The Startup Community Way

CHAPTER THREETHE ACTORS

Startup Community Way Principle

The primary purpose of a startup community is to help entrepreneurs succeed. Never forget what a startup community is all about. Without entrepreneurs, there is no startup community. If the entrepreneurs are not succeeding, the next generation will leave, and entrepreneurship will stall.

Now that we have broadly outlined how and why the external environment can either accelerate or constrain a startup's success, we will begin to explore in more detail the individual components that comprise a startup community. This chapter discusses one of the two key components within a startup community, its actors—the set of people and organizations involved. (In Chapter 4, we'll explore the other key component, a community's factors—the group of resources or local conditions that impact entrepreneurship.)

Who is doing what to whom, and in what way, matters. There are three types of actors: leaders, feeders, and instigators. Often, lines blur between the various actors and factors, and many individuals frequently transcend singular roles in a startup community.¹

While the range of people, organizations, resources, and conditions involved in an entrepreneurial ecosystem are useful to understand, they are not the most critical construct. Instead, the interaction between each of the components is what matters. But first, we want to categorize the components. This exercise is especially helpful for newcomers.

LEADERS, FEEDERS, ...