#EcosystemsRecover: GOODSHIELD1000

GOOD SHIELD 1000: A Repeatable Solution for All Ecosystems

Amid the small business closings and employee furloughs plaguing communities, there’s another growing problem gaining traction across ecosystems: the shortage of PPE supplies for healthcare workers. Hospital workers are forced to reuse masks, make their own masks, or go without protection while treating patients who have COVID-19 or could be a carrier of COVID-19. 

Ecosystem builders have been stepping up to serve as the connecters among various players who are helping solve these problems. SCN encourages you to check with the makers, designers, and manufacturers in your community to see what they may already be working on. Likewise, storytellers, funders, non-profit leaders are also helping find the resources needed to create solutions.   

One ecosystem builders that has been leading the charge to fix that in her community has developed a playbook for others to do the same. Larkin Garbee, who is a founding member of Startup Champions Network and previously served as Board Chair and then Interim Executive Director, has been behind the scenes sourcing materials and working with makers to develop a supply chain, assembly process, and repeatable solution.

It started by reaching out to the local maker community, where she connected with Indie Lab to offer up her space as a worksite for PPE production and COVID-19 testing and then to the “RVA Maker” group to support efforts around face shield production. Larkin and a few makers who were already trying to support healthcare workers collaborated to find the right prototype. They also brought in a local brewery owner experienced in lean manufacturing. Why a brewery? Breweries have to maintain strict sanitation standards to keep wild yeast and other possible contaminants out of the brewing process.

“We’ve collaborated with entrepreneurs and makers to develop a process where 10 volunteers can make 1,000 shields a day without technical knowledge or specialized equipment at a material cost of approximately $1.50 each, depending on fluctuating material costs. This open-source process puts life-saving protection into the hands of at-risk medical personnel while federal and private resources catch up to the demand,” says Larkin Garbee. 

Once the prototype was finalized and the materials were sourced, Larkin began reaching out to other communities to replicate the process. Wilmington, North Carolina where her sister and brother-in-law work as doctors, was the first place she targeted. She found a Wilmington Mom's Facebook group and put out a call for volunteers. Robyn Thomas answered the call and is now leading the charge in her local community. Robyn has already secured a local brewery as a partner and is recruiting donors and volunteers. 

Larkin reflects on how her ecosystem builder skills have prepared her for this moment. “I have come to realize that every skill, every connection, every volunteer effort I have done prepared me for this moment. People are showing up in droves and willingly answering every call for support. We are collectively stitching together resources at an unprecedented accelerated pace. We are sprinting a marathon of 14,16, and 18 hour days. Everyone is pushing themselves a little bit harder-- but our push is nothing compared to what our healthcare workers and frontline defenders are doing. At this moment, I could not be more proud to wear my badge as an ecosystem builder.”

We are excited to be partnering with her organization, GOOD WORK Society to support the GOOD HEALTH Task Force. The GOODSHIELD1000 playbook is a streamlined process complete with guidelines for anyone to replicate local face shield production in their ecosystem. The materials are already sourced and can be drop-shipped to a chosen location. There are 6,300 hospitals and 6,000 breweries across the United States. Breweries already have a workforce of trained employees who are skilled in the manufacturing process and trained in sanitation. All it takes is a task force leader to recruit volunteers, handle logistics, and raise funds. Supplies will be drop-shipped to a brewing partner where they can be sorted in a safe environment. Volunteers can pick up the box, assemble the shields, and ship to local medical facilities. 

Those interested in starting a #GOODHealthTaskForce to produce face shields should reach out to Larkin at the GOOD WORK Society and she can help you prepare your community to protect those who protect us against this virus. If you are already mounting your own effort, she is also interested in aligning to share best practices  and form collaborations to accelerate learnings and deepen the impact. Also, please let us know so we can share your story, too!

6 Takeaways from the Spring Summit That Matter Today

6 Takeaways from the Spring Summit That Matter Today

Right before many communities shut down because of COVID-19, a group of SCN Members gathered in San Antonio for our 2020 Spring Summit. The theme was “This Is What Collaboration Looks Like.” As we’ve highlighted in previous blog posts, the San Antonio ecosystem is an extremely collaborative one. Every organization works together to support entrepreneurs and help grow the ecosystem. Reading about it is one thing, but experiencing it in person was truly powerful. 

It feels like the summit was so long ago, but the lessons learned during our 2.5 days together are extremely relevant now in this time of crisis. As we think back, we are grateful for the gift of time in person and the chance to brainstorm with ecosystem builders about how we should respond to the massive shifts happening in our communities. Here are some lessons learned that are relevant now.

Making entrepreneurship accessible.

Practicing inclusive entrepreneurship means everyone interested in starting a business has access to tools and resources to do so. In San Antonio, several Entrepreneurship Support Organizations (ESOs) help increase access by co-locating their offices in the public library. 

Day 1 of #SCNSanAntonio is within the public library. Why? Because @LaunchSATX was founded on the idea that everyone should have access to mentorship. If you look around their space, you’ll see a number of ESOs within the space - all within the library. #EcosystemBuilding pic.twitter.com/jIxpJpKe3l

— Startup Champions (@StartupChamps) March 10, 2020

LaunchSA’s mission is to connect entrepreneurs to resources through multiple programs. Their office, located in the downtown Central Library is home to other support organizations whose doors are literally open to anyone who needs help. 

We heard from 10 different ESOs that day and learned how they all collaborate to lift the entire ecosystem up through monthly Entrepreneur Support Organization luncheons. While going to a physical space is not possible right now, one takeaway to be gleaned from this is the ecosystem's ability to meet people where they are and provide a one-stop shop for access. That could easily translate into an online community forum, Facebook Group, or website. 

Lessons in inclusion: The Curb Cut Effect

“There’s a blueprint for a kid that wants to play basketball or football. There’s a blueprint from PeeWees to the pros. But there really is no blueprint for the technology space in terms of how can we access the kid at age 12, age 13 and continue to keep them under your wing and garner the resources you have around them to help them get to a professional level.” - Kyle O’Conner, Founder, Startup Nest

Intercultural Unity (ICU) is a unique offering at SCN. Each Summit our ICU Committee creates a session to specifically focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Our ICU team brought us a powerful session on creating change and culture shifts by listening and being intentional. The session was preceded by an article co-authored by Paulo Gregory and Jenny Poon on Curb Cutting. The piece highlights the ripple effect cutting curbs has had on communities. While the solution was originally built to make the sidewalk more accessible for those in wheelchairs, others also benefit. Parents with strollers, workers pushing heavy carts, business travelers with wheeled luggage, and everyone benefits from increased accessibility.

The Curb Cut Effect is a metaphor to show that adaptations designed for one specific, often statistically small group create benefits for the broader community. As we begin to do the work of supporting entrepreneurs in our ecosystems, the Curb Cut Effect should be applied. Is the support we’re providing accessible to everyone? Are we designing for the group of entrepreneurs who traditionally have the least access? If we build resources and programming for specific communities, everyone benefits. 

Another great tactical idea came from SAGE. The organization brings in professional grant writers to offer support to people in the community who need guidance writing grants for their business or organization. Grant writing and business loan navigation are crucial right now. 

Not so subtle acts of inclusion

During our ICU Case Study panel, ICU committee member Jenny Poon shared how she transformed her coworking space from being 90% white males to being more diverse and reaching a 50/50 gender ratio. This was achieved first by showing up in other spaces and listening and then by making significant and intentional culture shifts. You can read about her specific tactics here. 

One of the things she pointed out was the tendency of the media to reach out to communities they know for stories and expert opinions. More often than not, those communities are white. Right now, stories of strength and resilience are as important as stories that show the struggle every small business owner is going through. How are we making sure the voices of ALL entrepreneurs are being heard? How do we help them tell their stories? 

“Elevate.” Jenny Poon says to make a concerted effort to know your thought leaders across all communities. The media automatically goes to the communities they know and those communities are usually white. #DEI #SCNSanAntonio #ICU

— Startup Champions (@StartupChamps) March 11, 2020

The Digital Divide is an important issue

In our Diversity & Equity in Innovation panel, we heard from three ecosystem builders in the San Antonio community leading the charge to help bridge the digital divide. As we all scramble to adjust to a remote work life, the digital divide has been amplified by those it affects. It’s a serious issue we are going to have to solve in order to ensure equity in our ecosystems.

Closing the gaps goes beyond getting the technology in their hands. La Jauna Chambers Lawson of Tacit Growth Strategies reminded us that it’s important to consider addressing “all three legs of the stool.” Having a device, having access to use it, and having the knowledge to be able to use it.

You also have to address the fear and inherent distrust that comes with technology. Many of us come from a place of privilege where privacy rights don’t matter. But they matter for others who don’t have the privilege of not caring about who’s watching you. How do we begin to build trust so that our communities are not left behind in this completely virtual world we’re living in?

The City of San Antonio is tackling digital inclusion by allowing residents and community members to solve access challenges and democratise city services. This GovTech pipeline has brought diverse approaches to the table and helped cultivate a sense of community when it comes to problem solving.

Fantastic session on #Diversity #Equity & #Innovation w/ @StartupChamps #SCNSummit - the work @Emily_Royall is doing with @InnovateSA @COSAGOV is particularly impressive. A #govtech pipeline driven w/ an equity lens. https://t.co/QKBOQoXgS1 pic.twitter.com/FzNMnSPt0O

— Eric in ABQ (@ewhitmore) March 11, 2020

We solved problems by learning how to collaborate and listen

The theme of collaboration played out in many ways during the Summit. On Day 1, we used Human Centered Design to solve civic problems thanks to a process created by The Impact Guild. Each group was given three random resources and a choice of three community problems to solve: voter registration, walkability, and reading proficiency. We brainstormed, partnered, and collaborated to serve up some very creative solutions with very limited resources!

On Day 2, we got a lesson in listening, communicating, and asking the right questions through Bunker Lab’s CEO Circle exercise. That night, we dug into some real work by brainstorming ideas and solutions to take back to our communities to support them during COVID-19. 

The ultimate lesson to be learned here is this: when we let our guards down and allow ourselves to collaborate to achieve a common goal, we lift everyone up and we all win. This quote from Charles Wooden about the San Antonio ecosystem is still resonating.

“Our ecosystem is like the San Antonio Spurs. No one person typically rises ahead of another. It’s a team effort. Everybody serves their role within the team in order to make it a winning dynasty. Even competitors seem to find a way to work together here and share successes. We see that play out within our four walls, we see that play out throughout the city limits. When you have companies working together and individuals willing to break down barriers and work to connect them to other successful opportunities it’s really empowering to see.”

The power of togetherness

This is a lesson we take away after every summit but it’s an important one right now. We need Ecosystem Builders now more than ever. As an organization whose mission is to support ecosystem builders, having a room (or Zoom meeting) full of you is powerful. Each and every attendee did work to pull down their walls, get vulnerable, ask hard questions, and offer solutions. As a result, we brainstormed COVID solutions, we helped each other feel heard and empowered, and we experienced physical togetherness right before we were unable to do so. 

We want to thank Krista Covey and the team at Velocity TX for putting on a great Summit! We’re also grateful for our other hosts, LaunchSA and Geekdom for providing space and thought leadership.

The COVID-19 Crisis

Next Steps and Best Practices During the COVID-19 Crisis

by Kristin Leutz

All hands in … VIRTUALLY

There is no doubt that our local ecosystems are changing very rapidly as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. We are reaching out to SCN members currently to learn more about how you are helping your community support both traditional business owners and startups. Together, SCN members will help our ecosystems work through the challenges presented by this crisis.  

Please respond to this short survey to help us map how you’re building resources in your community.

Entrepreneurs have deep resilience and know how to respond to challenges in innovative ways. It is critical to support them as we will need their brains and creativity now more than ever to help our local economies and communities rebound from injury in this time of crisis. As we see the impact of COVID-19, many small local businesses are already reeling or closing. Large companies are scaling back in a variety of ways. Startup support organizations are pausing some traditional programs like in-person accelerators and mentorship meetups. 

Entrepreneurial ecosystem builders have already begun to unite to ensure that our communities understand the impact of this health crisis on our businesses. SCN is committed to sharing ways that we’re working quickly to convene and to distribute resources as they become available to entrepreneurs from government, philanthropy and the private sector. Please visit our Facebook page to connect with resources and complete our survey to help us gather data.

We also can recommend some best practices we’ve already seen some ecosystem builders adopting to help the COVID-19 response.

• Convene your local entrepreneurship support organizations (ESOs) via chat. You can help create a knowledge repository and action team for your local ecosystem. There are many resources that are coming online for small business and other business support. Your ESO’s know the needs of local entrepreneurs. Ensure that their voices and needs are built into solutions being created. Include folks like the local Chambers and economic development teams in the conversation.
  

