Startup Champions Network Shines at Kauffman ESHIP Summit
Last week, The Kauffman Foundation held its 3rd ESHIP Summit, a convening of entrepreneurial ecosystem builders working to collaboratively advance the field of ecosystem building. Over 450 ecosystem builders and 80 mayors worked their way to Kansas City through severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and flight delays to collectively work on advancing the field of entrepreneurial ecosystem building. Startup Champions Network was very well represented at the event with 22 members (nearly a quarter of our membership) taking part in three days of mass collaboration. Following is a recap through the lens of SCN.
The Unconference
The first activities of the Summit were “officially unofficial,” — an “Unconference,” where attendees had the opportunity to organize their own special topic sessions. The Unconference is a further step toward “mass collaboration,” recognizing that the talent that’s in the room is necessary to carry this work forward. Attendees suggested topics they were interested in and posted those in a crowdsource informal discussion of ecosystem building topics.
Several Startup Champions stepped up to lead sessions, including; Tyler LeCompte with a session on Storytelling in ecosystem building; Fay Horwitt’s session Going Beyond Inclusion; David Hirsch with a session on Healthy Ecosystem Builders — How to Prevent Burnout; and Anika Horn’ session, Ecosystem Building for Social Impact. Thanks and recognition goes to Startup Champion Eric Renz-Whitmore who, along with Hassan Bazzi, co-lead the ESHIP team in organizing the Unconference.
Kickoff and Welcome Celebration
The Summit officially kicked off at Tuesday evening’s reception at Union Station. Andy Stoll, Startup Champion and Kauffman’s Senior Program Officer for Ecosystem Development, welcomed attendees in the magnificent space, complete with live music, great food and drink from local restaurants. The space was the perfect venue to reconnect with old friends and colleagues as well as to meet new ones. Check out the video in the Tweet below to get a sense of the event.
Science Fair
Each of the three ESHIP Summits has included a “Science Fair” where National Resource Providers (NRPs) have the opportunity to share information about their programs. For its part in this year’s Science Fair, SCN unveiled its new line of Challenge Programs.
The new SCN Challenge Programs are programs where ecosystem builders work alongside national resource providers to take action around specific areas of focus to accelerate the number of successful entrepreneurs across the country and support one another in peer learning environment. Complex issues related to entrepreneurial ecosystem building are tackled through collaboration, innovation, and rapid prototyping.
Challenges include:
- Inclusion Challenges
- Storytelling Challenges
- Leadership Challenges
- Metrics Challenges
- Policy Challenges
Successful delivery of the challenge program will be achieved when challenge initiatives in each of the five challenge areas are launched as national programs with scalable and measurable impact. SCN’s Larkin Garbee, Anika Horn, and Tom Chapman staffed the display table fielding questions about the Challenge Program from ESHIP attendees. Learn more about SCN’s Challenge Programs.
Opening Plenary Session
The opening plenary session on Wednesday morning was an affirming, re-energizing session with Wendy Guillies, Andy Stoll, and Victor Hwang from the Kauffman Foundation reminding us all of the importance, impact, and value of what we do. Dell Gines from the Kansas City Federal Reserve shared a wealth of knowledge about how ecosystem building is the fourth wave of economic development.
NRP Showcase — Entrepreneurial Ecosystem LIFE
By far SCN’s most engaging deliverable at the Summit was the life-size board game on ecosystem building — Entrepreneurial Ecosystem LIFE. SCN members set up a life-size game of LIFE that led participants on the pathway to build a thriving & inclusive ecosystem — gaining or losing points towards becoming a Startup Champion or increase their community score as they engaged in the game.
We are taking you on a journey through the life of an ecosystem builder. You will encounter challenges and opportunities that help you strengthen your skills as an ecosystem builder and pursue the track of becoming a Startup Champion.
As you navigate the board, you will gain and lose points depending on the station and your decision of how to support your ecosystem and yourself… At the end of the game, count your points and put your score and lessons learned on the leaderboard!
