“If I could measure only one thing about an entrepreneurial ecosystem, it would be the velocity at which an entrepreneur moves through the ecosystem.” – Andy Stoll, Kauffman Foundation
An entrepreneur's success at an early stage depends on myriad factors, but a main one is accessing the right resources at the right time. As Growth Factory, a local entrepreneurial support organization, states, “Nobody builds a truly great company alone.”
Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship thrive when a dense network of resources forms around them, allowing them to flow from one support entity to another, accessing resources at the right stage of their journey.
Victor Hwang, founder of Right to Start, said, “Every month, out of 1,000 of us, only three start new businesses. But those three can’t succeed on their own. The success of the three depends on what the other 997 do – how a community wraps around its starters.”
When we look at supporting entrepreneurs and increasing entrepreneurial activity, the environment and/or ecosystem they operate in are vital to determining their success.
Forward Cities, a nonprofit equipping regions to grow and sustain more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystems, declares there are four elements in an ecosystem: people, programs, networks and narratives. When we look at these elements and try to build an equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem, we must ensure they are accessible and available for entrepreneurs to find. Sadly, entrepreneurs too often are uninformed or unacquainted with the assets available to help them throughout their journey. Additionally, as they look to identify resources, they do not know where to start and are deterred from beginning the process.
Mapping the entrepreneurial ecosystem
We can enable entrepreneurs to get started and support them in navigating the complexity of all a region has to offer by mapping and connecting them to the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
In 2016, Jeff Bennett and Laura Good cofounded StartupSac. They had the foresight to visualize and map the connections within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. They have created and maintained a circuit board diagram of the ecosystem that has enabled entrepreneurs to identify various resources and connections that can support them in their entrepreneurial journey. This map has supported entrepreneurs as well as ecosystem builders by providing the awareness of other resources in their communities that foster entrepreneurship.
As the Carlsen Center established itself during the last five years, it set out with the mission to make innovation and entrepreneurship pervasive throughout the Greater Sacramento region by serving as a regional hub and platform for entrepreneurial activity. As an entrepreneurial hub, the Carlsen Center aims to identify gaps in the ecosystem and works to bring partners and resources together to improve the health and vitality of our regional ecosystem. To be able to do this effectively, the Carlsen Center needs to understand what assets are in place and identify gaps that must be filled.
The NorCal entrepreneur hub
In 2021, the Carlsen Center, Growth Factory, and StartupSac cofounded the Sacramento Entrepreneurial Growth Alliance, a network of entrepreneurial ecosystem builders committed to collaborating to increase entrepreneurial opportunity to fuel a thriving and equitable regional economy. This alliance set out to better connect entrepreneurs to resources and advance entrepreneurial activity as a core driver of economic development. The members identified a technology platform called EcoMap, which “centralize(s) information about the resources, organizations, people, and opportunities within any given ecosystem.”
With a bias toward action, the Carlsen Center and Sierra College invested in bringing a dynamic nature to the startup diagram by launching the NorCal Entrepreneur Hub on the EcoMaps technology. This resource enables innovators, startup founders and small business owners to find and connect with the right resources for their business, including investors, mentorship, networking groups, training programs and more. Spanning from the Capitol Region to the Greater Tahoe Basin, users, including first-time founders looking for guidance, serial entrepreneurs and small business owners looking for capital and pro bono consulting, can tap into the vast ecosystem of resources available to help them achieve their goals.
Ultimately, ecosystem mapping can be a catalyst for conversation in the ecosystem. It should be a living map that serves as a strategy tool to help entrepreneurs find what they need when they need it. It can also build the ecosystem and identify ways to foster collaboration across it.
The Carlsen Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Sacramento State serves as a regional hub and platform for providing approachable and accessible entrepreneurial education, community, and support to enable startup founders of all backgrounds to explore and launch their ventures.
Cameron Law is the executive director of the Carlsen Center, a passionate ecosystem builder, and a proud Sacramento native.