• Call your local and state legislators to offer data and advice.Many state and local reps and mayors need timely information on the real impacts expected by local businesses. As an ecosystem builder, you have your finger on the pulse of sources of this data. As state/local loan funds or other relief funds are created, you can help ensure that solutions are created in ways that are inclusive, effective, and do not create any potential harm in communities.
  

• Advise philanthropists on ways that private philanthropy can support the existing government or public efforts to help businesses and workers. Most rapid response philanthropic efforts will aim to focus on meeting the basic needs of populations disproportionately affected by COVID-19.  There will likely be short and long-term supports offered for nonprofits and for those they serve. Some foundations and funders may be willing or able to help create funds or loan capital to help businesses recover, but they will need subject matter experts like ecosystem builders to help ensure their impact is achieved.
  

• Offer or curate virtual resources for entrepreneurs. As face-to-face events and support may be postponed or suspended, find the folks who are pivoting to offer virtual resources and make sure that local entrepreneurs can easily access those offerings.

SCN will keep members supported through this time with more frequent virtual offerings. We will be hosting a webinar for members next Tuesday at 3 pm CST with Victor Hwang. Register here. Please note, the webinar is limited to 100 people so register early!

Given the pandemic, many entrepreneurs are struggling when our nation needs them even more. Startups generate critical income for people. They provide necessary goods and services. They diversify our supply chain. Entrepreneurship should be a national priority, but it is virtually absent from our public debate. Victor is launching a nationwide grassroots advocacy campaign to make entrepreneurs a top national priority and build a new civic infrastructure for policy change at all levels.

Please keep your eyes on our email and social media as we announce more opportunities to stay connected to fellow members around the country. We value our members and our connections now more than ever. We encourage you to find comfort and strength in one another. We will rise through this together and lift each other up. 

David Ponraj

A Venture That Advocates for More Accessible, Visible, and Inclusive Entrepreneurship Ecosystems

What if there was a tool designed to help entrepreneurs access the resources they need? Meet David Ponraj of Startup Space. He started the company a year and a half ago with hopes to not only connect entrepreneurs with resources, but to create virtual communities with 24/7 access to local resources. Startup Space is all about connecting people to the resources they need to be better business leaders, ecosystem builders, and innovative problem solvers. 

In 2003, David received his bachelor’s degree in physics from his native country of India. Shortly thereafter, he moved to the United States where he was told he needed additional education to have his bachelor’s degree federally recognized. Unsure of how to proceed or what degree to work towards next, David turned to his childhood. David’s family, which he describes as “very traditional community builders,” have spent 30+ years working with and revitalizing tribes and villages in rural India. He realized that working with others was one of his strengths, so he decided to change his career path entirely and apply for a business degree program. In 2005, David began working toward a degree in international business, and by 2015, he had finished both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from St. Petersburg College and the University of South Florida respectively.

During this time period, David also began his entrepreneurial journey and founded Rural Handicraft Company (RHC). RHC was an import and export company specializing in textiles and handmade products. This was a social enterprise that worked with underserved women in tribal villages to train and equip them with the needed tools to be able to earn a fair wage to support their families. This was an empowerment movement that transformed the tribal villages and gave these women a voice and an income that changed their lives forever. 

Unfortunately, after trying for 4 years to make the business self-sustaining, David had to close it down. The women were placed in local jobs so they could continue to support their families and David went to work in corporate America for The Nielsen Company.

“If I had the tools, resources, and community that Startup Space offers, I have no doubt that RHC would have been successful.”

David worked for Nielsen for seven years, but in 2018, he could no longer ignore his entrepreneurial calling. He quit his corporate job to launch Startup Space, a platform that helps entrepreneurs find local resources and connect with their entrepreneurship ecosystem. Startup Space provides entrepreneurs with tools and resources to start faster while providing clients, such as ecosystem builders and economic development organizations, with the data they need to show impact and provide support. Although Startup Space has only been in business for 20 months, they are forging connections in 150 cities. Their team has worked with local communities to map and provide 3,400 resources for entrepreneurs, but the storytelling and ability to showcase local impact is the most important aspect of what they do. Startup Space is free for all entrepreneurs with over 12,000+ users and growing. 

The idea for Startup Space evolved from the needs David encountered when operating RHC and the struggles every entrepreneur faces of not knowing who and where to ask for help. 

“Our partnerships with community organizations across the country enable partners to connect with local businesses across the entire spectrum, from home-based businesses to startups with resources and support services, to help entrepreneurs build and grow their businesses faster and with greater success… If I had the tools, resources, and community that Startup Space offers, I have no doubt that RHC would have been successful,” says David. 

What David believes is missing is the infrastructure that connects all entrepreneurs to all resources in their community while simultaneously eliminating barriers to entry. Startup Space sees itself as the plumbing of an ecosystem. We all know how necessary plumbing is - it’s part of the infrastructure in which we build our homes, neighborhoods, and communities. Startup Space is systematically and cooperatively building that infrastructure for entrepreneurial ecosystems.

By utilizing the data collected within communities, Startup Space provides important metrics for community organizers to review local programming and opportunities. The tool also works with key partners to identify the resources their entrepreneurs need to build wealth for themselves and their communities.

Startup Space measures and collects the metrics that matter most to the communities they serve. Many areas need robust reports on diversity and inclusion metrics to ensure the work is representative of all the entrepreneurs within their region, not just some of them. For example, in some communities, Startup Space is helping organizers identify the greater need for specific support and programming for LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of color. By mapping this information, local organizations can apply for grants and other funding options to increase the support available for underestimated entrepreneurs within their region. These metrics also help community organizers shape policy and advocacy for entrepreneurship.

Kalen Acquisto, manager of The Commons on Champa in Denver, Colorado, had this to say about her work with Startup Space: 

“Startup Space has allowed us to streamline processes and be more efficient at The Commons, Denver’s entrepreneurship and innovation hub. Events, ticket sales, mentorship, conference room bookings, marketing—you name it—all operate on the same platform now!  This has improved processes, but also aggregated all data on 1 platform for accuracy and ease. The greater Denver entrepreneurial community has found great value in Startup Space as they are now able to access mentors, service providers, investors, and fellow community risk-takers 24/7 with the resource compass and live Q + A portal. This furthers our mission to provide entrepreneurial resources with zero barriers to entry, ultimately making business more inclusive and representative of our diverse community.”

What does ecosystem-building mean to Startup Space? 

David believes that building an ecosystem is all about providing support and helping make the startup process for entrepreneurship easier. Despite the abundance of resources, it’s extremely hard to start a sustainable business. After working with hundreds of founders, Startup Space knows firsthand how difficult it is to balance a new business with the challenges of everyday life. 

Startup Space believes that the first two years of a new business’s life cycle are the most crucial—not only for monetary success and the overall growth of the company but also the well-being of the people within the company. David calls this the “happiness quotient.” For example, one day an entrepreneur is thinking that whatever they’re doing is a great billion-dollar strategy. The next day (or even the next hour), that same entrepreneur is terrified that they’ll go bankrupt. Rapidly moving between these extremes can wear down even the most resilient of entrepreneurs. 

“There’s a huge need for thoughtful ecosystem-building because it is how entrepreneurial communities thrive. A first-time entrepreneur needs resources and people. They need a very practical, hands-on approach to getting entrepreneurship access and experiences needed to build and scale fast,” David says.

That’s why Startup Space partners with local organizations within these ecosystems. Amanda Kelly, the Small Business Training Director of the Southeast Kentucky Economic Development Corporation, had this to say regarding their work with Startup Space:

“Be Boss Online began partnering with Startup Space during a pivotal shift in our business model.  We knew where we wanted to get to but were unsure how to make it happen. Startup Space was there, helping us find solutions, answering questions, and even adding options to their platform to help Be Boss Online.  Every time I have reached out to the Startup Space team, they are there—ready, willing and able to help. I can think of no better partner to work with.”

Why David loves SCN

David is inspired by being in a community of practitioners and sharing best practices with one another, which is why he values his SCN membership so much. 

“I use this as a place to learn and talk to like-minded individuals,” he says. “With the partnership of SCN, I can identify the resources in the network, identify what is missing in the network, and through the relationship built by the people in the network they will find out who and what resources to fill those gaps.”

Because of this, Startup Space is partnering with SCN to create a series of podcasts and webinars that highlight the incredible breadth of work undertaken by ecosystem builders across the country. The primary purpose of the content will help ecosystem builders create stronger and more vibrant communities while building smart and aligned connections.

Meg Steuer, manager of Forge North (Greater MSP, Minnesota), and fellow SCN member has been working with Startup Space over the past year and describes the experience as “incredible:” 

“They have listened carefully to our needs and developed the platform to meet them. Startup Space now houses over 500 of our community’s resources and is driving increased connectivity, conversation, and collaboration.”

In closing, David believes that through his mission to help entrepreneurs, he can make a positive impact in people’s lives. There are many factors that affect the probability of a Startup becoming successful that cannot be controlled, like serendipity and timing. However, whatever can be controlled should be tipped in the favor of entrepreneurs through the support of their communities. That is David’s new passion and mission in life, to connect entrepreneurs to their communities, so collectively we can increase the probability of success for our entrepreneurs.

Meet Your Spring 2020 Summit Host Organizations

Krista Covey and the team at VelocityTX have done an amazing job lining up speakers, meals, and activities for our 2020 Spring Summit. So far on the blog we’ve covered Krista’s work as an ecosystem builder and the San Antonio ecosystem itself. Before we descend on San Antonio, it’s time to introduce you to the organizations who will play host to attendees during our 2.5 days together. 

VelocityTX: An Innovation Superhub

Your Summit Host this year, Krista Covey, is the Vice President of Economic Development and Operations for VelocityTX. Krista has hit the ground running in her 2.5 years at VelocityTX listening to the needs of entrepreneurs in the ecosystem and writing programs to meet those needs - specifically in the biotech and healthcare space. 

VelocityTX is an Innovation Superhub and will be one of three sites that hosts attendees during the summit. The organization’s focus is to accelerate the process of commercializing ideas, products, services, or processes, and to guide companies entering the market in the U.S. They believe in protecting the best interest of the entrepreneur through entrepreneurship support organizations - whether incubators, accelerators, collaborative spaces, or angel investors.

VelocityTX is a separate entity under parent nonprofit TRTF (Texas Research Technology Foundation). TRTF was founded by General Robert McDermitt, who was also responsible for turning USAA into the very large, successful company it is today and credited with enacting the seatbelt law that saves millions of lives every day. 

The foundation, which has been around for 35 years, also has a research park component. Years ago, it became the recipient of 1500 acres of property. The research park was not as successful. Fortunately, in 2016 Microsoft bought a large portion of the park, which gave the foundation funds to build the innovation center to continue to offer more opportunities for successful startups in San Antonio. 

TRTF's $220 million investment in an innovation superhub (VelocityTX) was to energize the biotechnology industry in San Antonio and reshape a portion of the East Side. Building One, which just completed is not the only building that will make up what TRTF plans to make an innovation district for the life sciences.

The four acres the land sits on used to be the Merchants Ice site. The plan is currently set in four phases over the next 10 years. The city of San Antonio is supporting the effort with a $750,000 grant and tax incentive for redevelopment efforts in hopes that the site will spur more economic development in the area.   

SCN will be the first organization to experience VelocityTX’s brand new Innovation Superhub but it won’t be the only support organization we will occupy. In the spirit of collaboration, VelocityTX has partnered with Geekdom and Launch SA. 

“It’s not just about VelocityTX. You will get to see three very unique spaces where entrepreneurs can get resources and services,” explains Krista. 

LaunchSA

Opened in 2014 as a partnership between the City of San Antonio’s Economic Development Department and LiftFund, the nation’s largest microfinance non-profit, Launch SA is an entrepreneurship, small business center located at the downtown central library in San Antonio, Texas. 

Ryan Salts, Director of LaunchSA

The partnership was created under the watch of former mayor Julián Castro. The idea was that entrepreneurs need direction and support at the earliest stages but there weren’t any organizations that provide that at an accessible level. The task was to help entrepreneurs but not have the program managed by the city - instead have it run by entrepreneurs.

“Our goal is to not necessarily have all the answers but to help connect you with the people that do. We connect you with organizations on a more structural level to get you the answers related to the goals, questions, vision that you have. Separate from that, we also have developed programming that really fills needs and gaps to support growth,” explains Ryan Salts, Director at LaunchSA.

Ryan says that the organization is nationally recognized and has been able to provide support to over 14,000 individuals in the five years they’ve been operating. They also have relationships with over 100 partners locally, regionally, and nationally and have relationships with over 200 mentors who offer mentorship. 

“We’ve built all of our programming to be focused on share of perspective - driven by the entrepreneurs that are at the upper end of their journey and achievements. It’s sort of a train the trainer model in essence,” says Ryan.

