Blog Posts - Startup Commons

Transition to digital, for ecosystem intelligence

28/7/2021

The open stack for innovation entrepreneurship

Inspired by the fantastic work of our colleague Chad Renando about Systems and platforms for mapping and measuring innovation ecosystems: Australian and global examples, we at Startup Commons decided that an additional effort was needed from our side to communicate Startup Commons' digital side offering and our position in the 'industry of supporting ecosystem development'.

In the digital economy, the ownership of data in each city or country, should always remain in local hands, where it should primarily generate value for local economy first. But in practice, ecosystem data is scattered through different actors and systems (local and global). This means that no single organisation by itself has all the data there is on the ecosystem in its possession.

Therefore, to achieve a truly 360-degree view of any ecosystem, collaboration between organizations and interoperability between applications, are keys to success. This is the nature of any ecosystem. To establish an architecture that enables ecosystems to capture and use data to improve entrepreneurs' journeys and related supporting services.

Learn more about the digital architecture and approach that we focus on developing. Based on an open tech stack for innovation entrepreneurship ecosystems, built on open standards and interoperability at the core.

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It’s not Startup Commons OR other solutions. It’s about Startup Commons AND other solutions to work together, faster and smarter to create the full picture of your ecosystem.

The best time to start digital transition in your ecosystem was ten years ago. The second best time is now!

Let's talk and make sure we focus on your entrepreneurs and startups and… prepare for and enable future innovation by understanding that we don’t have all of the answers… at least - not yet!

Startup Commons Partners: Startup Genome

30/6/2021

A data-driven assessment and prioritization of gaps to build a sustainable ecosystem strategy

Startup Genome supports forward-looking governments and private organizations around the world to holistically capture the state of their ecosystems, measured across 100+ metrics. Marc Penzel, Founder and President at Startup Genome, and Pranav Arya, Senior Consultant at Startup Genome, provided a dive deep into how a data-driven prioritization of gaps can build a globally-leading ecosystem strategy.

Re-Watch The Webinar

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Help Us Choose Our New Color Style For Growth Academy Materials!

25/6/2021

Startup Commons is expanding the Growth Academy offering beyond our global offering in our own website. We are now making all the Growth Academy eLearning assets fully available for your local distribution, to be integrated in your own digital channels for maximum impact and to give you full freedom and rights for branding and to be localised.

And we’re thinking it’s time to do some proper evolution and have a new color style that provides a qualitative leap while maintaining a touch of neutrality that allows it to be used by multiple organisations regardless of their branding.

Our designers have created some rough drafts, and we’d like to know which one you like! Please help us out by selecting the color style you like best and letting us know why you like it, or what edits you suggest!

Startup Development Phases Case Study - Nanokore, inside the Michigan entrepreneurship ecosystem.

24/6/2021

John A. Swiatek and Dave Meerhaeghe from Nanokore, "dedicated to the Health and Well Being of Michigan’s entrepreneurial community".

picture: https://www.nanokore.com/ with startup commons

What kind of services do you offer in your organization?
We offer new entity formation, what we call “Business in a Box”. We also offer what we call second stage services, meaning all the services an entrepreneur needs after the ideation (see the startup development phase tool). This includes the commercialization of the clients product or service and also help with fundraising. We help the entrepreneur to develop their project, target their clients, fine-tune their communication… In addition to Dave and I we built a network of other experts in the areas of: intellectual property, business development, communication, finance and IT. We have much knowledge about the Asian Markets and sourcing. We help our entrepreneurs design their business for a worldwide market.

What makes your organization unique?
Our twenty years of experience, combined with our faith in humanity, has been two key factors in our success. The pursuit of delivering good services, or as Dave would phrase it: “Let’s build an enduring global brand, how hard can it be”. So simple, but we still live by it today, being genuine and enjoying the process. On our more practical way, we offer one to one mentoring, which according to us is the best way to use leadership. I think our desire to help goes also into helping entrepreneurs to find financial help, which is for our users very helpful and quite rare. A small, strong team can deliver the best services with strong quality.

