Melissa Roberts Chapman of Federation of American Scientists dropped some serious knowledge at the end of the Fort Worth Summit. There are billions of dollars through in federal grants earmarked specifically for ecosystem building through programs like The Build Back Better Regional Challenge, The Good Jobs Challenge, and The NSF Regional Innovation Engines. That’s right. We’ve been shouting about ecosystem building for 10 years and they are finally listening! The train has left the station. The movement has been solidified. It’s time to hop on and keep moving!
From left to right: Moderator Cameron Cushman, Grace Belangia, Melissa Roberts Chapman
The theme of movement making was woven into content throughout our Fall Ecosystem Builders Summit in Fort Worth. We learned about Opal Lee and her movement to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. We learned about the Right to Start movement, the Startup Act, Topophilia, Black Butterfly Network, policy movements, placemaking movements, ecosystem building movements… Attendees left re-energized with lots to bring back to their ecosystems.
Here are some highlights of our three days exploring the Fort Worth ecosystem and what it means to continue the movement of ecosystem building.
Topophilia in Fort Worth
Topophilia: Love of place. Studies show that topophilia is what separates vibrant cities that foster innovation and thriving creative districts from cities that lack those things. We heard that concept in Tom Chapman’s talk on Ecosystem Metrics and we heard it again on our creative entrepreneur panel.
We didn’t just learn about topophilia, we experienced it! Being in the Stockyards meant tapping into the “Old West” history of the city where the main form of commerce was cattle. We saw a cattle drive, we got longhorn trading cards, and we convened literally where the “stock” was kept.
But beyond the “Cowtown” experience, we also dipped into the rich cultural history of Fort Worth in a number of ways. We dined at Joe T. Garcia’s - and institution in Fort Worth - while listening to one of Fort Worth’s many Mariachi bands. We heard from some of Fort Worth’s creative entrepreneurs, who shared their stories, wins, and challenges. We explored creativity and innovation happening in the city in many ways.
"It was impossible to spend time in Fort Worth and not get re-energized by the innovation happening and movements manifesting across the city." - Kevin Carter, EcoMap
Creating spaces for innovation to thrive
Movements are sprouted, fostered, and explosive when space is created for ideas to take root and grow. We celebrated the 10 Year Anniversary of Kauffman Foundation’s 1Million Cups with two of the program’s founders: Cameron Cushman and Nate Olson. The idea spun from the need to create a safe space for entrepreneurs to tell their stories, educate people on what they’re doing, and ask for help. The format was intentional. They chose Wednesday mornings at 9 am because there was no morning event where entrepreneurs could just share their stories. They wanted it to be different from a networking lunch or evening pitch event.
“If you don’t know the entrepreneurs in your community, then you don’t know how to help them.”
There are now 1Million Cups events in locations across the country and overseas, bringing entrepreneurs together to learn more about what’s happening in their communities and what barriers and challenges need to be addressed.
Cameron Cushman, Nate Olson, Darlisa Diltz
Creating space for innovation was also on display at both of our Ecosystem Tours: The Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) is a one-of-a-kind infrastructure offering mobility visionaries an ecosystem full of resources and partnerships to scale and commercialize new technologies. Half of our attendees got to tour the MIZ and hear from innovators in that space.
Another form of creating space is in developing a community for folks to thrive. During our InterCultural Unity Session on movement building, we heard from Paulo Gregory, founder of Black Butterfly Network, share how he’s bringing Black founders together in Baltimore to foster “Ubuntu,” a Zulu concept that translates "I am what I am because of who we all are."
Following the theme of space. We all need space to share challenges, commiserate on common struggles, and have deep discussions with peers who know and understand the work. Roses & Thorns is that space. We create it for every summit and this one was no different. We want to thank all of our Roses & Thorns facilitators for offering your unique skills and for attendees who showed up and shared.
Funding movements
Funding is a constant challenge. How do we fund ideas, entrepreneurs, and programs to keep going? We heard innovative ideas from several perspectives over the course of the summit.
Andrew Mathew, founder of ESO Ventures, was tired of seeing gaps in resources for Black and Brown founders. He founded his organization to change the trajectory of entrepreneurship in Oakland. His organization serves struggling business owners and solo entrepreneurs with confidence and capital. Through grassroots community building, Andrew grew a thriving network of resource partners and founders who give back to the network and lift each other up.
We heard from Landon Ainge, Managing Director of Assure (one of our sponsors). Landon talked briefly about what Assure does but really shared why he’s passionate about supporting entrepreneurial ecosystem builders with knowledge and confidence.
“Ecosystem builders have all of the best attributes of the best venture capitalists in the world. Passion, love, empathy for founders. You have connections and longstanding relationships. You’re able to build trust across all of these groups.” - Landon Ainge
We also heard from Christina Brooks about the CDFI Friendly Fort Worth program, Melissa Roberts Chapman (Federation of American Scientists) on the funding opportunities from the U.S. government, and Grace Belangia (Make Startups) on her work developing the Startup Act (funding for disadvantaged entrepreneurs).
Making moves to change policy
When it comes to supporting entrepreneurial ecosystems, policy change is a necessary part of growing the movement. Right to Start is a movement gaining traction quickly to change policy so that starting and growing a business is easy for everyone. They’ve been storytelling, organizing voices from the ground, pushing for policy change on the local level, and partnering with communities to make it happen. Many of our members have become Right to Start advocates in their ecosystem.
The summit left us inspired and ready to keep moving in support of entrepreneurs. Whatever your movement may be when it comes to supporting entrepreneurs in your ecosystem, let us be your community of support - your cheerleaders, resource providers, and sensemakers. If you’re not already a member, join us. If you’re a member, get involved!
We keep moving forward
Do you want to keep the entrepreneurial ecosystem building movement train going? Join us for the 2023 Spring Summit in … Washington, D.C.! We’re showing up to push for more policy change towards supporting entrepreneurship. Sessions and activities will be around effecting change on a local and national level through policy and attendees will leave with knowledge and tools to take back to their ecosystems. Stay tuned!
“Show up and talk to your council members - you have more power than you think.”
Thank you, SCN Fort Worth Sponsors!
We want to thank our AMAZING Summit Hosts: Cameron Cushman, Marco Johnson, Kendel Rogers, and Amber Yourman from HSC Next for putting together such a great Summit. We also want to thank our sponsors, for their support.