LaunchSA develops programs based on the needs of the community. They take cues from members who ask for or need specific support that doesn’t already exist or is not prevalent enough in the ecosystem. One example of that - which is one of their most recognizable programs - is their Break Fast and Launch program. This culinary business accelerator was the first of its kind in the nation. It helps food entrepreneurs get perspective to drive forward their endeavors. 

“We’ve taken over 120 participants through this program since 2015. About 80% of them are still in business today. We’ve really had an uptick in terms of the growth of our culinary community because of this program in general. It was also nationally recognized by the White House when we started it.” 

Other programs they run include:

• 1 Million Cups

• The Venture Challenge (a goal setting initiative)

• San Antonio Entrepreneurship Week

• Pitch Tab

• ImpulSA (the first Spanish-language program in the city)

Learn more about their programs here.

Geekdom

Geekdom is the largest coworking space in San Antonio and has made a huge wave in the city’s entrepreneurial efforts. Being eight years old, Geekdom was one of the key players in emphasizing the importance of entrepreneurship. 

Founded 2011, the intent was a little different for its founders - one of whom is Graham Westing, cofounder of Rackspace. During the process of trying to found and build Rackspace, Graham realized how much of an ordeal it was to build or acquire the talent needed to grow. In dealing with the struggles of entrepreneurship, he realized he wanted to help the next founder. Nick Longo (the other founder of Geekdom) joined Graham to design an entrepreneurship program at Rackspace. As the two of them traveled around the country and worked on this program, they became exposed to the idea of coworking. The two came back with the idea that they needed to form a coworking space in San Antonio.

“The intent was a place for people to come and work and to give resources to startups to be able to be founded here in San Antonio,” explains Geekdom CEO Charles Wooden. “Over the past eight years we’ve grown quite significantly and there have been a few core tenants to what we do. Everything here is really focused on collaboration.”

Since 2011, they’ve grown to 1700 members and now occupy four floors and their own building. The rest of the floors are filled with other startups, as well as Google Fiber, a Rackspace training center, and Pabst Blue Ribbon, who has their technology department there. 

According to Charles, Graham worked closely with former mayor Julián Castro to help redevelop downtown and reshaping some of the issues San Antonio has been dealing with. He says, “A core tenant of Geekdom is to make a more desirable downtown area for the citizens.” 

In addition to being a coworking space, Geekdom runs several programs to support members. They have a Mentor Week, Pre-Accelerator, and Community Fund.

Cutting Corners to Creating Belonging

written by Jenny Poon and Paulo Gregory

I was facilitating a workshop for one of the first AmeriCorps programs. We were a short distance  from the restaurant at which we were having lunch, and had planned to “walk” down and back. One of the participants used an electric wheelchair. Not a problem, it was just several blocks away. We got within one block of the restaurant, turned the corner, and the curb didn’t have a curb cut, ramping the cement at crosswalks so that wheelchairs can navigate intersections. It prevented us from moving any further. The group went on, and it took the two of us a half hour to find a different route that would enable navigation in the chair to reach the restaurant. This was eye opening. I had never imagined the impact of such a seemingly small thing.

This was an experience faced regularly by millions of folks in wheelchairs before the advent of the curb cut. Interestingly, this advance has become a metaphor called The Curb Cut Effect in which adaptations designed for one specific, often statistically small, group that creates benefits for the broader community. "When the wall of exclusion came down, everybody benefited — not only people in wheelchairs. Parents pushing strollers headed straight for curb cuts. So did workers pushing heavy carts, business travelers wheeling luggage, even runners and skateboarders.” This offers a model for innovation, not only related to folks with disabilities, but for invention and adaptation in all areas of ecosystem design.

During the last ICU Community Call on Diversity Fatigue, Jenny Poon mentioned her efforts to diversify her ecosystem at CO+HOOTS, which was in its early days, 90+ percent White males. In more than 25 years of work with organizations and networks attempting to bridge similar diversity gaps, there have been few who have had the success in changing culture, community and belonging that Jenny and the CO+HOOTS team have demonstrated. Most who have attempted to change the DNA of networks expend lots of energy and time — putting the word out for folk-of-color and women — inviting “others” to the table. This is often how “inclusion” is thought of and described. If you are really about evolving “beloved community”, one needs to move past the paradigm that the dominant culture owns the table, and are simply trying to bring a little color to it. To create belonging, the table needs to belong to all who are engaged. To take that one step further, communities that have been marginalized have always been forced to innovate to survive. This adaptation creates a new and unique set of skills and inventions that are benefits to the community as a whole. It is not a zero-sum game. It is a plus-some process for innovation. This is the essence of the paradigm of Cohado, the game in which the whole is actually greater than the sum of the parts. 

Jenny shares some of CO+HOOTS’ innovative actions that led to real results. Jenny, along with ecosystem builders Fay Horwitt and Michelle Benham from Forward Cities, all working towards creating communities of belonging, will also be sharing strategies in more depth during the Wednesday, March 11th ICU session at SCN’s San Antonio Summit.

In CO+HOOTS with Jenny Poon: How to radically shift your approach to inclusion

“Inclusion”, the hot topic, buzzword that circulates all the startup world. We have been working on this for a while and I definitely don’t have all the answers, but I can say we have made progress. Over the last decade we have gone from a coworking/incubator space that was 90% white male to one that is 50/50 female-male and 40% underrepresented and have made inclusion a priority across our city. 

Here’s how we did it. 6 years ago I looked across our community of 150 some entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses and I saw brilliant, talented business owners striving and growing. Businesses owners who started out scared and unsure of how to venture into their own business, now confident and excitedly planning their next growth steps. Incredible success stories of people who have grown successful businesses through our education programming and community building work. One thing struck me when I sat there admiring all we’ve achieved in 4 years. 90% of our community was white, middle-class men. This just wasn’t representative of the world I knew existed beyond our four walls, nor was it fully optimizing the incredible talent we have in our ecosystem. I also knew this lack of diversity was crippling our city and state by not activating all our people to their full potential. As an activator of innovation economies, we couldn’t possibly claim we are the most innovative space in the nation if our business community didn’t include ALL our people. 

As a woman, person of color, from an immigrant family who grew up in a low/middle class family, there is so much that isn’t discussed in the homogenous communities that we often see in business. Conversations about the incredible scents in Asian food that inspire my design work, or the clever approaches to business that my mother who escaped war taught me, and the beautiful Buddhist beliefs that are great guides for managing people. These vastly different experiences are great resources for sparking innovation. 

In 2014, I decided to make a drastic shift. I decided to make a commitment to inclusion. I broke it down into a several stage approach. 

Step 1. Set the intention. 

I changed our mission. Actually, we came up with a mission (because let’s be honest, we really didn’t have one). We wrote it on the walls of our most visited part of our space - near our coffee machine. “Entrepreneurs, regardless of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status, have a safe place to launch, fail and scale their dreams here. Our tagline went from a “collaborative space for the creative class” to an “Inclusive, purpose-driven workspace”. We put it on our cards, on our website, in our intros when we do events. We said it again and again until it was a natural part of explaining our work. 

Step 2. Set measurement goals and do research

I know so many groups that don’t like tracking gender or ethnicity numbers because it triggers a fear of tokenism or quotas. But the reality is if you don’t measure then you have no baseline. So we literally counted how many women there were in our space. 

It wasn’t good enough to just say we were going to try to create equity in our community. Defining it was important to see that our efforts were returning the right result. We first started on addressing the gender gap. 

When we said “community” we defined that as the greater innovation ecosystem, not necessarily our space. This was an important distinction in our approach. You can’t be authentic in helping someone if your goal is self-serving, so we set goals not around sales, but around how many people we’ve helped. How many have we connected to resources or leveled up their business in some way. As a designer rooted in design thinking, we started with talking to the communities we aimed to support. What are the challenges? Why don’t they come to coworking spaces? Do they know we exist? 

It helped that I am also a woman of color and could relate, deeply and personally. We discovered women enter new spaces differently than men. Women and communities of color said they feel safer when there is someone they know in the space and they typically prefer a direct invite. A lot of conversation was around “Safety”. Safety to be themselves and to be vulnerable. Safety to exist without judgement. Women like being in spaces that feel like home. There was a common fear of not being good enough. Many thought we were all established entrepreneurs who had everything figured out. But the reality was, as we all know, that we are all just figuring it out. 

I joined women’s groups, not to recruit but to learn. From these learnings we tweaked our messaging and revised our space. I worked to build a women’s happy hour event with other women entrepreneurs to understand challenges and be a resource. 

Step 3. Integrate with every touchpoint. 

We took a deep look at the experience of a woman from the moment an individual found us online to when my team received her through our space. From the moment she reached out online to the calendar invite she received and the welcome email from our team or myself. When a woman entered our doors, they were immediately greeted and my team was expected to spend time to understand what challenges she faced. Our goal was to formulate a plan to support them and their business through connections, potentially our incubator program or resources that existed that were often inaccessible or invisible to them. I created a post tour form that required my staff to fill out what the challenges were for the women they just toured. It is now the norm for any tour we give. 

I instilled in my staff the value of inclusion and the importance of spending this extra time to support underrepresented entrepreneurs. That also meant we spent 2x more time connecting with women entrepreneurs than their male counterparts. It wasn’t something we had planned for, but something that we knew was necessary in supporting women and in creating the gender equity we aimed to achieve. It took 2x longer to tour a woman because women actually don’t get asked how someone can help them in their business. The simple act of asking was new. I toured 5 coworking spaces in the last month in another state, and not 1 of them asked me what I did. These little things were small levers we were pulling to shape our community, set the expectation for community building and bring power to women and underrepresented entrepreneurs. 

We had to be ok with spending this time, knowing that this may not turn into any financial growth for us. 

Step 4. Celebrate each other

Digging deeper into touchpoints, we made a concerted effort to celebrate the diversity and inclusion we were building across communications. On our website and social media channels,  we used our reach to feature the incredibly talented women and members from communities of color. We made sure to elevate their thought leadership by nominating them to awards or asking them to be on panels. We focused on how we can provide value, and if that turned into joining our coworking/incubator space, then great. If not, we just helped a female entrepreneur, and that was good enough too. After reaching 50/50 gender ratio, we went back and reevaluated this process for communities of color. 

The learnings were different between women and communities of color. We went from gender equity to race/class equity. Slowly learning more about the barriers and working on how we present ourselves and support others. In communities of color, it is vital to build trust and build partnerships. You can’t do any of those things if you are not authentic in your approach. Communities of color can see right through that. One of the things we have really focused on this year is how to expand networks and provide support beyond physical boundaries. We are doing that by building a global network and online incubator that supports entrepreneurs regardless of location and can be delivered by any community partner.

My best piece of advice is to focus on HOW you can help. Realize we all come from a place of power and we are all just trying to figure it out. Every person that is more advantaged than another has the ability to build power for others which nurtures the entire ecosystem. When we create equity in our most marginalized communities, we elevate everyone.

Maggie Lena Walker

Ecosystem Builders from History: Maggie Lena Walker

Do you know the incredible story of entrepreneur Maggie Lena Walker? She is credited with being a civil rights activist and entrepreneur but she really deserves another title: that of an ecosystem builder.

"Madam Walker" was born in 1867 in Richmond, Virginia. Her mother was once a slave and her father was an Irish journalist (back then, it was illegal to marry someone of another race). At a young age, Maggie's father was found dead in the James River. It was ruled a suicide, however the family believed it to be a murder. Her father’s death left her mother with two small children to feed. The family got by doing laundry for her mother’s laundry business.

“I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but with a laundry basket practically on my head.” - Maggie Walker

Education was important to Walker’s mother and so Maggie was sent to school to ensure she got an education. The night before she graduated from school in 1883, she joined her classmates in one of the first recorded school strikes by African Americans in the U.S. They were protesting the separation of black and white student graduation ceremonies.

Walker then became a teacher and took business classes at night. She had to give up her teaching job after getting married because the law forbid married women from teaching. Instead of settling down as a wife and mother, Walker started volunteering at the Independent Order of St. Luke (IOSL). It was there that she sought to expand the organization and strengthen its services - especially in the areas of education and employment for women.

Walker was not only able to significantly increase membership, she was able to create employment opportunities for women and establish an educational loan fund for needy children. She rose through the ranks to become the "Right Worthy Grand Secretary of the Order" - the highest rank at IOSL. In that role, Maggie founded the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, becoming the first woman to charter a bank in the United States. She also founded the St. Luke Herald, where she served as editor, as well as the Emporium department store, an alternative to the white store where so many were discriminated. The Penny Saving’s Bank eventually merged to become The Consolidated Bank and Trust Company, the oldest continuously existing black-owned and black-run bank in the United States.

“What do we need to further develop and prosper us, numerically and financially? First we need a savings bank, chartered, officered and run by the men and women of this Order. Let us put our money's together; let us use our money's. … Let us have a bank that will take the nickels and turn them into dollars.”