What have been your biggest challenges this past year? And how did you solve it?
Our biggest challenges have been in the coordination between the services in the Michigan entrepreneur system. Meaning that often one of our client would receive help to start a business but would get stopped at the second phase of growth because suddenly there is nothing available to scale and grow the business. So we have been advocating and mapping the ecosystem, where we found the startup development phase tool very useful, to guide our entrepreneur and discuss with politics how to implement best their services and help.

What do you see being your biggest challenges in the future?
Education, to create an environment where people with various professional backgrounds would come together to share their knowledge and add their touch of expertise. Consider an analogy to what it may have been like being a doctor 150 years ago. It would all start with a crazy person having an idea, cleaning off his kitchen table to practice medicine. Then over the years a chemist would help the doctor with a better drug, or an engineer would add their knowledge with a machine for the operating room - all to help ensure the doctors success. Similarly, entrepreneurs need support to ensure their business success. To develop this type of medical or entrepreneurial ecosystem schools and places to exchange knowledge have been built, places where people could share their success and failures, so all can learn, receive a degree, practice and still keep attending seminars… That is the same kind of ecosystem we dream for the entrepreneurial scene, starting here in Michigan. Our biggest challenge has been to educate politicians and other community leaders about the benefits of considering entrepreneurship as a whole ecosystem that encompasses incubation (a hatching process) and acceleration (bringing up to speed).

Any implementation you intend to keep from this pandemic time?
Keeping up to date all the financial help available for our customers will stay center in our preoccupation.

Why did you choose to use the startup development phase tool?
Startup development phases tool came as an evidence as it was exactly what we were preaching for this last 20 years. I couldn’t have done it better, it was simply the reality, that is exactly how it is out there. For us, at Nanokore, it was perfect, it was incredible, it was what we didn’t had time to synthesize and to discover it was mind-blowing of clarity. Since then, we have been a big advocate of Startup Commons methodology and looking to implement more of it in the Michigan entrepreneur ecosystem.

What could we add to offer you a better service?
Nothing, it has been exactly what we were looking for, and now we look forward to collaborating with you and implement more of your services.

What would you tell someone considering using our framework?
Contact them and see how their services can apply to your ecosystem or need. Their tool offer a clear path of entrepreneurship which regarding the startups journey is like a highlighted highway. So contact them and see how best you could collaborate to implemented their services in your services.

This is an originally posted by Benoit Watteyne. You are free to re-edit and repost this in your own blog or other use under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License terms, by giving credit with a link to www.startupcommons.org and the original post

One-Year Impact Of Innovation Entrepreneurship eLearning Assets By Startup Commons

14/6/2021

1200+ potential new entrepreneurs, 700+ trainers, 1.3M+ Euros worth of accumulating value created by Startup Commons in innovation entrepreneurship ecosystems during the COVID19 pandemic

It’s been more than a year since the pandemic changed the way we live and work. We changed a lot of habits and we missed the physical interactions but at the same time we could see how people gave the best of them when others were in need. We saw solidarity was stronger than ever. A huge wave of help of different kinds swept the whole world.

Startup Commons was also part of that solidarity wave. With our humble contribution, we essentially wanted none to be left behind as we understood that this pandemic would go beyond the health boundaries, having strong socioeconomic implications.

We opened all our innovation entrepreneurship eLearning assets to help create an opportunity for anyone from anywhere in the world, to be better prepared for the positive opportunities during and after this pandemic. By opening as fully free for everyone, we wanted to contribute to empower people and organisations towards building a more vibrant business environment for entrepreneurs, startups and SMEs in general, and also for individuals to create new opportunities, jobs and new businesses.

Our one-year impact infographic shows how the Startup Commons eLearning assets for the innovation entrepreneurship ecosystems have contributed during the covid19 pandemic, from March 2020 to May 2021.

Authors: Margo Nsana, Digiole Oy

Key Takeaways

The United States leads the ranking with the highest number of users consuming the innovation entrepreneurship eLearning resources.
The gender gap is getting more balanced in the innovation entrepreneurship landscape when we compared it to previous years
More than half of all total users are young people. With more and more digital resources and the digitalisation of everything, young people are becoming self-directed learners and look at entrepreneurship with more interest
Around 24% of users are trainers looking at getting the proper combination of innovation entrepreneurship curriculum knowledge and being able to communicate that knowledge for each audience in question.
1000+ ecosystem builders were trained about how to overcome current ecosystem impacts faster and how to contribute towards rebuilding local economies more efficiently.

