Ecosystems Thinking
What do startup ecosystems need?
Over the last decade, I’ve been excited by startups.
After finishing a pharmacology degree and deciding biomedical science wasn’t for me, my first ‘proper’ job in 2011 was at a digital agency. At Hoop (now UXB, shoutout Sean and Paul!), I blogged about exciting young companies doing cool things (some posts are still online) as the agency itself navigated its own startup journey. I then moved to my first startup job, playing IOT in a world where almost everyone was convinced the iPhone 4S would have NFC (it didn’t). I caught the entrepreneurial bug for good after that, and adventured through the rollercoaster of my own founder journey a short while later.
After dusting myself off and quite a bit of therapy, I moved to the other side of the table. Since 2017, I’ve been putting my startup excitement (and experience) into accelerator programmes and startup support — firstly at Ignite, then at the ATI Boeing Accelerator/ Aerospace Xelerated and now alongside with Gabriela and the Metta team.
Alongside all of the above, but increasingly over the last few years, I’ve become as excited about ecosystem design and development as I have about startups.
Back in the day, one of the reasons I was so keen to relocate to Newcastle and join the Ignite accelerator as a founder in 2014 was the vibrant startup ecosystem in the North East of England — one that the Ignite founding team and local tech community had spent years fostering. As an aside, Jo and the rest of the Ignite team are still doing great things for founders in the region.
Looking back, there were a few key ingredients collaborating around the North East to enable this ecosystem: great universities teaching smart people how to think (talent), strong (private and institutional) investors financing the early startup stages (capital), high-quality startup support coupled with things like lots of good events to attend in accessible spaces where you could meet likeminded people (support). And, most importantly, excitement about what’s possible and all three stakeholder groups collaboratively working together for the betterment of the community.
It’s really important to note that, while the ‘ingredients’ above are key, the other addition is time. Building good, long-term startup ecosystems isn’t a quick job (or one that can or should be rushed) — and requires long-term vision and strategy to do properly.
These core ecosystem ingredients — talent, capital and support — have followed through more of the startup communities I’ve been part of and worked in since my time as a founder in Newcastle in the mid 2010s. The other interesting thing we’ve observed recently is how this ‘ecosystems thinking’ applies at both the local and national levels. If you’re looking to develop (or sustain) a vibrant startup ecosystem, just look for those talent, capital and support pipelines.
However, things are looking challenging for the UK startup ecosystem moving forward.
As some British universities have seen their research funding basically disappear post-Brexit, as one of the UK’s long-standing startup support providers (not to mention Tech Nation’s brilliant talent/ startup visa) announces its closure after its core funding was withdrawn, as startup investment has started to slow (let’s not even mention the struggles at the first-money-in stage of the lifecycle) what does the future hold?
As we struggle through some of the challenges above from the bottom up, it will be interesting to see how the latest DCMS/ BEIS reshuffle and the creation of a new Department of Science, Innovation & Technology, headed up by a Secretary of State whose life before politics involved marketing roles at Marie Claire and WWE (yes, the wrestling one), goes for things being directed top-down.
I’ll agree with the investor quoted in the Sifted article about the new DSIT — we’ll see (and judge) how good the new initiative is by the strategies that appear from the department — and how they stick and stay (if they do):
“What has been missing is a longer term strategic view. In terms of deep-tech commercialisation, and then growth, you’re talking about 10-year plus journeys — so you have to have that continuity [of support schemes]. Otherwise, you’re just pulling the plug from these companies just as they’re starting to get traction. And that long-term vision is what’s really been missing.”
Ten plus years into my startup journey, these startup ecosystems also play a key role in the work we do at Metta.
Last year, we spent time in the South of Scotland last year working with SOSE researching the region’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem (and what more could be done to develop and support it). A few months later, we did a larger-scale project along the same lines in the GCC; identifying routes to developing one of the state’s national startup ecosystem. We also supported Novo Nordisk to shape the future of care as the Danish pharmaceutical started engaging with the British startup ecosystem in the run-up to launching its UK Digital Innovation Hub.
For more information about Metta and the work we do, head to our website. Check out our podcast Metta Talks to hear the latest about #startups, #innovation, and #sustainability. The team is also on Twitter — reach out to us @mettatalks.
Want to chat? Let’s talk 🗣
Wil Benton — wil@metta.partners | linkedin.com/in/fatkidonfire | My Calendly is here