Walker also fought hard against discrimination. She organized boycotts, spearheaded voter registration drives after the 19th amendment passed, cofounded the Richmond Chapter of the NAACP, ran for superintendent of public instruction, and for Governor of Virginia.

Diversity and Inclusion Thought Leaders

Diversity and Inclusion Thought Leaders in the Field of Ecosystem Building

We have a problem in America. We’ve been sold a “dream” - a story that if you work hard enough you can achieve whatever you desire. While there are hundreds of inspiring stories of pioneering Americans who have achieved despite their circumstances, for every one of those there are thousands who didn’t because the barriers were too hard to break through. 

Entrepreneurship is that dream. It’s the way to support yourself, give back to the community, and provide the world with your bright idea. The inequities faced by minorities in the U.S., however, are very real and pose barriers to those with the entrepreneurial spirit. Ewing Kauffman believed that entrepreneurship was a “fundamental right for anyone who had a big idea to be able to bring it to life.” 

And yet. 

• Less than 10% of venture-backed companies have a female founder (Pitchbook).

• Only 1% of venture-backed companies have an African American founder (CB Insights).

• The wage gap between male, female and people of color is still rife with inequality. 

The underrepresentation and disproportionate funding and pay is not just a problem for women and minorities. It’s a problem for our ecosystems and ultimately America. The system is broken and our ecosystems are struggling because of it. Entrepreneurship is declining because of that broken-ness.

“We aren't tapping the full potential of America’s innovation and ingenuity because venture capital has favored a limited few — most of them men; most of them white. -  Jean Case

Despite these facts, the number of women-owned businesses has grown 58% from 2007 to 2018 and the number of firms owned by Black women has grown 164%!  Problem solved, right? Wrong. These businesses are starting despite the lack of funding, and research by American Express shows a wide gap in average revenue for businesses owned by white women and businesses owned by women of color. “For women of color, average revenue dropped from $84,000 in 2007 to $66,400 in 2018, while for non-minority businesses, revenue rose from $181,000 to $212,300.”

What’s worse is that a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City found the reason for the spike in new businesses was “often was poor treatment and the perception of being undervalued in the workplace.” 

These are just some of the many reasons why diversity and inclusion efforts are so important. We need to level the playing field to give access to mentors, capital, education, networks… you know, the things that help founders succeed. 

Diversity and inclusion can be a struggle within a resistant organization or ecosystem. We recently wrote about “Diversity Fatigue,” a phenomenon that comes from push back and non-acceptance of the kind of intentionality you need to make real change. If Diversity and Inclusion efforts are something you are passionate about, or something you know your organization or ecosystem needs to work on, here are some voices in this space you should be following (or hiring). 

Dell Gines

Dell Gines is a Senior Community Development Advisor for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He has developed a national reputation around inclusive economic development, which focuses on using entrepreneurship and place based strategies to develop distressed rural and urban core economies. He has authored five guides and one eBook on the subject. In addition, he is also a noted speaker, speaking in over 18 states and 40 cities, keynoting both rural and urban conferences.

Dell and his team at Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, recently released an eye opening report on Black Women Business Startups. You can follow him on Medium, and also get the latest resources on inclusive ecosystems here and here.

Watch his ESHIP Summit talk on Inclusive Economies below and follow him on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. 

Felecia Hatcher

Felecia Hatcher is an entrepreneur turned ecosystem builder who is on a mission to rid communities of innovation deserts by working with community leaders and government officials to create inclusive and diverse tech/startup ecosystems. She is the Co-Founder of Code Fever, Black Tech Week and Space Called Tribe Cowork and Urban Innovation Lab. 

Felecia writes regularly on her blog, No Introductions. Her LinkedIn article on the Deficit Framing of Black Entrepreneurship is a must read.

You can watch her TEDx Talk on Ridding Communities of Innovation Deserts below.

You can also follow her on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Shelly Bell

Shelly Bell is a Serial Entrepreneur, Computer Scientist, and Founder of Black Girl Ventures. She is among the nation's most sought-after transformational speakers in the DC Metro area with features in Forbes, The Washington Business Journal, NewsOne, The Afro, People of Color in Tech and on Politico Live. Her organization, Black Girl Ventures (BGV) is a social enterprise that creates access to social and financial capital for Black/Brown women founders. 

In addition to contributing to publications listed above, she also writes for her own blog.

You can follow her on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Paulo Gregory Harris

Paulo is the Inventor of Cohado, a game and tool for transforming and shifting perspectives. He is also the founder of the Ignoma Foundation, an organization that establishes programs to address the symptoms of poverty. In addition to his work at Ignoma, Paulo also serves on our Intercultural Unity Committee writing blog posts and developing programs and tools for inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems. 

Read the latest collaborative piece on Diversity Fatigue by the Intercultural Unity Team here.  

Watch his ESHIP Summit Firestarter Talk.

You can also follow him on LinkedIn. 

Fay Horwitt

Fay is the President of Forward Cities and the Vice Chair of the board at Startup Champions Network. Fay realized early on in her career the many challenges facing underrepresented entrepreneurs. She has been working to fill the many gaps in a “system that was not designed and/or inclined to serve them.”

Fay publishes articles on LinkedIn Pulse. Here’s a recent one that is a great read: Moving Beyond Inclusion: An Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Builder’s Imperative

You can also follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Rodney Sampson

Rodney is an inclusive ecosystem builder with a mission to ensure that under-tapped communities have equitable access to the multi-generational wealth creation opportunities. He is also a serial entrepreneur and cofounder of Opportunity Hub where he serves as Executive Chairman & CEO, and a Non Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute.

Here’s his speech at Venture Beat Transform 2019.

You can follow him on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Fallon Wilson

Dr. Wilson is the Director of Research at Black Tech Mecca, an organization that uses data to identify challenges impacting how Black tech practitioners integrate into the local tech ecosystem, crafting solutions to fill the gaps and spearhead change. She is also the CEO and Cofounder of Black in Tech Nashville. 

You can read her research here and watch her TEDx Talk below.

You can also follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

Tiffany Jana

Dr. Tiffany Jana is the Founder and CEO of TMI Consulting, a diversity and inclusion management consulting company. Dr. Jana has been featured in numerous publications and media including Fast Company, Inc.com, and Forbes for their work on diversity, equity, empowerment, and inclusion and is the author of several publications:

• Overcoming Bias: Building Authentic Relationships Across Differences

• Erasing Institutional Bias: How to Create Systemic Change for Organizational Inclusion

• The B Corp Handbook, 2nd Edition: How You Can Use Business as a Force for Good

• Subtle Acts of Exclusion: How to Understand, Identify, and Stop Microaggressions

You can also follow her on Medium, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram and watch her TEDx Talk below.

These are just a few of many Diversity & Inclusion voices to seek out, follow, hire to speak at your next event, or support their initiatives and programs. 

The San Antonio Ecosystem

This is What Collaboration Looks Like

Have you heard? We’re headed to San Antonio for the 2020 Spring Ecosystem Builders Summit! San Antonio, also known as “Military City USA,” is the 7th largest city in the U.S. 

Its major industries include healthcare and bioscience, new energy, aerospace, and information technology and cybersecurity. 

The city has one of the largest concentrations of IT, Information Assurance (IA), and cybersecurity professionals in the U.S. and has the highest concentration of cybersecurity and intelligence professionals outside of D.C. There’s also a diverse mix of nationally-recognized healthcare systems, research institutions, and biotech companies. In addition, the bioscience and healthcare industry is a dominant force in the city's economy. In terms of major corporations, San Antonio is home to supermarket chain H-E-B, USAA, Rackspace, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Clear Channel Communications, Valero Energy, Whataburger, and many more. Amongst the major corporations that call San Antonio home, the city has a burgeoning, rich, and collaborative entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The city’s startup scene is robust with more students jumping on the startup bandwagon to become founders, an increased amount of coworking spaces (27 with two coming soon), and plenty of programming designed to support startups in multiple niches. For example, The Rosie Network helps military spouses become a successful entrepreneurs; VelocityTX programs focus on biotech and technology startups; and UT Health San Antonio’s new TechNovum technology commercialization accelerator helps faculty researchers interested in developing their inventions for the market.  

San Antonio has unique, diverse capabilities between its growing number of entrepreneurs in multiple sectors. According to Startup San Antonio, the startup scene also saw more investor interest last year, which is a great sign of ecosystem growth. In fact, Summit partner Geekdom is one who committed more capital to local startups in 2019 out of its Geekdom Fund. Here’s a look at Startups San Antonio’s Ecosystem Map.

Collaboration in San Antonio

One unique trait among ecosystem players in San Antonio is collaboration. According to Summit host Krista Covey, that’s a strength that can sometimes be a challenge for entrepreneurs who are trying to navigate the ecosystem. 

"We have a lot of collaboration. We’ve got a lot of people who just love to work together. In recent years, it has become crowded in some respects, making it challenging for entrepreneurs to navigate through to find their pathway to success. We can help mitigate that, however with collaboration by the entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs). If the ESOs work together and make it easier for the entrepreneur to find the right resources, it’s a win for everyone, and they don’t waste their time on programs (or bad actors) that are not a good fit for growing their ventures.”

San Antonio has a robust Entrepreneur support organization (ESO) network that gets together to discuss challenges and opportunities regularly. 

“[We] get together once a month and talk about our challenges and opportunities even though we have different programs - it’s almost like ‘Co-opetition’. We’re all friends and we all work so well together. I think that that really does so much good for our ecosystem.”

Ryan Salts, Director at Launch SA says that nothing that is done in San Antonio is done without some level of partnership. 

“We do our best to collaborate with each other as the scene isn’t huge but if we work more in unison then we have better exiters and participants within it.” 

He describes the ecosystem as having a “small town feel” despite being the 7th largest city. 

“With small towns,” he explains, “you have this comradery and community buy in where everyone wants to support and help. You can have conversations with people at the upper end of our business ecosystem. They are only one or two people away and they are more than willing to share their insights. It’s the way that we’ve been able to build such a strong mentorship community because the citizens that are here are willing to participate. We all buy into this idea that rising tides lift all boats. If we can work together in unison to support each other, that creates more wealth to spread rather than seeing each other as competitors.”

[Photo credit Launch SA - #SAEW Mentor Rounds Event]

Charles Woodin, CEO of Geekdom compares the city’s collaborative spirit to its pro basketball team, “The biggest strength in this ecosystem is that our city’s culture seems to play like its sports team.” 

Compared to the San Antonio Spurs, San Antonio is...

Oddly enough, when interviewing our Summit partners both compared the ecosystem to the city’s beloved basketball team, The San Antonio Spurs.

“No one person typically rises ahead of another,” says Charles. “It’s a team effort. Everybody serves their role within the team in order to make it a winning dynasty. Even competitors seem to find a way to work together here and share successes. We see that play out within our four walls, we see that play out throughout the city limits. When you have companies working together and individuals willing to break down barriers and work to connect them to other successful opportunities it’s really empowering to see.”

Ryan frames it a little differently to show the city’s strengths and weaknesses, “The San Antonio Spurs have been known for being boring yet they go about their business and do pretty well most years. For the past decade they’ve been one of the top achieving teams in the nation. That’s a really easy way to see San Antonio. You don't really have to know much about us but we tend to go about our day and do really amazing things. For what it’s worth I guess we don’t see much need to talk about it. That can be a gift and a curse. It would be great if more people knew how great we were but on the other end it’s great that they don't know because we can keep going forward.”

San Antonio collaboration on display

“I was in the military for over 8 years and traveled throughout the country and I’ve never seen a city that was as unique as this when it came to businesses working together,” Charles Woodin.

This year’s Summit theme is centered around collaboration. What it looks like, how to foster it, and what outcomes should be expected in a healthy ecosystem. In true collaborative form, Krista and the planning team have worked with Launch SA and Geekdom to provide three different locations - one for each day of the summit.

“We have a lot of collaboration going on in San Antonio. Summit attendees should expect to see good examples of what collaboration looks like so they can be inspired to take some things we are doing here back to their own communities,” says Covey.

In addition to diving deep to see that San Antonio collaboration first hand through case studies, panels, and workshops, we will all have a chance to form our own collaborations - through conversations and through our Day 3 activity facilitated by several SCN members. You will get a chance to partner up with other like minded members to create action plans related to topics you are passionate about within your ecosystem or within SCN. 

“I think with most of these conferences you hope to take away something tangible but really I think it’s about bolstering your network and knowing who can call on later if you have questions. That's the inherent value.”

Do you have your ticket to the Spring Summit yet? Get it here.

Economic Gardening in San Antonio, Texas

Starting, growing, and cultivating are all skill sets Krista Covey has mastered over the years. Her professional career began in commercial finance where she managed an extensive lending portfolio. She also started and grew her own finance business that she profitably exited before working for other lenders in Florida. Her path in finance led her to a position as the Economic Development Manager for the Pasco Economic Development Council where she managed a micro-loan fund for early-stage and small businesses that could not access traditional sources of capital. It was there that she discovered her love for working with and supporting entrepreneurs. 

