Repping Sacramento Startup Ecosystem Builders at EShip Summit

StartupSac is all about building and growing the Sacramento startup ecosystem. The work we do is known as ecosystem building. Did you know that there are organizations all across the country focused on helping and supporting entrepreneurs through ecosystem building in their communities? In mid-July, 620 fellow ecosystem builders from all 50 states and several other countries converged on Kansas City for the second annual Eship Summit, organized by the Kauffman Foundation.

“The ESHIP Summit aims to create a unified, national movement of entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders who work to infuse entrepreneurship into economic development.”

The bulk of the Summit focused on a mass collaboration effort to refine the seven EShip goals.

The EShip Goals

Inclusive Field: Ensure ecosystem builders from diverse perspectives lead our field.
Collaborative Culture: Strengthen the culture within our field.
Shared Vision: Establish shared outcomes and a common lexicon for our work.
Connected Networks: Build field-wide communication channels to connect ecosystem builders across networks.
Quantified Methods: Define the methods and metrics of evidence-based ecosystem building.
Universal Support: Expand external stakeholder engagement in ecosystem building.
Sustainable Work: Develop professional recognition and resources for ecosystem builders.

Each of these goals was represented on a graphics wall where, in mass collaboration effort, attendees collectively defined actions to accomplish these goals. Check out the graphics wall in the photo gallery below.

Check out the short video below to get a sense of the event.

StartupSac is a small, scrappy, non-profit ecosystem building organization focused on accelerating Sacramento’s startup and innovation ecosystem by informing, educating, empowering, and connecting its startup founders and innovators. My only real experience with ecosystem building is from working within our local community. So, it was interesting to see the the variety of people who are focused on growing their local startup and entrepreneurial ecosystems. While many were traditional, institutional economic development types with somewhat different philosophies to growing startup communities, the sense of community and camaraderie was palpable.

A unifying vibe of conviction and passion persisted throughout the event. There was a conviction that building strong startup and entrepreneurial communities is essential to economic development of those communities. That, coupled with a palpable passion for making an impact in entrepreneurs’ lives left the ecosystem builders in attendance, myself included, energized to come back home to our communities and continue our work to grow our startup and innovation ecosystems.