Building startup communities!

» How can we help grow healthy entrepreneurial ecosystems?

» Resilient?» Self-renewing?

» How do we help “defrag” our own startup communities?

» Video of this talk is here.

From EGOsystems to ECOsystems

Click to enter text

Thank you, Martin Justensen for coining that!

Norris Krueger, PhD

@entrep_thinkingnorris.krueger@ gmail.com

How to Grow DEFRAG Your Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

SlideshareMy blog Short bio

Why not look at successful startup communities?

Serial entrepreneur, VC and one of the architects of Boulder, Colorado’s tech ecosystem Brad Feld: What generalizes across great startup communities?

http://entrepreneurshipidaho.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-to-defrag-your-entrepreneurial.html

Four Constants of Great Startup Communities

» 1. Entrepreneur-Led

» 2. Inclusive

» 3. Rallying Points

» 4. Long Term Perspective

» And how do we make this work? What else do we need?

1. Entrepreneur-Led

» Bottom-up not top-down» Easy to say, hard to do» Are you a “leader” or a “feeder”?» And do you really, REALLY get the entrepreneurial

mindset?» Doesn’t it make sense for strategy and tactics be driven

by what the entrepreneurs want?» (what they want, not what we think they need)

2. Inclusive as Hell

» Have something for all the different flavors of entrepreneur in your community:» Growth/no-growth, small/large, new/old, rural/urban…» Realize they’re all interconnected (see ‘maps’ below!)

» What can you do or support that is the ‘rising tide’ that lifts all boats?

» Who needs more specialized resources?» Suerangel Chris Devore (@crashdev): Need broad and

deep… some need longer runway

3. Rallying points

» Startup communities need things to rally around – great events, recurring events and…

» Great programs!» Big fan of the TechStars model (and Global Accelerator Network)

check out www.techstars.org» Seattle has StartupWeekend.org» Gothenburg, Sweden has Chalmers School of Entrepreneurship» Enschede, Netherlands has U Twente & VentureLab» Helsinki has Aalto… Aalto Design Factory, Startup Sauna and more

» All are student-driven…. (your university could do this too!)

4. Long Term Perspective

» Startup communities take decades to form… even Silicon Valley dates to the 1950s.

» Check Steve Blank’s “The Secret History of Silicon Valley” (www.steveblank.com - you should read his blog anyway!)

» However, there were –and are – great catalysts like Fred Terman, Stanford’s engineering dean who connected everyone.

» People like Tina Seelig continue Stanford’s efforts – you can never rest on your laurels!

More than just connectors

» Fred and Tina are not your usual “connector”» Think “liaison-animateur” » Proactive, professional but connecting isn’t their job

» Study of a major US city identified the top 100 connectors, local magazine identified the “100 most influential”… overlap was… 1 person

» Liaison-animateurs and any good connector is intrinsically motivated

Mapping the ecosystem

» Important to understand how everyone is (or is not) connected -read this! http://bit.ly/Karen_S » Who are your “gatekeepers” (who control access to

key resources?» Who are your connectors?

Great startup communities…

» Both build and are built on» Entrepreneurial human capital and» Entrepreneurial social capital

» In other words,» Healthy entrepreneurial ecosystems are constantly providing ways

to grow the entrepreneurial mindset in the community AND they» Constantly “defrag” the ecosystem itself!» (for more on the DEFRAG model: http://goo.gl/6mmmy and on

ecosystems… http://www.slideshare.net/norriskrueger/growing-truly-entrepreneurial-ecosystem )

Think “FIRE”…

» FIRE is a useful acronym…

» Defragging an ecosystem requires (human capital)

» Fostering the entrepreneurial mindset broadly and deeply across the community

» Inspire the next generation of Ideas (social capital)

» Re-capture & reward communities & organizations that return to their entrepreneurial roots

» Enhance the Entire Ecosystem (e.g, grow & support connectors)» http://www.slideshare.net/norriskrueger/iic-preso-pdf-new-5749635a (pp. 21-25)

“Defragging” means…

» Where are you? Map the ecosystem in ways that capture the dynamics and interconnections

» Where are we going? Where does the entrepreneurial community want to go?