“I just loved it. I loved the bottom up approach to economic development and working with entrepreneurs. I love seeing them reaching their milestones. That’s truly where I get my warm fuzzies. When my entrepreneurs come to me and say ‘Krista, we just made this big sale!’ or ‘We got this new opportunity!’ That’s truly what I love about the work that we do,” says Krista.

Krista did a lot to grow and cultivate the ecosystem of Pasco County. She started two innovation centers with incubators in the Tampa Bay Area, started the SMARTstart Business Incubator program (which more than doubled in size and expanded to two locations within a year), coordinated an Entrepreneur Assistance network to provide free help for small businesses, and managed the Economic Gardening program for established high-growth businesses (among other things).

The Economic Gardener

If you look at her extensive resume of credentials, you’ll notice that she’s certified in “Economic Gardening.” After diving into her career, it’s evident that Krista is the epitome of an economic gardener. Economic Gardening is the belief that you should “grow your own” entrepreneurs. It’s understanding your community, the assets that are already there, and the individuals that spur growth. It’s knowing who the job creators and problem solvers are and where the economic opportunities are within your own community and then getting people connected and working together (sounds like entrepreneurial ecosystem building, right?).

“It’s essentially a bottom up approach to economic development. Traditionally economic development can sometimes mean that you are recruiting companies from outside the area that you represent. So if I’m in Florida, I’m recruiting companies from everywhere except for Florida. But really I’m just stealing another communities’ assets and resources and bringing them to my space. It costs taxpayer dollars, is a really long sales cycle, and there’s no guarantee that it’s going to work. There’s a much better approach to economic development in my mind where you can grow your own.” 

The concept goes beyond just growing new entrepreneurs and startups. It works to support what Krista calls “Second Stage Companies.” 

“In economic gardening there are different programs to serve different companies at different stages. So it’s not just about growing your own but it’s also serving them throughout the life of the company so they stay in the community as well. Traditional programs we’re familiar with like acceleration and incubation are great and really important but there’s this other layer of programming to support what I refer to as second stage companies as well. They’ve typically been in business for 5 years, have a C Suite, are scalable and sustainable. How do we continue to help them?”

Her New Garden in San Antonio

After six years of growing and cultivating the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Pasco County and loving it, Krista was ready for a change. She was recruited to San Antonio to help build a community for entrepreneurs in the life sciences and biosciences and technology and support the existing work that was already being done. 

“I felt like the community that I was serving had grown at a stage where it wouldn’t fall apart. So I felt like the timing was really good,” explains Krista.

Krista is the Vice President of Economic Development and Operations for VelocityTX, a separate entity under parent nonprofit TRTF (Texas Research Technology Foundation). In 2016, TRTF sold a large portion of land on their research park to Microsoft. Wanting to be good stewards of the money, TRTF decided to build the innovation center to continue to offer more opportunities for successful startups in San Antonio. 

“That was really the birth of Velocity. I was asked to come build the Velocity program.”  

VelocityTX is a hub where entrepreneurs can access capital, mentors, executives, scientists, deal flow, specialized manufacturing, and other resources that will help them grow. Its campus occupies six acres and building one’s redevelopment (where our summit will be), has just completed.  

TRTF invested $220 million in the project with the hopes of energizing the biotechnology industry in San Antonio. The super hub will have an accelerator, incubator, and investment fund, 25 offices, eight labs, and classroom space for biomedical job training. The company also plans to add more on the six acre footprint with a $750,000 grant and another tax incentive from the City of San Antonio that will turn into a three-building “innovation center” for tech, life sciences, and other businesses. This will hopefully reshape the East Side and bring more restaurants, commercial development, and housing to the area.

During construction of VelocityTX

As for the VelocityTX offerings, Krista has been hard at work listening to the needs of the community and writing programs to support them.

“We have an Incubator program for companies that need office space. We also have an ideation program (Velocity360). We have a myriad of other great resources to help startups in San Antonio. We’re launching a 16- week health accelerator this year called the Human Health Accelerator focused on biotech companies. We also have Velocity Growth, a program for second stage companies. Companies that might have been in our portfolio that we’ve invested in or they might be companies that want to continue to grow and scale. We provide services like executive round tables.” 

Coopetition

There is no lack of support for entrepreneurs in San Antonio. In fact, one the ecosystem’s biggest challenges, according to Krista, is the duplicitous nature of a crowded ecosystem where everyone wants to collaborate. 

“We’ve got a lot of people who just love to work together, it gets really crowded sometimes.”

But that’s a good challenge because collaboration is actually one of San Antonio’s strengths. In fact, one of the best things that has happened in Krista’s ecosystem building career is the Entrepreneur Support Organization that has been developed.  

“I love our ESO partnership. We have these Entrepreneur support organization luncheons where everyone we can find that is supporting entrepreneurs in some way will get together once a month and talk about our challenges and opportunities together even though we have different programs - it’s almost like ‘Co-opetition’. We’re all friends and we all work so well together. I think that that really does so much good for our ecosystem. I’d say that’s probably one of the best things. I’m just really proud of the collaboration that happens here in San Antonio.”

Coopetition. What a great word! It’s crowded out there, but nobody is really choking anyone out. Instead, they all work collaboratively. It’s one thing our Spring Summit attendees should expect to see. In fact, our Summit theme is “This is What Collaboration Looks Like.”

Why She’s a Member of SCN

Krista is currently our Summit Host, but when she’s not planning a Summit, she serves on the Membership committee and has been a member for four years.

“I really feel SCN serves an important role of supporting the individual ecosystem builder. I truly believe that when I’ve gone to summits when I have interactions with SCN members I am truly engaging with my people. We all speak the same language, we can all talk about the real issues. There’s no explaining the work that we do, we just dive right into the issues because we’re all in the same boat.” 

National Entrepreneurship Month in Maine

November was National Entrepreneurship Month, and how!

The following blog post was written by SCN Member Martha Bentley. Martha works in Small Business and Entrepreneurial Development at Maine Department of Economic and Community Development and also serves on our ICU Committee.

“Entrepreneurs doing amazing things are all over our great state

and those who support, champion and invest in Maine’s entrepreneurs pulled out the stops to celebrate them this month.”

- Martha Bentley

The word “entrepreneur” is a mouthful.  According to the internet, the concept was created in 1800 by the French economist John-Baptiste Say - “The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield.”

And isn’t that just what Maine’s economy needs? More folks who take an idea and make it into something of higher value for our economy and our communities?

November was National Entrepreneurship Month in recognition of the contributions that entrepreneurs make to our country.  And wow did the activities happening in Maine reflect this designation.  Entrepreneurs doing amazing things are all over our great State and those who support, champion and invest in Maine’s entrepreneurs pulled out the stops to celebrate them this month. And, psst, it wasn’t just in Portland.

There were three big events, back-to-back, celebrating entrepreneurship in Maine last month.  The first was the Maine Community Foundation’s Invest in Maine Summit in Bangor on November 13th  with the theme is “Maine Grown: Building a Future on Big Ideas” .

Photo Courtesy of Maine Community Foundation

This event was significant for Maine.  The confluence of entrepreneurship and philanthropy is important for us.  That all Mainers are benefit from supporting Maine’s entrepreneurs, and the recognition that a strong economy is part of the solution to problems philanthropy seeks to solve, is a welcome and important message. The Community Foundation’s production, Maine Grown, featuring both entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders, was a lasting contribution.

The second event was Blitz Bangor.  Blitz is a homegrown conference held in multiple locations in downtown Bangor. The conference is for founders, side hustlers, makers, scalable and corporate entrepreneurs, providing a time for everyone to connect, learn and engage. Blitz supports the entrepreneurial ecosystem for all in the great Bangor area and reflects the tireless efforts of many leaders to build a strong network of community support for owners of young businesses in this region.

Photo courtesy of Blitz Bangor

3rd Annual Central Maine Converge and Connect Weekend took place November 15th and 16th in Waterville at Thomas College. This event focused on elevating the innovative, entrepreneurial and revenue potential of Central Maine's people and businesses.  It culminated in the opportunity to attend the preliminary round of the Greenlight Maine Collegiate Challenge, Maine’s own kinder and gentler “Shark Tank”, that gives Maine college student entrepreneurs a chance to be on the next season and compete for $25,000 and other supports that encourage the businesses to stay in Maine after graduation.

Photo Courtesty of Thomas College

So, three events in three days celebrating Maine’s entrepreneurs – those who put it all on the line to follow their dreams and start something.

If this wasn’t enough, the State of Maine itself weighed in on the Month, awarding sixteen grants for $200,000 to coworking and other collaborative work spaces across Maine.

“Attracting talented people to live and work in Maine, especially in rural communities across our state, is critical to expanding our economy and building a better future for our state.”

— Governor Janet Mills

“Coworking spaces create community hubs that foster the flexibility and ingenuity employers and employees need to work in our 21st century economy. I look forward to the economic and community development these grants will support.”

“Collaborative work spaces are part of the future of work, building community and connection for early-stage entrepreneurs, free-lancers, and remote workers. They foster dreaming, sharing, iteration, and risk-taking through their energy, density of people, and community-building activities.” Department of Economy and Community Development Commissioner Heather Johnson said, “In addition, coworking spaces are at the nexus of multiple areas of economic strategy – they are among the amenities that can be offered to tourists, they serve as a hub of information and community for remote workers, and they serve as a signal to entrepreneurs and new businesses that a community understands the value of connection.”

The sixteen spaces will come together as Maine’s first “Coworking CoDesign Cohort” to design together the future of collaborative work space and ecosystem building in Maine.  Through my engagement with Startup Champions Network, I was able to source ecosystem builders nationally, who are experienced in the field of community driven coworking models. It was indeed a good month!

“I was impressed with the range of coworking offerings across of the state of Maine that provided creative and unique solutions to driving entrepreneurship in communities of all shapes and sizes. I am eager to follow the journey of this initiative and share Maine’s unique solution to statewide ecosystem building with other states across the country. This is an excellent model for other states to adopt as they think about innovative approaches to entrepreneurial ecosystem building.”

— Larkin Garbee, Interim Executive Director, Startup Champions Network and CoFounder of WORK & FRIENDS

“It was inspiring look at all the different coworking spaces and see their passion and ideas regardless of  size and scope. But the best part was seeing four SCN members come together for one, statewide initiative. Funding, strategy, and implementation. This was the perfect reflection of what SCNs purpose is - to connect people. We came together to help 16 coworking spaces in Maine get funded. ”

— Chris Cain, SCN Communications Co-Chair, Chief Experience Officer at Alternatives Federal Credit Union

November Is Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month, a month dedicated to honoring the North America’s first people. There are 573 federally recognized tribes in the United States. Despite the multiple barriers Native American entrepreneurs face (financing, geographic isolation and deeply ingrained discrimination), Native entrepreneurship is still on the rise. How are you supporting Native American Entrepreneurs within your ecosystem? Here are some resources to check out:

• This map will tell you who’s land you occupy so you can learn more about the history of your area.

• Here’s a story on how New Mexico is supporting Native women entrepreneurs. 

• This article has resources for Native women entrepreneurs, who are 2/3rds the breadwinners but only make 58 cents for every dollar a white man earns.

Here’s a list of organizations that support Native American Entrepreneurs: 

• Native Women Lead

• Roanhorse Consulting

• Native Startup

• Native American Business Alliance

• Native American Capital

• Native American Financial Official Association

• Women Empowering Women for Indian Nations

• Native Business

• Buy Native

• Indian Country Today

Here's a quick list of things you can do to support Native Americans in your ecosystem, and be more culturally aware. 

1. There is not one “native culture.” Don’t lump them all together. 

Understand that there are over 560 federally recognized tribes across the United States. Each tribe has its own culture and traditions. Don’t assume you know what they are because you read one thing about one tribe. Do your research to learn more about the indigenous people in your communities.

2. Don’t exclude Native Americans in your diversity and inclusion efforts.

People have a tendency to focus on one or two specific cultural groups when creating panels or compiling data. Native Americans are often overlooked in these efforts. Their voices are important and should be heard. 

3. Stop telling people you have “Native American blood.”

Being Native means different things to different people. Claiming to have a great great grandfather or uncle who was Native American does not make you Native American. It’s a very complex and emotional topic.

4. Be thoughtful and courteous at events.

Check your ego and privilege before attending an event hosted by the Native American community. Be humble and courteous. Do your research to understand the customs and traditions before attending. Don’t be the first person to participate or hop in the food line. Do the elders eat first? Are there customs around the food? Understand that you are not at an exhibit. Do the work and don’t exhaust others with constant questions and requests for explanations.

