The Startup Community Way

CHAPTER FIVESTARTUP COMMUNITIES VERSUS ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEMS

Startup Community Way Principle

Putting founders first, giving before you get, and having an intense love of place are essential values in a startup community. The values of the people involved drive the startup community. To succeed, embrace a #GiveFirst mentality, prioritize the entrepreneurs above all else, and love where you are.

While communities and ecosystems are related, they are different things. To differentiate them, we call them “startup communities” and “entrepreneurial ecosystems.”

Each are collections of actors and factors in a physical place that interact in a way that influences entrepreneurs and produces entrepreneurship. Each is intensely local in nature and critical to a vibrant economy.

However, a startup community is the beating heart of entrepreneurship in a city and sits at the core of an entrepreneurial ecosystem. The startup community has a collective identity, a shared sense of purpose, a common set of values, and a deep belief in putting founders first.

In contrast, an entrepreneurial ecosystem is a generalized structure that wraps around and depends on a startup community to give it life. Participants at the startup community layer are deeply connected and aligned with each other. Even though the actors at the entrepreneurial ecosystem layer are resourceful and impactful, they face incentive structures and organizational constraints that often don't align with the startup community. ...