the core. 

Our home base in Harrisonburg was also a lesson in placemaking as Liberty Street Mercantile and Magpie Founder Kirsten Moore took a chance on a part of town and built so many amazing spaces. During our opening panel on Day 2, we heard from Peirce MacGill at the Harrisonburg Economic Development, who shared a lot about their strong support for entrepreneurship and placemaking in Harrisonburg. We're so grateful for their sponsorship!

Summit Host and SCN Board Member Debbie Irwin gives Liberty Mercantile Founder Kirsten Moore a Right to Start Lucky Entrepreneur Coin

Finally, we saw placemaking in action during our tour of Manufactory, a new space for light manufactoring businesses founded by SCN Board Member Debbie Irwin.

Celebrating 10 Years

The SCN team had its own surprises throughout the Summit. On Day 1, we engaged in a live game of Cohado, which is an important milestone for us as Board Member Paulo Harris has been working on the development of this game since he joined SCN and it has been a long time since many of us have planned. It was so awesome to see others experience it. 


We had an amazing dinner, followed by a lively dance party. We think we might have to make this a “thing” at summits because man was that fun!

We also revealed our 10 year video, featuring many of the ecosystem builders who have made SCN what it is today. If you missed the slideshow, check out some of the photos our members shared from over the years.

PLACE Builders 

Summit sponsor and longtime SCN supporter, EcoMap, came with lots of blossoming ecosystem builders this summit! The inaugural cohort of eight PLACE Builders fellows, a fellowship honoring the legacy of the late EcoMap Technologies CEO and co-founder Pava LaPere.

PLACE (Pava LaPere Award for Cultivating Ecosystems) Builders was jointly developed by EcoMap and Forward Cities. The fellowship is inspired by EcoMap’s forever “Chief Ecosystem Officer” LaPere, and is a tribute to her legacy of fighting for equal access to opportunity.

We thoroughly enjoyed learning about each fellow throughout the summit and can’t wait to see where they go from here! Learn more about the fellowship and how you can support it here.

Leveraging the community for problem solving

Another powerful thing we did during the Summit was host a “Local Challenge Morning.” Summit Host Anika Horn brought this idea to us to collectively solve for challenges happening in the Shenandoah Valley that are likely happening in other ecosystems. The community came with eight challenges and local ecosystem builders facing them, and we broke up into groups to have roundtable discussions and problem solve. It was amazing to see the collective sharing of knowledge and problem solving happen over the course of the morning. We even saw one local challenge come to life. The Staunton Black Business Collective was officially announced weeks after our Spring Summit.



Summit Numbers

We loved this recap Summit Host Anika Horn pulled together about the summit, so we’re going to drop it below (along with some great testimonials she collected. Read her Summit recap in its entirety here.

  • 127 registered attendees from as far away as Oregon, Texas, Florida, and Michigan

  • 76 participants in the Metalcrafters Tour in Waynesboro

  • 12 Dragon hunters

  • 11 Roses & Thorns sessions

  • 10 Peer learning roundtables 

  • 3 Community Dinners with Locals

  • 2 JMU buses to tour the Shenandoah Valley

“As the founder of a Nonprofit Organization, I’ve had the privilege of attending numerous conferences and summits, but the SCN Summit was truly a standout experience. The Summit’s focus on inclusive entrepreneurship and fostering collaboration resonated deeply with my own organization’s mission.” - Keisha Nicholson, Founder of Love Forward Foundation & representative of the Staunton Black Business Collective

“I thoroughly enjoyed the Startup Champions Network summit! The opportunity to meet and learn from other ecosystem builders was amazing. The summit provided a great balance of networking/socializing time with interactive, informational sessions. There were many takeaways, but one that stands out is the game we played - Cohado from Paulo Gregory. The game reinforces the mindset and skills needed to partner, collaborate, and strategize to win. Building ecosystems and communities is not a zero-sum game!” - Peirce Macgill, Deputy Director, Harrisonburg Economic Development

Thank you, Summit Sponsors