5. Help amplify the voices of Native Americans.

Who can you storytell about in your community? What Native American businesses can you highlight and support? What causes or efforts exist in your ecosystem that focus on Indigenous people?

6. Know the land you are on and honor it. 

Land is a very emotional subject for Native Americans for many reasons. It has meaning beyond ownership. Understand that every inch of the United States was illegally acquired. Visit your local Native cultural center to learn more about the history. This map is a great place to start. You can enter in your city and it will tell you more about the Nations or tribes whose land you are on.

7. Invite elder leaders to your events.

Invite them to attend, speak, or perform an invocation or prayer.

8. Support Native Businesses.

Buy Native. Support Native American artists and businesses and do the work to avoid buying “Native” items not made by Native people.

9. Stop using terms that refer to Native American culture.

Do the research on cultural appropriation and don’t use terms that refer to Native culture. Here are a few commonly used phrases:

• Let’s have a pow-wow

• Bury the hatchet

• Join my tribe

• This is my spirit animal

• On the warpath

• Off the reservation

• Lowest man on the totem pole

• Do a rain dance

10. Don’t tokenize.

Do not tokenize Native people in your efforts to be diverse. Build relationships and equitably compensate. 

This is just a short list of ways to honor rather than silence, tokenize, and marginalize Native Americans. There’s a lot of work to be done in this area. Start by doing your research on Native American communities in and around your ecosystem. And, if you happen to be reading this on Thanksgiving, consider incorporating these things into your holiday and educate yourself on the real history behind the holiday.

Diversity Fatigue

Written By: Robin Breault, Paulo Gregory, Martha Bentley, Andrew Mathew, & the Inter-Cultural Team

“Beloved Community is formed not by the eradication of difference, but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world”

~ bell hooks

In the Zulu culture, the principle of Ubuntu means that we are responsible for each other’s well being. The degree to which we practice building relationships with this foundation, we come closer to realizing the ideal of creating beloved community and expand thriving at individual, community and national levels. We must therefore “SEE” each other for who we truly are, and remain present to be seen.

It is a fundamental value and mission of SCN to expand the diversity of individuals representing all cultures who are supported in ecosystems throughout the United States, and to ensure that economic opportunity and community economic development is activated to support equity, particularly in struggling communities that need economic activity the most. 

True inclusivity in ecosystems requires the intentional development and evolution of networks that spans difference to create cultures of belonging, shared power, and access across all demographics, expanding the reach of inclusion to historically and regionally marginalized individuals, communities and cultures. 

At the SCN Summit in Madison this fall, SCN offered a workshop Stories from the Margins that was designed to help participants connect and begin to build beloved community by seeing each other and revealing their own truths about othering and belonging of all kinds. The goal of the activity was not diversity training or “corrective” education. One of the participants noted, “there is a lot of Diversity Fatigue.” 

Sure, Diversity Fatigue sounds like something you’d encounter in The Onion, but apparently it’s a thing. There’s a professor and consultant, Rod Githens (a white guy in Cali), who coined the term when his research revealed that so many people feel disengaged, unmotivated, and cynical about diversity training and inclusivity efforts. He notes that we’re bombarded by depressing stats about inequity all the time and nothing changes - like, not for 527 years. 

We wanted to take this opportunity to unpack Diversity Fatigue and help our fellow ecosystem builders understand this pervasive phenomenon. To do this we first need to understand the functioning of groups and communities. Often groups or communities are thought of as collections of individuals. While this is true, this perspective ignores systemic realities and forces that play a critical role in group behavior. It is useful to apply an additional lens to reveal the hidden or unnoticed forces impacting groups. 

One approach that is particularly helpful is the Tavistock method (named after the British center where it originated). The Tavistock method is especially pertinent to ecosystem building as it regards the group as a holistic entity that is greater than the sum of its parts. Essential to the approach is the belief that a group of individuals behaves as a system - an entity or organism with the fundamental task to “do what it must to survive.” Tavistock theory talks about subconscious strategies of fight or flight to support the perceived survival of the group. As the identity of a system’s culture is challenged by “others” or alternative ideas entering the system, members of the group take on roles to prevent change. This defensive fight or flight response can come in many forms, one of which is articulated as “fatigue”. Rather than addressing the change challenge directly (fight - attack), the system shuts down to the change (flight - avoidance), as if it is tired. 

If we break down the language of Diversity Fatigue (diversity = difference, fatigue = tiredness), we can understand that the current system or dominant culture is “tired” of being challenged to change. Within the Tavistock framework, Diversity Fatigue is a flight response unconsciously manifested through the members who are aligned with the old system, and who interpret efforts towards inclusivity as a threat. In other words, Diversity Fatigue is an unconscious, passive aggressive, avoidance strategy.

If we additionally apply the lens of Systems Thinking, we can see how the defensive (flight) response of Diversity Fatigue can turn into a reinforcing loop. Diversity Fatigue becomes a form of “othering” that then leads to a need for more inclusive action, which then creates more Diversity Fatigue. And so creates a cycle that accumulates more and more fatigue, draining the system - both the group and individuals - of the energy needed to evolve and adapt. Diversity Fatigue is an extractive force that reinforces the status quo and exhausts individuals and the community.

But this doesn’t have to be the case. Thanks to Dr. Githens, we can now name it when we see it. We can take corrective actions to interrupt the patterns of Diversity Fatigue and stop running from the discomfort of cultural change. We can build conscious systems that have mechanisms to foster belonging through directly addressing issues with compassion, gratitude and pride - not the fear of the other. To do this, we can’t implement another sit and get DEI training. Instead, as ecosystem builders we must help our communities “SEE” each other and ourselves for who we truly are, and remain present to be seen and see. Only then can we come closer to realizing the ideal of creating beloved community. As Rev. angel Kyodo williams notes, “We cannot have a healed society, we cannot have change, we cannot have justice, if we do not reclaim and repair the human spirit--if we don’t do the inner work.”

So for those of you reading this who have unspoken Diversity Fatigue, we see you, and we acknowledge your frustration. We also urge you to examine the source of that fatigue and question the assumptions behind it. We ask that you humbly set aside the very privilege of stopping or stepping away when you are tired. Every SCN member brings value to our community and the work of justice. We need you. 

The work of justice is simple, but not easy. It asks us to transform by putting aside our old patterns of thought and action to embrace each other. So, to provide a pattern interrupt for the 500-year-old reinforcing loop of Diversity Fatigue, we offer you two tools: EquityXDesign Framework and Stories from the Margins. Neither of these tools is a magic bullet, and have the capacity to backfire if competent facilitative skill is not present in the space. So we ask you to use them with intentionality and love. And if you’re not sure how... PLEASE, get a teacher or hire an expert. Don’t ask the one or two “diverse” folk you know to help you - it’s not their job. 

The work of belonging, the work of creating Ubuntu, takes time. It moves at the speed of trust. Trying to force its manifestation is inefficient. It is fundamentally about building bridges of relationship across lines of difference. It is acknowledging the contributions of those from a background different from your own, and perhaps different from what you thought was your ecosystem culture. It is the work of love. Work slowly. Question all your assumptions. Listen with compassion and gratitude. Create small ripples of belonging that introduce healing energy into your ecosystem. That’s the only real remedy for Diversity Fatigue. 

Want to Dive Deeper?

Join us for the very first Inter-Cultural Unity led discussion on a topic that's on a lot of people's minds. Diversity Fatigue. Whether you're feeling it or you know someone who is feeling it, we want to talk about it. If you haven't already read the article written by members of the ICU committee on this topic, please do before you register for this event, as it will provide the framework for our conversation. We welcome all perspectives in this conversation and will try and answer questions like:

• Where do we go from here?

• How is SCN seeing diversity fatigue?

• How do we see diversity fatigue in our own communities?

• How can we apply the framework provided in the article in our own communities?

• And much more!

Join us on December 12th from 3-4 PM EST. Register here.

Meet Vanessa Roanhorse

How Vanessa ROANHORSE IS WEAVING THREADS OF CONNECTEDNESS AND SUPPORT IN ALBUQUERQUE AND BEYOND

In 2015, Vanessa Roanhorse found herself in a position many ecosystem builders do at some point in their careers, with a wealth of experience in many careers but no opportunities to do the work she wanted to do. She calls herself a “reluctant entrepreneur” because she never set out to own a business much less have employees. In fact, the founding of her business was simply a way to separate personal finances from her business finances after landing a contract with the City of Albuquerque. 

A similar thing happened when she co-founded Native Women Lead with seven other Indigenous women. A need arose to build a community of Native women and she stepped up to help build it. But we’ll get to that later. 

Vanessa is the CEO of Roanhorse Consulting, an Indigenous-led organization that focuses on providing access to overlooked communities, specifically for Indigenous communities.

“We support government, philanthropy, nonprofits, and entrepreneurs to help them develop more thoughtful initiatives, programs, and businesses with the intention of making money move more meaningfully towards work happening - not necessarily on the frontlines - but towards work and initiatives that are actually letting community lead,” explains Vanessa. 

The first contract that launched Roanhorse Consulting was working with the City of Albuquerque on their mass transit program. Roanhorse now has a staff of five with clients in New Mexico and also nationally. Her passion to work with Native communities and entrepreneurs has been a driving force for the ecosystem in Albuquerque and Indian Country. 

As ecosystem builders, we all aim to support entrepreneurs in our ecosystems and to close equity gaps for entrepreneurs. While that work may look a little different across the country, what we know is that removing the barriers to entrepreneurship - whatever they may be - is one of the first steps. One way Roanhorse Consulting has done this in collaboration with the City of Albuquerque is through the Navigator Program.

“Our team here helped develop sort of the model, which we like to call the Backpack Model, based off the promotoral work that was created in Mexico for the health workers,” says Vanessa.

A promotora is a Hispanic/Latino community member who is trained to provide basic health education without being a professional health care worker. They are trusted members of the community who work on the frontlines to provide guidance in accessing community resources associated with health care. They work as liaisons to health organizations as advocates, educators, and mentors.

Access is a big, overarching barrier we see across communities. There are networks and resources that are just not accessible due to geography, culture, and language barriers. The Navigator works to break down these barriers to disseminate information and build strong relationships with marginalized community members (just like the promotoras did with health care).  

“We have very experienced, diverse business consultants (called “Navigators”) whose job is to bring all the tools and resources out of the institutions to the community at a block by block effort. That’s why it’s called the backpack model because they throw all this into their backpack,” Roanhorse explains. 

“The whole idea with the initiative was to have boots on the ground experts working with entrepreneurs and businesses and startups in a way that’s customized and puts the entrepreneur at the center. Albuquerque has a ton of robust resources for businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs. The challenge is many people don’t know where those resources are, and accessing them has been much more of an overwhelming experience. And so when you build this deep relationship with a Navigator, it’s no longer complicated because their job is to know what’s happening across the ecosystem and work with you.”

This initial program, which was created out of the very first project Vanessa had with the city, continues to grow. They are working to build an intersectional Navigator program to not only support businesses where they are, but figure out how to build and strengthen new relationships across all organizations within the city to give entrepreneurs the long term support they need.

The Ecosystem in Albuquerque

Vanessa describes Albuquerque as a “working city.” It’s the largest city in the state, and has been majority minority since the 2000s with a large Urban Native American population. 

“There are a lot of cross sectional/intersectional communities living here. Because it’s a minority majority led place, we have incredible heart and soul around the equity piece - wage equity, paid leave, etc… We have some of the best organizing organizations in the country here [...] We may not look great on the stats nationally for specific things. What’s incredible about this place, is the folks who are here are here. The people who are investing in this place are investing a lot.” 

Albuquerque has traditionally lacked investments from Fortune 500 companies and in terms of industry, they’ve relied on oil and gas with most of the job opportunities being in government and healthcare. But that has changed in the last few years. The State of New Mexico has become a film state, and in the last 6 months, Albuquerque has made multimillion dollar deals with NBC Universal and Netflix who are both moving a studio there. On top of that, Facebook has opened a data center and is expanding it in a sister city. The city is also home to a lot of labs - mostly in the high government tech space (like the Air Force). 

While New Mexico and Albuquerque struggle with what sectors to push and invest in, Vanessa sees unique areas of growth for the ecosystem.

“I don’t think Albuquerque is going to be “the” tech hub. But what we will have is quality tech companies and tech initiatives happening, and more importantly initiatives specifically focused on folks who often aren’t seen in tech space like women and folks of color. That’s the place where Albuquerque can really be a leader. But also, small businesses are the heart and soul of this place. That’s why this Navigator program is so important. There will be a lot of other economic businesses coming like NBC, Netflix, Facebook but what are we doing to create or strengthen a wider safety net for our small business community? Because we have a very robust one.”

Vanessa sees the creative economy as a big sector with opportunity. There is a ton of creative talent across multiple cultures and types of creative work. Everything from jewelry created out of high tech space gear to Indigenous marketing and comics. 