» Use these to build a bottom-up, task-driven roadmap» Align resources to the roadmap.

» For more on this: http://goo.gl/6mmmy

Want to map the genealogy (dynamics)? www.heikemayer.com

Want to map the content of ecosystems?

http://www.empactsummit.com/ecosystemmap.php

“Defragging” also means…

» Keep it positive!

» Build on what you have, not worry about what you don’t have.

» Example: Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD model)

» Example: Don’t ask “What is the barrier you face?” Ask “What’s the one thing that will enable launch/growth?”

“Defragging” also means…

» Great metrics – be data-driven!

» Check out USA site www.youreconomy.org

» Most countries have the same kind of data

» SHARE this data with civic officials, other champions of entrepreneurship and your students!

An example of data you can use!

» Idaho’s numbers 2001-2008 » Startups created 58% of gross new jobs» Expanding firms created 40%» (only 2% from in-migrating firms)

Net job creation..Births – deaths = ~10% of net new jobsExpanding – shrinking = ~90% of net new jobs

Most states & countries have similar patternsBUT you need to share this reality…To grow your OWN jobs means you need to grow your own firms, to

grow your own entrepreneurs!(also known as “economic gardening”)

Measuring the Health of your Ecosystem

Peter Vogel http://www.entrepreneursship.org/has great objective metrics of overall health that you can use at local level (see diagram to right)

Markers of a Healthy Ecosystem: Take a look at http://bit.ly/EcoSys these make a good dashboard;

put it online and let the community rate the ecosystem’s health.

Back to the Four Constants of Great Startup Communities

» 1. Entrepreneur-Led

» 2. Inclusive

» 3. Rallying Points

» 4. Long Term Perspective

» And how do we make this work? What else do we need?

So how do we get started?

Click to enter text

Never miss opportunities to…

Celebratecelebrate what you already have – celebrate your entrepreneurs, celebrate your champions

Educatedon’t miss chances to educate somebody about the realities of entrepreneurship (and its merits)

Initiateand never, ever miss a chance to JFDI,

to Just. Do. Something.

Do you want in? Want to know more?

Click to enter text

Norris Krueger, PhD

Norris.krueger[at]gmail.com@entrep_thinkingFacebook, LinkedIn, Google+Mobile = 1.208.440.3747Skype = norris.krueger

So how can I help you to help grow great startup communities?

p.s. Why me? ;)

» 2015: Ewing Marion Kauffman/US Sourcelink global summit of thought leaders on entrepreneurial ecosystems (co-organizer)

» 2015 (Aug) Academy of Management global conference workshop on ecosystems (link)» 2015 (Aug) Academy of Management global conference symposium on entrep learning» 2015 (proposed) TEDxEntrepreneurship on ecosystems » 2015 (in prep) Workshop on ecosystems ,World Entrepreneurship Forum, Hangzhou, China» 2015 (in prep): Workshop on ecosystems at NACCE» 2015 (proposed/invited) Ecosystem workshop for Inc. global conference» 2015-16 (in prep): Kauffman ‘best & brightest’ on entrep mindset/entrep learning» 2015-16 (proposed/invited) Ecosystem workshop for TiE» 2015-2016 (c-organizing): Major NSF / EDA ecosystem conference (‘Lean meets EcDev’)» 2014: Video for Strascheg Centre for Entrepreneurship/EU-funded Coneeect program» 2014: Academy of Management global conference workshop on ecosystems (link)» 2013: OECD research workshop on entrepreneurial ecosystems (link)» 2013: World Entrepreneurship Forum master class on ecosystems, Singapore» 2013: Global Entrepreneurship Week, Cairo/Giza, Egypt» 2013: NACCE workshop co-presenter» 2012: ICSB research symposium on ecosystems» 2012: Academy of Management research symposium