Next Steps
Startup Commons will continue having these eLearning resources free and accessible for anyone, anywhere, forever. We continue working hard to produce more content and facilitate tools to spread innovation entrepreneurship knowledge in each of the corners of this world.
We did the first big step last year and now again we are taking another big one. From now on all the Startup Commons eLearning assets will be ready for your local distribution and to be embedded into your own digital channels, portals, eLearning platforms, etc.

We committed to help put zero barriers in the way of entrepreneurs, innovators and job creators. There is still a long way to go but we are already closer.

Startup Development Phases Case Study - Alphacrucis College

10/6/2021

Mark Hutchinson from Alphacrucis College "we train for business graduates, counsellors, chaplains, school teachers, and for a wide range of management and leadership roles in NGOs and social service organizations".

©Photo:Mark Hutchinso, Alphacrucis College

Our interview with Mark Hutchinson from the Alphacrucis College, Australia.

Hi Mark,

Could you introduce yourself and tell us a bit more about you and your background?

I am an academic historian who is currently Professor of History and Dean of a professional studies faculty in a Christian liberal arts college in Australia.

And could you tell us about Alphacrucis College?
At about 4000 students Alphacrucis College is small by tertiary standards in Australia, but one of the largest tertiary institutions associated with the protestant tradition. The College is self-accrediting in the areas of theology, ministry, business and leadership, and education, and also runs programs in the social sciences (counselling, chaplaincy, etc). We are ‘dual sector’, in the sense that we offer the sorts of courses normally offered internationally by polytechnics (referred to in Australia as ‘VET’ or Vocational Education and Training courses), and also the sort of courses normally offered by universities (from Bachelors level up to PhD and some professional doctoral degrees). We are currently in the middle of an application for University College status.

What kind of services are you offering ?
My Faculty is ‘Business, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education’, so we train for business graduates, counsellors, chaplains, school teachers, and for a wide range of management and leadership roles in NGOs and social service organizations. We also run quite a lot of vocational education in schools programs, to assist students broaden their skill-sets and individualize their pathways. One of these is called the ‘Young Entrepreneurs Scheme’, and it is being piloted in an area typified by high rates of youth unemployment. The program works with the municipal council and local businesses to provide the social capital, resilience and skills for young people to become involved in new industries and startups.

What made you use the Startup Commons framework?
One of the functions our Faculty performs is to provide insights for Australian school leaders. Australia has one of the largest non-state school sectors in the world. Many of these are small and/or non-systemic - an analysis of the sector suggested that innovation was difficult for smaller, and more isolated schools. I was seeking a model which would enable us to establish the normative elements for startup innovation, particularly as this related to ideating and planting new schools. The Startup Commons framework was an approachable and well laid-out heuristic for helping conceptualize the pathway, against which the normal operations of schools could be compared.

In which context did you use it?
The framework was used as the basis for a presentation to Principals of larger, networked schools, and policy makers for the two national peak agencies, which have interests in new campus planting, and innovative forms of schooling.

Could you share your experience about using it, easy or difficult to use?
It was very clear, and followed broader literature on entrepreneurship and new startups. By providing detailed descriptions of the various phases, it enabled me to map the sub-content elements of each phase against typical school organizational behaviour. It pointed out extremely clearly the ‘hold’ points at which key decisions or actions needed to be made, and often were not.

What do you think will make other people use it?
The framework is clear and well developed.

What would be your biggest wish for the people reading us?
The idea of making startup information easily accessible is very helpful. Many founders launch into business without an understanding of the various stages, and therefore resources, skills, values and preparation that they need. Having readily accessible information, which is connected to quality research, and mentoring/ advisory services, is a real boon to early career founders.

And what could we wish for you for your next steps?
We are filling out the entrepreneurship pathway from school through to a germinator/ startup studio core for a new type of entrepreneurship degree.

Any inspirational book, talk or read you would like to share with our reader?
Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne’s Blue Ocean Strategy has been a reminder to me that innovation is central to growth, and that it happens out beyond where others are operating.