The game featured 6 challenges to interact with. Guided by the game master, each player traveled through the life of an entrepreneurial ecosystem builder where they encountered challenges and obstacles (including roaming dinosaur ‘bad actors’ disrupting the ecosystem), and advanced by completing training and leveling up their skills as an ecosystem builder.
Check out the time lapse video of the game, including the set up.
Wednesday Afternoon Plenary
Sessions after lunch on Wednesday focused on the ESHIP community organizers with SCN’s Cecilia Wessinger recounting the work done over the past 10 months since the last ESHIP Summit in 2018. Over the past 10 months many ecosystem builders have continued to work on the ESHIP goals. Several, who have been dubbed “ESHIP Goals Champions” have put in extra time, energy, and commitment to solving for the ESHIP goals. Included in this group are several Startup Champions — Eric Renz-Whitmore, Tyler LeCompte, Jeff Bennett, Beth Zimmer — who were all welcomed on stage to provide a brief overview of each of the seven ESHIP goals and to be recognized for their efforts.
Creative Collaboration
The Kauffman team and event coordinators always seem to find unique, fun, and inspiring ways to activate and energize attendees at ESHIP. Wednesday afternoon’s session concluded with Greg Delson, from the LANDLIGHTS Center for Voice uniting the crowd in a massive choir lesson, to sing a rousing rendition of the Beatles’ ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ featuring hundreds of ecosystem builders in an exercise of mass collaboration.
Happy Hour
Wednesday evening’s activities were ‘Your Night, Your Way.’ Several attending organizations organized happy hours and dinners around town in Kansas City. Startup Champions Network teamed up with Co.Starters, Forward Cities, Kansas City Startup Foundation, Proximity Space, Global Entrepreneurship Network, InBIA, and SourceLink to throw an Ecosystem Builder Happy Hour at local Kansas City distillery LIFTED spirits. It was a great venue and atmosphere to relax, enjoy drinks, and connect with fellow ecosystem builders in an informal, laid back setting.
SCN Collaboration Dinner with Co.Starters
After Happy Hour, SCN collaborated with Co.Starters for a community dinner. Around 40 ecosystem builders got together at the Co.Starters house to spend an evening cooking and chatting. As probably the most informal event during ESHIP, attendees checked their roles and responsibilities at the door before entering three floors full of ecosystem builders, guided conversations and ping pong matches.
Thursday Morning Plenary
Most folks were definitely moving a little slower Thursday morning after the prior evening of happy hour and Kansas City BBQ, but still eager to dive into the day. The morning session kicked off with Startup Champions Network board member Jennifer Skjellum moderating a lively, fun, and inspiring discussion with the mother and daughter co-founders Kerry Schrader and Ashlee Ammons of Mixtroz. Jennifer did an outstanding job leading the discussion and allowing these inspiring women to share their story and their product.
The Kauffman Foundation has released the video of that discussion which can be found on their Facebook page.
In addition to moderating the discussion, SCN has had an influence in the MixTroz success story. Our own Beth McKeon has played a pivotal role in helping MixTroz succeed. Well done Beth and congratulations for getting being recognized onstage after the interview for her efforts!
Summit Closing and Final Commitments
The Summit’s closing session was once again an exercise in mass collaboration as attendees participated in a hackathon to vote on and commit to working on specific ESHIP Goals and initiatives.
It’s been a busy spring for SCN with good representation at events such as Tom Tom Festival and The Kauffman ESHIP Summit. Through this representation, we’ve been able to raise awareness of SCN. Thanks to all Startup Champions who have helped and participated in these events. We’re looking forward to seeing you all in Madison at the SCN Fall Summit September 17–19. Learn more about the upcoming Madison Summit and register now!
For an additional look into the happenings at ESHIP check out the following stories shared by Startup Champions:
Starting Fires Everywhere: EShip Summit 2019
