Welcome to another week’s roundup of what’s happening in the entrepreneurial ecosystem building universe. Podcasts galore is the dominant theme this week. Several new audio or and video podcasts have launched in the past few months that feature ecosystem builders as guests. This week’s roundup has new offerings from Mug.news, Startup Space, and NPR. Check out all that and more in this week’s digest.

NEW ARTICLES ON ECOSYSTEM BUILDER HUB

Avoiding Burnout and Staying Motivated

Ecosystem building work is often thankless, tiring, and even demoralizing at times. How do ecosystem builders stay motivated to keep doing the work? What specific practices do ecosystem builders use for self-care, to keep going, and avoid burning out? This was the question I put to a group of participating ecosystem builders as part of the Insights from the Field campaign. Find out what they had to say

 

Book Review: Creating Startup Junkies

As the field of entrepreneurial ecosystem building has started to grow over the last decade a few books dedicated exclusively to the topic have become valuable sources of information for ecosystem builders. Now there is a new book to add to the ecosystem building library — Creating Startup Junkies: Building Sustainable Venture Ecosystems in Unexpected Places by Jeff Amerine and Jeff Standridge. Read more

NEWS FROM THE FIELD

Wooing Companies to Move: Are Business Incentives Worth the Cost?

Tired of attraction-based economic development getting all of the money and attention in your community? A recently released report from the Kauffman Foundation looks at research on economic development incentives aimed at attracting companies to a region, asking the question, Are they worth it?

Read more

 

Podcast: Breaking Down Barriers: Anika Horn

The latest Breaking Down Barriers Podcast episode connected with Anika Horn, founder of Social Venturers to get her experienced take on ecosystem building and what sets an ecosystem builder apart. She talks #storytelling and we get a preview of her work with Zebras Unite, a movement to build the next economy where entrepreneurship serves everyone.

Listen

 

The Inclusivity Project: Addressing Institutional and Systemic Barriers to Black Entrepreneurship: Building Black Owned Businesses

The Northern California SBDC is launching a new project to connect 1,000 Black entrepreneurs and Black-owned small businesses in underserved and socially disadvantaged communities with lifetime business mentorship and $100 Million dollars in capital to start their very first business or take their existing business to the next level. Is this something that other regional SBDC’s can also launch?

Find out more

 

Virtual Community Building with gener8tor’s Charmyse Tillman & Patty Newby

Charmyse Tillman and Patty Newby are organizing the upcoming Community Growth Summit by gener8tor. They join the Mug.news show to discuss the gener8tor programs which help build ecosystems across the country and unpack how that approach has shifted in a pandemic.

Watch

 

Podcast – NPR’s Tech Nation Interviews Right to Start Founder

NPR host Moira Gunn talks with Victor Hwang, founder of Right to Start, about how to expand entrepreneurial opportunity and build successful ecosystems, including what he learned from his experiences in Silicon Valley.

Listen

 

How ‘scale-up’ Business Became the Engine Of Job Creation

An article in the Financial Times argues that startups and especially scale-ups will be crucial in the pandemic economic recovery.

Read more

 

Georgia Sets Example with Pilot to Expand Ecosystem Building

The  Partnership for Inclusive Innovation has announced its first funded pilot program, theClubhou.se: Mesh Network. This organization aims to empower entrepreneurs and provide resources to create new businesses in traditionally under-resourced communities. The pilot was competitively selected and will receive $250,000 to expand its existing efforts in Augusta, Ga., to four other Georgia cities.

Read more

 

Podcast: Breaking Down Barriers: Troy Vosseller

The Startup Space podcast discusses ecosystem builders and breaking down barriers with Troy Vosseller, Co-Founder of gener8tor. gener8tor operates more than 45 accelerators annually across North America, working with more than 200 startups per year.

Listen

UPCOMING EVENTS

Building Tech Ecosystems in a Distributed World

A new event on building global tech ecosystems. Dealroom and Sifted will host leading VCs and ecosystem builders to discuss: Tech and governments’ role in navigating a “K-shaped” recovery; The rise of tier-2 ecosystems and distributed talent; A new dawn of tech optimism, or: David vs. Goliath in the age of Deep Tech

Date: February 24, 7:00 am – 10:00 am PST

Learn more

 

In Community~ A Gathering for Ecosystem Building Womyn

EcosystemsUnite is creating space for Womyn ecosystem builders to share knowledge. The goal is to leave with more knowledge than when we came and make good connections.

Date: February 24, 3:00 – 4:00 PST

Learn more

 

CommUNITY Growth Summit

gener8tor CommUNITY Growth Summit presents America’s next generation of leaders in startups, the arts and workforce development. gener8tor CommUNITY Growth Summit offers leaders in each of these areas a day of keynotes and presentations focused on the next generation of solutions.

Date: March 30 – April 1

Learn more

 

Virtual Skoll World Forum

Through an inspiring program of plenaries and sessions, we’ll use this moment of virtual convening to examine the unequal impact of the global pandemic and the innovative solutions that aim to build a better future for all. In the spirit of collaboration, many sessions will be curated directly from the social innovation community.

Dates: April 13 – 15

Learn more

 

RuralRISE Broadband Mini-Summit

For rural communities, access to stable and affordable broadband and wireless connectivity continues to be a challenge. Join fellow rural ecosystem builders in the conversation about rural broadband during the 2021 RuralRISE Mini-Summit.

Date: April 15, 2:00 – 5:00 pm Eastern

Learn more

 

InBIA Annual Conference

For 35 years, InBIA’s annual conference – the International Conference on Business Incubation (ICBI) – has been the primary venue for incubation and other entrepreneurial support professionals to share best practices, proven strategies, effective tools and relevant insights with an audience of peers.

Dates: April 26 – 30

Learn more and register

 

RuralRISE Summit 2021

Mark your calendars for the 2021 RuralRISE Summit in Emporia, Kansas!

Dates: September 20 – 21

Learn more

 

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