What Ecosystem Builders Want Most
Emerging Themes from the ESHIP Summit 2017 Missions [Dispatches from the ESHIP Summit Community Team]
In June 2017, 450 entrepreneurial ecosystem builders gathered in Kansas City for the first ESHIP Summit, a three-day conference convened by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and 54 national partners.
The goal: advance the work of community leaders focused on a systematic and collaborative approach to fostering more entrepreneurial starts and success in their area.
On the last day of the Summit, the event participants formed small groups around Missions, 12 common challenges for ecosystem builders, and developed initial concepts for new tools, trainings, and shared understanding to help each other be more effective in their work. In total, the groups dreamed up 38 tools, trainings, and other solutions for more effective ecosystem building. Here is the full list of ideas.
Taking the groups’ work as a whole, three main needs emerged:
- A Roadmap and Toolkit (or an Ecosystem Building App Store): Entrepreneurial ecosystem building is an emerging practice, and 19 of the ESHIP Mission Groups identified a need for resources that explain how to approach the work including toolkits, canvases, frameworks, guidebooks, and roadmaps. Many highlighted the need for more tools to enable inclusive ecosystem building as well as customizable solutions that empower ecosystem builders to meet their community’s unique needs and circumstances. ‘Roadmap’ was mentioned so often, it sounds like an ecosystem atlas would be very helpful.
- A Strong National Network: Being an ecosystem builder can be isolating and lonely. Burn out is one of the biggest threats to ecosystem builders. Several groups identified the need for ongoing connection with others around the country doing similar work. Five Mission Groups took swings at designing an online platform for ecosystem builders to stay connected with peers and share resources.
- National Ecosystem Builder Training & Resource Programs: Six groups called for new national resources to level-up ecosystem builders’ capacity. These programs include an ecosystem builder fellowship program and regional events for ecosystem builders in each corner of the country to connect regularly to build programs and tools together.
These emerging themes bring new clarity and focus to our work of supporting entrepreneurial ecosystem builders. We at the ESHIP Summit Community Team will use these themes to guide our next steps. Our focus for the next two years is to:
- Raise awareness of existing resources for ecosystem builders in these three need area above and
- Support the creation of new solutions where there are resource gaps.
What common needs do you see around supporting more and better entrepreneurial ecosystem building? Do you know of a great resource for one (or all) of these ecosystem building needs? Tell us in the comments here or email us at playbook@kauffman.org.
Special thanks to Enoch Elwell and Andy Stoll, my close collaborators on this blog post and all things ESHIP Summit Community.
