2025 Fall ECOSYSTEM BUILDER SUMMIT

Where: Augusta, Georgia
When: November 5-7

*Pre-Summit Golf outing: TUesday, November 4 (Morning)

Opening Reception: Tuesday, November 4 at 5pm

Agenda | accomodations | tickets

Hosted By: Make Startups

Startup Champions Network Summits

Twice annually, Startup Champions Network members meet in-person to connect, share knowledge/experiences and take a deep, behind-the-scenes dive into the local host ecosystem.  This personal interaction is a critical part of the member value-proposition as well as an important commitment all members make -- to celebrate each other.

These 2.5 day intimate gatherings bring together the nation's top ecosystem builders and national ecosystem support organizations to convene conversations, gain insight from real world case studies, and explore and experience new communities, against the backdrops of some of the nation's top emerging ecosystems. Summits address topics most relevant to and of interest to members, such as inclusive entrepreneurship, fostering collaboration, engaging and empowering underrepresented populations, and more.

About Augusta

Augusta is a city of paradox and potential—a place where world-class golf meets deep-seated inequity, and where the rhythms of James Brown still echo through a downtown once federally designated as a slum. It’s a government town brimming with entrepreneurial ambition, home to U.S. Army Cyber Command, the 4th largest public medical school in the country, and a nuclear corridor that spans national defense and ecological innovation.

As a midsize city straddling the Georgia-South Carolina border, Augusta embodies the opportunities and tensions of building collaborative, inclusive ecosystems in complex contexts. At this SCN Augusta, we’ll explore what it means to cultivate entrepreneurship in a place defined by extremes—where the Augusta National coexists with neighborhoods in need of reinvestment, and where federal dollars and grassroots dreams intermingle.

This gathering is an open invitation to dive deep into:

• Cross-border collaboration in regional ecosystem building

• Applied research in founder support and community-centered investment

• Workforce development as a catalyst for economic mobility

• Creating a shared, nonpartisan language for policy change

• Sustaining ecosystem organizations while growing the next generation of leaders

Summit Theme: Open Invitations

The Augusta Summit theme, Open Invitations, plays off the historic Augusta National "Invitational". We'll kick it off with a pre-summit golf day and invite attendees to face hard questions—how do you invite a city to believe in itself again? How do you rebuild trust in historically excluded communities? How do you balance the legacy of segregation and poverty with a vision of collective prosperity?

Join us in Augusta to shape the future of ecosystem building—rooted in place, propelled by people, and wide open to possibility.

Start on the green: Golf with Locals

Golf with Locals will be held at Champions Retreat Golf Club—the famed venue for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur! The club features three nine-hole courses: the Island (Arnold Palmer design), the Bluff (Jack Nicklaus design), and the Creek (Gary Player design). This iconic course sets the stage for meaningful conversations, local connections, and a true taste of Augusta’s culture. It’s more than golf, it’s an invitation to build relationships that will carry throughout the Summit.

Our Summit Hosts have scored an amazing deal on golf tickets to this iconic course for the first 24 tickets sold: $125! Tickets sold after that are $350. Golf Club rentals are $75. This pre-summit experience includes:

• 18 holes

• Golf cart rental

• Lunch

• BYO golf clubs, or rent a set for $75

Golf Tickets on Sale Now!

Your Summit Hosts

Make Startups believes ecosystem building isn’t about gatekeeping—it’s about inviting. Founded on the belief that every community deserves access to the resources, advocacy, and education needed to thrive, Make Startups has become a regional catalyst for inclusive innovation.

From helping founders navigate their first pitch to shaping statewide policy conversations, Make Startups operates at every level to support entrepreneurship. Whether it’s equipping local leaders with research-backed strategies or mentoring the next generation of ecosystem builders, their work is grounded in a simple idea: entrepreneurship should be accessible to everyone. Read more about their work here.

SCN Host Members

Eric Parker is the co-founder of theClubhou.se, an innovation hub in Augusta, Georgia where he supports all kinds of ecosystem activities. He’s also the co-founder and CEO of Make Startups. With a trophy case that includes guiding 500+ businesses with makestartups.org, and wrangling $15m in investments, he's the Swiss Army knife of leadership. With a background in architecture and a love of the outdoors, Eric has plenty of things for attendees to see and experience.

Grace Belangia is the co-founder of theClubhou.se and Make Startups, working side by side with Eric on entrepreneur training and policy initiatives. As Make Startups CMO, she’s as savvy in a boardroom as she is on a farm. Yep, outside her marketing magic, she runs a farm and vineyard retreat tucked away in Sonoma—complete with sunflowers! Born in Silicon Valley and honed at UCLA, she bridges corporates and communities with flair. As a co-founder of Make Startups and a UC Berkeley professor, she's shaping the minds of future innovators. Dive deeper, and you'll find her stints as a travel writer, digital media correspondent, robotics educator, and TEDx maestro!

Purchase Tickets

Join SCN and Save! Not a member? Bundle your summit ticket with a membership and save $25! (Membership good through Dec 2026)

Regular Tickets (september 2 - november 4)

Summit + Membership: $525

Member: $399

Non-Member: $499

Summit Group Tickets 

Bring your team, be an SCN Ambassador, and bring your ecosystem besties! The Summit Group ticket is available for groups of six and offers discounted pricing for bulk purchases.

Member Group Ticket: $2,000

Non-Member Group Ticket: $2,500

InBIA / SCN Collab

Headed to InBIA's e.Builders Form in Atlanta and SCN Augusta?

Startup Champions Network is excited to partner with InBIA to make it easier (and more affordable!) to attend both events. If you register for SCN Augusta first, use the code INBIA_collab to receive $50 off your ticket. You’ll receive a $50 discount code for InBIA’s e.Builders Forum in your confirmation email.

If you register for InBIA’s e.Builders Forum first, use the code SCN_Collab to receive $50 off your ticket. You’ll receive a $50 discount code for the Augusta Summit in your confirmation email.

Note: Discount codes cannot be applied to tickets that have already been purchased.

Travel & Accommodations

Getting to Augusta

Traveling to Augusta is easy, whether you're flying in or hitting the road. The Augusta Regional Airport (AGS) offers daily flights from major hubs like Atlanta, Charlotte, and Dallas. For more flight options, consider flying into Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE)—just an hour away—or Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), a two-hour drive that connects to destinations across the globe.

Driving in? Augusta sits conveniently at the crossroads of I-20 and U.S. Highway 25, making it accessible from across the Southeast. Whether you're coming from Atlanta, Charleston, Savannah, or Charlotte, you’ll find yourself in the heart of Augusta in just a few hours.

Once you arrive, rideshares, rental cars, and local transit make it easy to get around.

Lodging

The Summit will take place in downtown Augusta. Here are a few hotel options for downtown, as well as some a little outside dowtown.

• Hyatt House (downtown with discount)

• Augusta Marriott (downtown - no discount)

• The Partridge Inn Augusta (historic, not downtown, with discount) 

• Crowne Plaza North Augusta  (near downtown, no discount)

Rides & Rooms Spreadsheet

Every Summit, we create a spreadsheet for attendees to coordinate rides and room sharing. If you're looking to share a hotel room or airbnb with a large group, this is a great place to start. If you want to carpool from the airport or hope some kind soul will give you a ride, this is the place to do it! While we don't link this spreadsheet to the public website, it is sent via email upon summit registration.

Summit Sponsors

Want to sponsor? Click here to learn more.