This is an originally posted by Benoit Watteyne. You are free to re-edit and repost this in your own blog or other use under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License terms, by giving credit with a link to www.startupcommons.org and the original post

Webinar Recording - Using Machine Learning To Enable Automation & Intelligence In Your Ecosystem

9/6/2021

A behind-the-scenes glimpse of the use case we are working with for initiating ecosystem intelligence implementation

As an ecosystem grows and evolves, more digital resources and services are created to support startups and entrepreneurs in their different phases, new people decide to initiate the startup journey, more support is offered, more interactions among ecosystem actors are generated, etc. All of them are scattered in different tools, applications and platforms, increasing the ecosystem builders’ needs to connect them to help ecosystem users navigate in this complexity. Doing this manually simply limits the scalability factor to orchestrate the ecosystem and therefore its capacity to provide and serve startups and entrepreneurs with the right answers.

In this webinar, we are presenting the opportunities around machine learning to enable more automation and intelligence in your ecosystem. We will give attendees a behind-the-scenes glimpse to get to know the use case we are working with for automated ‘startup development phases’ -labelling for startup events. Plus, you will see our current prototype work of this first machine learning use case.

Re-Watch The Webinar

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ecosystemOS protolab webinar

1/6/2021

We are presenting the opportunities around machine learning to enable more automation and intelligence in your ecosystem

As an ecosystem grows and evolves, more digital resources and services are created to support startups and entrepreneurs in their different phases, new people decide to initiate the startup journey, more support is offered, more interactions among ecosystem actors are generated, etc. All of them are scattered in different tools, applications and platforms, increasing the ecosystem builders’ needs to connect them to help ecosystem users navigate in this complexity. Doing this manually simply limits the scalability factor to orchestrate the ecosystem and therefore its capacity to provide and serve startups and entrepreneurs with the right answers.

Join us on Tuesday, June 8 at 3 p.m. EEST for a 60-minute webinar with the ecosystemOS machine learning team. In the ecosystemOS protolab webinar we are presenting the opportunities around machine learning to enable more automation and intelligence in your ecosystem. We will give attendees a behind-the-scenes glimpse to get to know the use case we are working with for automated ‘startup development phases’ -labelling for startup events. Plus, you will see our current prototype work of this first machine learning use case.

Feel free to contact us ([email protected]) in advance with your questions/suggestions.

Don't miss this session out and book your place!

Startup Commons Partner: Forward Cities

28/5/2021

Unlock tools to measure the health and equity of an entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Forward Cities is a U.S.-based nonprofit equipping communities and regions to grow and sustain more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem. They work with partners to better understand their current entrepreneurial landscape through the lens of equity and inclusion and help them develop strategies to strengthen systems of support for under-connected, under-invested entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Forward Cities team covered in the Startup Commons Innovation Entrepreneurship Best Practices Webinar Series the different ways in which you can use its E3 Scorecard to guide communities as they identify strengths and gaps within their ecosystem.

Re-Watch The Webinar

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Innovation Entrepreneurship Best Practices Webinar with Forward Cities

19/5/2021

A self-assessment tool to measure the health and equity of an entrepreneurial ecosystem

Are you still looking at how to catalyze entrepreneurial communities to ensure equity for every entrepreneur?

Forward Cities is a U.S.-based nonprofit equipping communities and regions to grow and sustain more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem. Forward Cities core team - Fay Horwitt, President of Forward Cities, Brett Brenton, Senior Director of Learning Networks, and Garrett Raczek, Senior Manager of Special Projects at Forward Cities - will cover the fundamentals around how to ensure equity for every entrepreneur.

On May 27th 2021 @ 3:00 PM EEST

They will also present a self-assessment tool to measure the health and equity of an entrepreneurial ecosystem.

This webinar is ideal for all ecosystem stakeholders wishing to reflect on the current systems of support and identify ways in which equity can be advanced through an ecosystem's: People, Programs, Networks, and Narratives.

In the end of the session, there will be Q&A and experiences sharing from other ecosystem actors. Don't miss it out and book your place!

Register To The Webinar

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