“As an indigenous woman, New Mexico and Alberquerque has one of the largest Native American urban populations in the country. We also have 23 federally recognized tribes across the state. We, here, feel like these are our ancestral lands. This is our home. We want to see New Mexico and Albuquerque be the place you want to come and start a company as an indigenous or native person because we have super connected national resources, we have representatives, cultural curriculum and tools for you that are being developed across the state. More importantly, we are working at multiple levels to get access to capital for Native entrepreneurs.” 

Connecting and Building a Native Ecosystem

There’s another level to the work that Vanessa is doing that is both deeper and bigger than Albuquerque. Vanessa’s work to build and strengthen the ecosystem for Indigenous people led to another accidental but very important organization: Native Women Lead. Native Women Lead is a National organization focused on raising indigenous women into positions of CEO and leadership in business. 

Back in 2017, Vanessa was asked to put together a panel for the Women’s World Economic Forum being held in Albuquerque that year. She  brought together some incredible speakers to talk about the power of mentorship for Native Women in business. Unfortunately no one came to the panel. 

“I was so embarrassed. I felt terrible bringing all these incredible women to this conversation and then not even being able to share their story. What started off as a feeling that no one cares what we have to say - that we are truly an invisible community. Instead what happened is we all shared stories. We started asking ourselves ‘Why are we waiting for other people to validate who we are? Why are we waiting for someone to do something for us, why don’t we just do it?’ That was the impetus for what started it. From there it snowballed.” 

In a matter of months, they brought together 70 Native women from across the state, Arizona, and Colorado - who came on their own dimes to help co-create a summit for Native women in business. After that convening they fundraised, and in April 2018 held the first Native Women’s Business Summit, which was sold out with over 200 in attendance. 

“In our culture, you don’t make an offering without following through. You don’t put something into the universe without saying, ‘I’m responsible for that.”

So they continued building and hosted the second summit, which was 50% larger with over 300 Indigenous women across North America including Canada, as well as sisters from South and Central America. Now, the organization is building a North and South American ecosystem for Indigenous women in entrepreneurship. They are looking at ways to provide more impact, more touch points, and mentorship opportunities. They are also developing a directory for Native Women in Businesses to find each other, to hire, employ, connect, contract, and mentor. 

“We know from the physical experience of our events that that magic that happens when these women can find each other is incredible. Since both summits we’ve heard of incredible partnerships from women who met each other and are flourishing. Not only as good projects but some of the businesses have had to hire new people and expand their reach beyond the state.”

Funding for the women in their network is also a goal. 

“Native American Women are 2/3rds the breadwinners in the country but only make $0.57 to the dollar. We are the primary people who are driving our local economy. In the last 20 years, Native American women have grown businesses 200% times faster than our white non-Hispanic counterparts. So women are starting businesses. They’re the ones making the financial decisions in their home. They’re not making enough money and yet still starting businesses. What do we have to do? We have to help them by providing culturally relevant technical support skills, help them build their social capital to access more resources, find a community they can put faith in to share in the hardship and challenges that indigenous women face, and finally, let’s get them some money.”

Why She is a Part of SCN

“Eric [Renz-Whitemore] is THE ecosystem builder. When I hear that term, I think of him. He has put his whole heart into this work. He invited me to attend the Denver Summit and got to see what this was about. Doing this work, I didn’t really know what ecosystem building was. I hadn’t thought about what it was like for other people. I’m just sort of a latecomer. For me, SCN was eye opening to see that there is a really big network of people who have been doing this intentional work for a long time. Who have built this organization because they - just as I realized with Native Women Lead - need to help each other do this emotionally, spiritually and professionally because this work is hard.”

As you can see, connectedness is a big part of the work that Vanessa does - and that we all do as ecosystem builders. Connect entrepreneurs to resources. Connect communities of people together. Connect ecosystem builders to other ecosystem builders… One thread can only hold so much tension but multiple threads woven together can be powerful.

Proximity Space Renews Partnership

We're happy to announce that Proximity Space has renewed their partnership with Startup Champions Network, and is offering some great member perks for those interested in their platform.

Proximity software helps coworking spaces manage their member communities by providing digital door access, conference room booking, event management, membership billing, guest visit and package delivery notification, and controlled internet access—all through a single platform. The Proximity School of Coworking provides space owners and community managers with the training and resources they need to run a successful coworking space.

“The Proximity Network is full of people who leverage coworking as an entry point to supporting entrepreneurs and startups in their communities. Coworking is how they’re attracting new ideas and skilled professionals which are the building blocks of entrepreneurial growth. We’re excited to continue our partnership with Proximity and get involved with more community leaders who have an ecosystem building approach to their network.” - Larkin Garbee, Interim Executive Director, Startup Champions Network

Coworking space owners and managers can save $600 per year when you take advantage of Startup Champions Network preferred pricing.

Standard software price: $99/month
SCN Member price: $49/month

Meet Founder Brian Watson

Brian Watson is an entrepreneur, connector, and community developer. Brian has been starting and running businesses since he was 17 and believes that entrepreneurship is the greatest tool we have to positively impact our communities. His startup, Proximity, strives to help connect the world’s mobile workforce through an innovative combination of hardware and software that manages coworking spaces across the world.

“Many of our customers are located in rural areas and mid-size cities that are assessing how to achieve long-term economic growth. Places like Des Moines and Staunton, Va. are leveraging resources through the Startup Champions Network to encourage new business activity in their communities. They’re learning how to support homegrown startups that create jobs and bring new revenue.” - Brian Watson, Director of Community Development for Proximity

Brian joined SCN in 2018, just before the Fall Summit in Denver and has been a member since.

“As an ecosystem builder, it’s easy to feel like you’re on an island. It’s so refreshing to be surrounded by so many incredible men and women who are there to support and encourage each other as we all strive to make positive impact on our communities.”

Members Who Use Proximity Space

Here are a few of our members who use Proximity Space. Want to know their experience using the platform? Reach out! You can find them in the membership directory (aka Proximity Space).

Monique Priestly

"Proximity Space has been a game changer. We are a rural, grassroots community space and do not have the funds available to hire people to manage billing or to constantly answer the door. Proximity Space lessens the administrative burden of managing a space and allows us to focus on the member experience." - Monique Priestley, Founder & Executive Director, The Space On Main, Bradford, Vermont

Geoff Wood

Not only does Geoff Wood use Proximity for his multiple coworking spaces, he actually taught one of Proximity’s School of Coworking sessions this year. His session was on “Pre-Sales & Building Your Pipeline.”

"I first connected with Dennis from Proximity via SCN member Kyle Ashby and then later in person at the Chattanooga Summit in early 2018. I wasn’t an easy sell—we’ve implemented several coworking management systems over time in our space and I was hesitant to take our team and our members through the hassle of another change—but after encountering problems with another provider we made the change in January of this year. It’s been a great experience so far, they’ve rolled with us in figuring out our best set up (we’ve changed it up several times) and we’ve done the same as they’ve developed their software. Perhaps more important, Dennis, Brian and the rest of the Proximity team understand community, connection, support, and the other reasons why people choose to cowork so the software is constantly evolving in ways that make our space better. Due that understanding, it’s no surprise the Proximity is one of the few tech companies to support the SCN community directly. "

Want to learn more about the platform? Book a software demo with Proximity's team of experts to learn more and see the platform in action.

Meet the 2019/2020 SCN Board Members

Startup Champions Network is proud to announce the appointment of three new board members: Fay Horwitt, Mark Lawrence, and Toni Eberhart. These dedicated ecosystem builders have years of experience are will be excellent additions to our board.

Fay Horwitt: Fay is an ecosystem builder based in Durham, NC who is a Startup Coach and Business Pollinator and loves to help entrepreneurs access the learning, resources, and support networks they need for sustainable business success. She is also an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Catalyst and Inclusive Entrepreneurship Expert, helping communities build inclusive and diverse ecosystems and activities that spur economic growth and social capital. Fay’s current role is Vice President of Community Innovation at Forward Cities. Fay will be filling the role of Board Vice Chair.

Mark Lawrence: Based in Washington DC, Mark is currently the founder and managing partner at Inncuvate Consulting, which is a professional service firm and venture studio that exists to provide underserved communities access to sustainable life-changing opportunities that creates wealth, bridges economic gaps, develops more serial entrepreneurs, fuels community growth and ultimately improves the standard of living. Mark Lawrence will be filling the role of Board Treasurer.

Toni Eberhart: Toni serves as the Executive Director of the Urban Engine in Hunstville, Alabama. Urban Engine's mission is to propel the growth of Alabama’s economy by connecting aspiring entrepreneurs and established business leadership to educational resources, talent, and community.

In addition to the three new board members, we have also appointed current board member Tom Chapman to Board Chair. Tom has helped hundreds of early-stage companies grow. He has worked on product validation in healthcare, software, government, e-commerce, and other fields. He is the founder and principle at Chapman & Company, one of the premier organizations for measuring early-stage ecosystem metrics. Tom is also the facilitator and our newest program: The Ecosystem Health Challenge.

Our Board of Directors

Meet the rest of our board:

Larkin Garbee: A Virginia native and a founding member of SCN who has been a pioneer in the Richmond ecosystem for almost a decade. She is a "full stack" ecosystem building having co-founded an accelerator (Lighthouse Labs), a coworking space (804RVA), and an incubator (Startup Virginia) while also helping curate a local angel list. Larkin was named a GAP 50 Award Finalist from CIT GAP Funds and a Top 40 Under 40 by Style Weekly.

Trey Bowles: Trey started the Dallas Entrepreneurship Center and is a founding member of SCN. He is an adjunct professor as well as a leading member of the planning for Dallas to be a Smart City. He lives in Dallas with his wife and three kids.

Mike Binko: Binko is a founding member of SCN, and the founder and CEO of Startup Maryland, a regional initiative launched out of the StartupAmerica Partnership. He is also the President and CEO of Kloudtrack, a leading provider of cloud-based GRC data and process management technologies and solution services.

Katherine Jernstrom: Launched an accelerator and coworking space in Anchorage, Alaska (The Boardroom). At age 30, Katherine was named Top 40 Under 40 by the state-wide Alaska Journal of Commerce.

Paulo Gregory Harris: Paulo is the inventor of Cohado, a flexible design structure and tool to understand collaborative and sustainable design. Paulo is also the President of Cohado Consulting, a social enterprise dedicated to leveling the economic game through developing models and vehicles for economic ascension of economically starved communities, and the Director of Ignoma Foundation, whose mission is to develop sustainable solutions to poverty. He also serves as Chair of our Intercultural Unity (ICU) committee.

Jennifer Skjellum: Based in Chattanooga TN, Jennifer is a serial entrepreneur of several tech and non tech startups. She is currently the President of RunTime Computing Solutions and the Director of Programs, Managing Director and Managing Director of HealthTech Accelerator at The Company Lab (CO.LAB).

Christina Oldfather: Christina Oldfather is an entrepreneurial community builder in Lincoln, Nebraska. She is the founder of the LaunchLNK initiative. She is an NMotion Accelerator mentor, post-accelerator support programming coordinator, and non-profit operations manager.

International Pronouns Day

International Pronouns Day is celebrated on the third Wednesday in October. This annual event seeks to make respecting, sharing, and educating about personal pronouns commonplace. Referring to people by the pronouns they determine for themselves is basic to human dignity. Being referred to by the wrong pronouns particularly affects trans and gender nonconforming people.

Trans and gender nonconforming people, especially those whose gender is or is perceived to be outside of the man/woman binary, are sometimes harassed and treated with hostility. Intersecting forms of oppression deeply impact trans communities. Together, we can transform society to acknowledge and celebrate people’s multiple, intersecting identities. These actions are part of the larger work of creating and sustaining inclusive and supportive communities for everyone. This is the point of International Pronoun Day.

Here's a quick guide to using pronouns that might help.

Please note, if you are inquiring about someone's pronouns, please do not say, "What are your 'preferred' pronouns". The pronouns they use are not preferences, they are their pronouns. Also, if you misgender someone and they correct you, just say thank you. I'm sorry leads to having them have to forgive you or minimize your mistake. Thank you says you understand it's not ok and appreciate knowing.

Here are some more resources to check out:

• The Pronouns Day resource page

• Register to receive updates about International Pronouns Day

Connection and Collaboration at the Madison Summit

Last month, ecosystem builders from across the country met up at StartingBlock Madison for the 2019 Fall Ecosystem Builders Summit. Summit hosts Amy Gannon (Doyenne Group), Scott Resnick (StartingBlock Madison), Chandra Miller Fienen (StartingBlock Madison), and the SCN Summit planning team did an amazing job creating a conference centered around interaction and engagement. 

“Magic happens when brilliant and motivated champions collaborate.” 

