The People Who Build Ecosystems Need an Ecosystem Too
by Mark Lawrence, Board Chair, Startup Champions Network
Across the country, more communities are recognizing something that members of the Startup Champions Network have understood for years: entrepreneurs don't succeed in isolation. Every thriving entrepreneurial community needs an ecosystem of people connecting entrepreneurs to capital, talent, customers, knowledge, institutions and often most importantly one another.
We call those people Startup Champions.
They may lead an accelerator or makerspace. They may work in economic development, philanthropy, higher education, government, or investment. They may be entrepreneurs themselves. Some have “ecosystem builder” in their title. Most don't.
What connects them isn't their organization or title.
It is the work.
They connect people who should know one another. They see gaps others miss. They convene competitors around common challenges. They advocate for entrepreneurs inside institutions. They build trust. They celebrate other people's successes. And frequently, they do this work without a roadmap and without enough recognition or support.
Startup Champions Network exists for them.
The Network Is the Win
This idea isn't new for SCN. It is embedded in our DNA.
Our founders understood that ecosystem builders needed something that couldn't simply be downloaded from a website or learned in a conference session: One another.
They needed trusted peers who understood the strange, rewarding, and sometimes frustrating work of building entrepreneurial communities.
That is why SCN Summits have always been different.
We experience the ecosystem (not just cities, towns too).
We meet the people building them.
We walk the neighborhoods.
We visit the local organizations.
We hear what worked—and what didn't.
We break bread together.
And somewhere along the way, colleagues become collaborators and collaborators become friends. Those relationships travel home with us. That is why one of SCN's earliest organizing principles remains just as relevant today: The network is the win.
People. Places. Practice.
As SCN enters its next chapter, I believe three words capture what makes this community special:
People.
Ecosystems are ultimately human systems.
SCN is the place where Startup Champions find their peers who understand the work, challenge their thinking, open doors, celebrate their successes, and occasionally remind them that they aren't crazy for attempting something difficult.
Places.
You can't fully understand an ecosystem through a PowerPoint presentation in a conference room. You need to experience it.
Our communities are our conference rooms. SCN will continue to facilitate immersive experiences in entrepreneurial ecosystems, allowing the people building those communities to tell their own stories.
Practice.
There is tremendous knowledge distributed across our network.
Our members know things because they have tried things.
Some worked.
Some failed spectacularly.
Both matter.
SCN creates spaces where practitioners share that knowledge candidly—not simply as experts speaking to audiences, but as peers helping peers become better at the craft.
An Identity Bigger Than a Job Title
There is another idea I believe SCN has an opportunity to elevate:
Startup Champion.
“Ecosystem builder” describes the work.
Startup Champion describes an identity.
A Startup Champion believes entrepreneurship can make communities better.
A Startup Champion connects rather than controls.
A Startup Champion understands that their success is connected to the success of others.
A Startup Champion sees possibility where others see fragmentation.
And a Startup Champion recognizes that building a stronger entrepreneurial community requires both institutions and community relationships.
There are thousands of people doing this work across the country and around the world.
Some already call themselves ecosystem builders.
Some don't yet know there is a name for what they do.
We want to find them.
We want to celebrate them.
We want to connect them.
And we want to help them become extraordinary at the work.
SCN's role is clear.
We build the network around ecosystem builders.
Because people build ecosystems.
And the people who build ecosystems need an ecosystem too.
