Last week we partnered with Capital at Play
for the final 1 Million Cups session
before summer break, bringing together the Asheville
Angels, the Asheville
Investment Club and Carofin.
As separate organizations, we’ve all been working toward a program like this.
Instead of trying to throw three unique events around the same topic of
investment, we collaborated to create one larger, more comprehensive, and much
more impactful program that, like we say about our role in the ecosystem, “flies in
formation.”
This got me thinking about connectivity, one of the nine
metrics we use to understand the health of a startup ecosystem. Connectivity is
measured by the number of organizations, accelerators, incubators, coworking
spaces, support programs, mentor groups, and events and examining how well
those systems are horizontally integrated.
Here’s why connectivity matters so much. Connectivity will tell us how
fragmented or collaborative an ecosystem is. Being too
fragmented can create an out-of-balance ecosystem with redundant resources,
events, programs, you-name-it, for an entrepreneur to participate in. This
fragmentation divides not only the entrepreneur’s time, but also the efficacy
of any effort. Connectivity, as a metric, challenges us to decrease the number
of events and programs offered and to increase their quality.
For a proof point, just look at an entrepreneur like Lee Lance, of Ecobot (this
is a short version, we’ll do a full profile in an upcoming newsletter). Lee
went from a Pitch Breakfast to Elevate to Hatch Demo Day to securing his Seed
round from Cofounder’s Capital. Examine Lee’s journey – each step led to
the next one. They didn’t conflict, they weren’t redundant, they complimented
each other. A really mature ecosystem can take a founder through each of those
steps meeting the needs of that founder where they are at the right time.
The ability for a founder to chart a course, mapping out their individual
entrepreneurial journey, can be frictionless or full of obstacles. The degree
of horizontal integration makes all the difference by eliminating redundancy,
focusing our fire power, flying in formation all for the betterment of our
ecosystem. Connectivity, as a metric, challenges us to decrease the number of
events and programs offered and to increase their quality.
Last week I was invited to the ScaleUpWNC 8th cohort kick off and 7th
cohort recap, by Hatch AVL
and Mountain Biz
Works. Chris Buehler, Hatch Board Member, announced that the 7th
cohort reported the highest levels of satisfaction ever for a ScaleUp cohort.
Why? The participants cited the Hatch mentoring complimenting the Mountain Biz Works
curriculum. The collaboration between two organizations made the best program
since inception.
My challenge for all the entrepreneurial support organizations out there — work
together. Don’t be fragmented. The more we do that, the better Asheville’s
founders are. And that’s the only reason these organizations exist, to build
better founders and startups.
So with that, I’ll leave you with an invitation: Asheville
Entrepreneurship Week, September 2nd through 8th. 1 Million Cups will celebrate
its 5th Anniversary and the Asheville Investment Club will host Big Scary Fish
Tank. There will be an Intro to Startup Scene event
(cohosted by my besties from Supportedly),
a Pitch Party, and whatever else you got. Seriously, you want to get on board
with Asheville Entrepreneurship Week? Drop us a note and we’ll find a way to
work together.