- Shayna Hetzel, American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact

Throughout our 2.5 days of programming, attendees experienced that magic through a number of facilitated conversations, intimate and curated dinners, and interactive workshops. We began the conference by exploring our True Colors, a personality assessment that uses temperament theory to show your true character using four color styles: Blue, Gold, Green and Orange. The workshop gave us insight into how we operate in certain situations, what our underlying motivations are, and set the stage for how to understand and collaborate with others. This essentially became the basis for everything we were going to learn and do over the course of the week. For the rest of the summit, we referenced our four colors in everything we did as a fun way to relate to or understand each other quickly. 

Madison Summit Key Themes

“Trust your own resilience and know that you will come out a better person on the other side.”  - Amy Gannon on navigating conflict

The summit experience was set up to follow three different themes. Each theme had a workshop and a case study to compliment it. The themes were:

• Articulating the underlying logic that shapes our work

• Navigating conflict and leveraging its benefits

• Using improv techniques to craft the structure of our pitch

Edmond Ramly helping us craft better pitches using improv. Step one: punch the air. #SCNmadison pic.twitter.com/z4LUd6R1ee

— Startup Champions (@StartupChamps) September 18, 2019

Putting Madison on Display

“Ecosystem builders build the connective tissue of entrepreneurial ecosystems.” - Scott Resnick

Our Summit hosts did a great job of putting Madison on display. From dinner with locals to afternoon activities, we got to see the Madison ecosystem from multiple perspectives. We were also appreciative of the support of Summit sponsor American Family Insurance, who provided opportunities to learn more about their Institute for Corporate and Social Impact.

Curated Dinner Experiences

“Ecosystem Building is relationship building.”  

Night one of the Summit, our dinners were hosted at three different private residences. Each dinner had a different theme and keynote. Entrepreneur and investor Mark Bakken hosted a group in his home on Lake Mahona to talk about his journey from entrepreneur to investor. Nyra Jordan, the Social Impact and Investment Director at American Family’s Institute for Corporate and Social Impact discussed entrepreneurial approaches to addressing the fallout from mass incarceration. Not a social justice issue you’d expect an insurance company to tackle, but one that is deeply important to Nyra, her team, and the CEO of American Family Insurance. Peter Gunder lead a talk on corporate engagement in entrepreneurial communities at the home of another local leader in the Madison ecosystem.

Nyra Jordan discussing entrepreneurial approaches to addressing the fallout from mass incarceration

Night two of the summit we were again separated based on the interests and themes. There were eight curated dinners across the city in restaurants and homes of community leaders. Themes included Surviving Burnout as an Ecosystem Builder, Scaling Beyond One City, Best Practices for Working with Local Government, Social Impact in Ecosystem Building, Engaging Corporations in Startup Community Building, The Intersection of Startup Communities and Venture Capital, Positioning Your Region in the National Conversation on Ecosystem Building, and Developing Mentorship and External University Programming in an Ecosystem.

What a beautiful evening to hear from Peter Gunder, Chief Investment Officer of @amfam and @AmFamInstitute, about how they support #ecosystembuilding in Madison and are expanding programs to #Milwaukee.@StartupChamps #SCNMadison pic.twitter.com/7tXO8TBjCP

— Skyler Yost (@SkylerYost) September 18, 2019

Entrepreneurial Activity Across Madison

“So many spaces in Madison are infused with an entrepreneurial piece. When many cities look at entrepreneurship they think tech. They look at who’s building high growth tech companies. Ten years ago, that was the genesis of the entrepreneurial interest. But one thing Doyenne and other organizations have pushed is that entrepreneurship is a wide range of activity. It’s not just tech and it’s not just high growth.” - Amy Gannon

We saw the multiple facets of entrepreneurship in Madison while we were there. We met each morning at The Spark Building, a collaboration of corporate, city, and University, and entrepreneurial collaboration. Within the Spark Building is StartingBlock Madison, where our Summit took place. We got the chance to explore its three floors and learn about the many organizations and businesses that operate there. 

Not a bad view for the next few days! @startupchamps Fall Summit at the amazing @StartingBlockM #scnmadison #madisonwi #roadtrep @ StartingBlock Madison https://t.co/7TgdIS7YDU

— theroadtrep (@theroadtrep) September 17, 2019

We explored the burgeoning food scene in Madison through our daily catered meals and curated dinners, the Underbelly Taproom tour, and post summit food tour of Madison. Other opportunities for exploration included coworking space and non-profit 100state, University of Wisconsin’s Memorial Union, and Hackerspace Sector67.

Stop #3 of The Underbelly Tour

We also got a glimpse of another unique pocket of entrepreneurial activity growing in Madison: the femxle comedy scene. We got a chance to hear comedian Dina Nina Martinez. 

Lots of laughs with @DinaNMartinez tonight at @GiantJonesBeer with fellow ecosystem builders and @StartupChamps at #SCNmadison! pic.twitter.com/MZlPw2i3Aw

— Forge North (@forgenorthmn) September 19, 2019

Stories from the Margins

“The most important good we distribute to each other is membership. We must foster new identities and inclusive narratives that can support us all. This means generating stories of inclusion that reframe our individual and group identities while rejecting narratives that pit us against each other.” - The Problem of Othering: Towards Inclusiveness and Belonging

One unique piece to every SCN Summit is weaving Intercultural Unity into the programming. Our ICU team did a great job facilitating a workshop on creating spaces for belonging. During the workshop, we were split up into teams of three and asked to share stories where we felt othered. We then were asked to affirm the story once it was told and then have a conversation about the key learnings from all three stories.

Mark Lawrence sharing his group’s findings after the ICU exercise.

Belonging: An unwavering commitment to not simply tolerate and respect difference but to ensure that all people are welcome and feel that they belong. 

Madison was a wonderful experience that was uniquely Madison. We saw first hand the strong partnerships and collaborations throughout the ecosystem and were encouraged to create our own collaborations through the various activities. The setting was beautiful and the hosts and facilitators were welcoming. We’d like to thank our summit sponsors for their support: StartingBlock Madison, Doyenne, American Family Insurance, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, and WIPFLi. Bonfire for creating our super cool summit shirts.

Ecosystem builders in the house! #scnmadison #masscollaboration #makersdoersdreamersbuilders #ecosystembuilding pic.twitter.com/uN3gLw75R9

— Cecilia Wessinger (@Liminal_Nexus) September 17, 2019

We’d also like to thank our Summit hosts for putting on a fantastic and engaging summit! If you missed it, you can explore most about our Summit hosts and partners on in these articles:

• Changing the Narrative for Women Entrepreneurs in Madison

• Chandra Miller Fienen Has Ecosystem Building in Her Blood

• How Scott Resnick Is Changing the Startup Ecosystem in Madison

• Getting to Know American Family

• Supporting Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Throughout Wisconsin

Celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day in Your Ecosystem

Communities across the country are changing their official “Columbus Day” holiday to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Every year, a new city or state adds its name to growing list of communities who would rather not memorialize the Italian explorer who caused genocide on Native communities. Instead, we celebrate the resiliency of Indigenous communities who faced colonial oppression at the hands of European explorers. 

In honor of Indigenous Peoples Day, we’ve rounded up a quick list of things you can do to support Nations or tribes in your ecosystem, and be more culturally aware. 

1. There is not one “native culture.” Don’t lump them all together. 

Understand that there are over 560 federally recognized tribes across the United States. Each tribe has its own culture and traditions. Don’t assume you know what they are because you read one thing about one tribe. Do your research to learn more about the indigenous people in your communities.

2. Don’t exclude Native Americans in your diversity and inclusion efforts.

People have a tendency to focus on one or two specific cultural groups when creating panels or compiling data. Native Americans are often overlooked in these efforts. Their voices are important and should be heard. 

3. Stop telling people you have “Native American blood.”

Being Native means different things to different people. Claiming to have a great great grandfather or uncle who was Native American does not make you Native American. It’s a very complex and emotional topic.

4. Be thoughtful and courteous at events.

Check your ego and privilege before attending an event hosted by the Native American community. Be humble and courteous. Do your research to understand the customs and traditions before attending. Don’t be the first person to participate or hop in the food line. Do the elders eat first? Are there customs around the food? Understand that you are not at an exhibit. Do the work and don’t exhaust others with constant questions and requests for explanations.

5. Help amplify the voices of Native Americans.

Who can you storytell about in your community? What Native American businesses can you highlight and support? What causes or efforts exist in your ecosystem focus on Indigeous people?

6. Know the land you are on and honor it. 

Land is a very emotional subject for Native Americans for many reasons. It has meaning beyond ownership. Understand that every inch of the United States was illegally acquired. Visit your local Native cultural center to learn more about the history. This map is a great place to start. You can enter in your city and it will tell you more about the Nations or tribes whose land you are on.

7. Invite elder leaders to your events.

Invite them to attend, speak, or perform an invocation or prayer.

8. Support Native Businesses.

Buy Native. Support Native American artists and businesses and do the work to avoid buying “Native” items not made by Native people.

9. Stop using terms that refer to Native American culture.

Do the research on cultural appropriation. “Let’s have a pow wow.” “Bury the hatchet.” “Join my tribe”.  Don’t use terms that refer to Native culture. 

10. Don’t tokenize.

Do not tokenize Native people in your efforts to be diverse. Build relationships and equitably compensate. 

This is just a short list of ways to honor rather than silence, tokenize, and marginalize Native Americans in your ecosystem. There’s a lot of work to be done in this area. Start by doing your research on Native American communities in and around your ecosystem. And if the National holiday being celebrated today in your ecosystem is Columbus Day, work with others in the state to change it.

Getting to know American Family

SCN Madison Summit Sponsor Interview with Shayna Hetzel

Back in 2015 Shayna Hetzel and Scott Resnick sat down to talk about an audacious goal of putting Madison on the entrepreneurial map with a collaborative space and national event. Now, just a few years later, the Spark Building has arrived and SCN is coming to town! 

American Family Insurance is a 91-year-old property and casualty insurance company headquartered in Madison, WI. During the past 10 years, it has doubled down in partnering with the entrepreneurship community and continue that support as a major sponsor of the Startup Champions Network Fall Summit in Madison.

Shayna Hetzel, Social Impact Investment Director at American Family Institute for Corporate & Social Impact

Tell us about your work with regards to entrepreneurship and ecosystem building 

“We want to be a Supporter of the Champions. We have a lot to learn from the disruptors, innovators, and startups and believe that learning will help our company continue to evolve. By embracing and curating innovation, American Family will remain relevant and successful.

One of the ways we have done that is by “getting proximate.” The Spark building allows American Family to cohabitate in a building with Madison’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. The building was designed to include public spaces, collision spaces (Cafe), as well as space for StartingBlock to join as a tenant. 

More on the Spark Building:

• American Family Spark Building I Madison, Wisconsin

• American Family Insurance's $55 million Spark building debuts

Within American Family, there are two initiatives that support entrepreneurship directly: The Institute for Social and Corporate Impact (a corporate impact investment team,  "Institute"), and the American Family Ventures team. 

The Institute sees VC as a tool and method to catalyze innovation and close equity gaps. We are specifically looking to engage entrepreneurs that are interested in academics, economic opportunity for all (specifically focused on the formerly incarcerated), resilient communities (clean tech and disaster recovery), and healthy youth development.

The Institute focuses on supporting underestimated communities. American Family understands that as they face complex challenges it leads to innovation. Within these underestimated communities, the Institute is finding partners of choice, advisors, new pipelines, and the ability to co-create resources, programs and services.”

How can ecosystem builders partner with orgs like you?

“Of course they can connect us to deals and venture-back able startups from their local communities.

We are looking for partners to co-create ecosytems for social impact. We have worked with the local school district and community partners to build entrepreneurship skills and programs.

Any company working in the U.S. is welcome, as we are focused on equity gaps all across America. Currently, our offices are in Wisconsin and Madison but we have American Family Insurance corporate offices throughout the U.S. looking to establish local efforts specifically around equity.

From your perspective, what are the strengths/weaknesses of the Madison ecosystem?

“Although this is not unique to Madison, there are lots of gatekeepers in VC world. It really depends on who you know, or knowing how to get access to people.

One opportunity is that diversity and inclusion could be better. We feel like we are doing well in relation to Wisconsin, but not as well compared to the world. There are still pockets of privilege and that growth could easily become another area that does not serve the entire community, so we're working on preventing that in our processes.

One main strength is our cross sector support and collaboration. Between corporate (Madison Gas & Electric, AmFam, and many others), government (city, county and state representatives and policy executives work in Madison), and a large research university (the University of Wisconsin - Madison), the access and convening between these organizations is REAL! The Governor is coming to talk with people about entrepreneurship. And we are all within 2 miles of each other. Once again, this proximity is leading to collaboration. This is one of the advantages of being a small city.”

What are you most excited about with regards to the Summit?

“Magic happens when brilliant and motivated champions collaborate and we know that is what is going to happen. We are excited to be part of that magic as an observer, participant and presenter during the summit.”