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What do you call an Ecosystem Builder?

As a child, I loved Spider-Man. Fine, I still have a thing for Spidy. Common, “with great power comes great responsibility”? How can one not absolutely admire that? I always gravitated towards the idea that superheroes serve their communities. Growing up in an entrepreneurial community, Ecosystem Builders took that same community-serving role in my mind. When I learned about ESHIP summit which convenes ecosystem builders, I obviously jumped at the opportunity. Now, I don’t look at ecosystem building the same way.

Ecosystem Building Doesn’t Exist.

Surrounded by 450 “ecosystem builders” in a conference around “ecosystem building”, I learned that Ecosystem Building doesn’t exist. Shocking, ha? At ESHIP, a group that was discussing having a Shared Vision about ecosystem building grabbed my attention. My inner architect was swayed by the visuals this group had, but what was more fascinating to me was the conversations behind those graphics.

If ecosystems are living environments that exist without “builders”, then where did the term “ecosystem building” come from? And more importantly, if entrepreneurial ecosystems exist anyway, then are we ecosystem “builders”? I mean, yes, we do catalyze/ facilitate/ contribute to/ support ecosystems, but we don’t build them. Why does this matter anyway? What’s in a name, right? Well, in order for us to have a Shared Vision, we need a unified understanding about the role of ecosystem builders. Moreover, the name affects our mental model and perception around ecosystem building, and consequently the actions we take towards them.

Let’s NOT Create Jobs.

It is important to not only reframe the name we give Ecosystem Builders, but also the role they play. There is emphasis on job creation, but that’s easy. Millions of jobs can be created by demolishing every restaurant and then rebuilding them. However, does that create value? Absolutely not. Jobs are created organically when entrepreneurs create value. With that; our focus should be on creating value not jobs.

“Ecosystem Building is a community sport”

Creating ecosystem-wide value can’t be done alone. It takes “mass collaboration” across a network of contributors. This leads me to see the role of ecosystems builders as the enablers of those collaborations that make it possible for entrepreneurship to flourish.

There is no wonder many ecosystem builders don’t realize that they are ones. We need a better understanding to the role ecosystem building plays and a name that frames that role in the right light. With a great responsibility of creating ecosystem value, I’ll call them your friendly neighborhood superheroes.

 

References: 

https://fee.org/articles/creating-jobs-versus-creating-value/

https://eshipsummit2019.kauffman.org

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