A Case for Change
As entrepreneurial community leaders, we are doing our entrepreneurs and start-ups a disservice by not bringing efficiency, measurability and innovation into our ecosystems. This case for change is a look at a bold new world where entrepreneurial activity is driven by innovation and made efficient by measuring the real impact of our activities.
For too long, we have kept to status-quo and outdated ways of doing business in how we run our programs, especially as it relates to our diversity and inclusion programs, pushing back at innovative tools, new ways of working and new entrants into this arena. The real impact of this has been felt on Rustbelt cities, under-served communities, minorities and marginalized ethnicities. We need to change the way we look at how we serve. We need to embrace change, bring in fresh ideas, adopt new technologies and measure our impact with better tools.
Fragmentation in the ecosystem solutions and providers
The second part of the problem is that in the absence of a platform that can bring the various ecosystem players in a community together, the ecosystem has become fragmented. In cities across the US, there is now an explosion of events for entrepreneurs everyday, many of them similar or redundant in the outcome they are trying to drive.
Yet it has never been harder to start a business. In fact, I would argue that all this noise hurts the startups trying to make it to their next milestone or find that first customer. We need to come together to make engagements more meaningful so when we do take a startup from their desk to network or learn a new topic, we track effectiveness of our programs and ensure that the time spent at the event has been meaningful for the startup. And finally, we need to have a better tool to communicate with each other as community builders so we can reduce noise, drive clarity and purpose around our offerings to the startups in our ecosystem. You can find out more about our work here.
Why the Startup Space technology can revolutionize ecosystem building
The state of the art ecosystem building platform at Startup Space was borne out of the frustration I felt as a startup in dealing with my ecosystem builders a decade ago. I thought to myself that there had to be a better way to engage the community and measure impact. I didn’t find one that worked, so I built it.
Our purpose is to connect startups with resources in their local communities so they can quickly find what they need and get back to building their businesses.
We excel at driving efficiencies into the ecosystem by connecting startups. Here are some features:
- 24/7 always-on local network where they can ask questions from their mentors and peer,
- Access to vetted local startup resources
- Curated library of expert content on key business topics
- Live town halls and webinars hosted by industry experts,
- Signup within the app to attend local events for startups
- Feature to find and book local co-working spaces
- Options to find partners and co founders on the jobs portal site
For our ecosystem building partners, we co-brand our tools so it a joint offering into the community and the Startup Space platform is offered to the community for free. Here are some features:
Private community within the Startup Space platform that is secure and private. The content and data are accessible to entrepreneurs who are part of the network..
Content library where all proprietary content is loaded and consumed securely within the network.
A resource directory that dynamically changes the available resources
A complete co-working space management tool that can be used to book a meeting space in a local co-working space.
A live town hall feature for when startups cannot make it physically to a meeting so want to join remotely.
Measurement of the impact of various programs offered to the entrepreneurial ecosystem using state of the art visual reporting, including dashboards
Surveys to do customized querying of the ecosystem to gather qualitative data that be layered with the quantitative data coming from the daily reports.
A mobile app and a website so the end user can decide if they want to join the network via an app or through their computer.
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