As an entrepreneur, you probably have more than enough to keep you busy. Whether you’re a successful founder with several companies under your belt or getting ready to launch your first startup, there will always be fires to put out.
However, despite your hectic schedule, you should always make time to not only build your own company but build the community that surrounds your company. As you’ll see in this blog post, developing your local startup ecosystem is not as hard as it seems, and also yields a multitude of benefits for you and your startup.

Why You Should Strengthen Your Local Startup Ecosystem

Before you set out to bolster your local startup ecosystem, it’s important to evaluate your own personal reasons for doing so. Helping out your entrepreneurial community can lead to a multitude of benefits for you and your company, and beyond.

Entrepreneurship Will Save the Economy

In the Forbes article, “Six Lessons for Building Startup Communities From the Founders of 1 Million Cups”, Nate Olson and Cameron Cushman of the Kauffman Foundation state that new companies, not large ones, are the real job creators in a given economy. By lending a helping hand to your fellow entrepreneurs, you are also helping to stimulate the regional economy.

It’s rewarding to expose politicians, bankers, lawyers and others to their local startups, a world many never knew existed… Traditional community ‘leaders’ are beginning to understand what entrepreneurs have known for a long time – supporting startup communities is key to economic growth.

It Pays to Pay it Forward

When launching your own startup, you’ve undoubtedly endured your fair share of hardship and failure. However, by taking a more active role in the startup community and listening engaging with local startups, you can greatly expand your own knowledge of the trials and tribulations of building a tech company.

According to Joel Gascoigne in his blog post, “Why I’m helping startup founders”:

There’s simply no way I can experience first-hand what’s involved with all the different types of startups, marketing approaches or technical challenges, even if I build many different startups throughout my career. Whilst it’s never the same to hear about someone else’s learning than to go through it yourself, by meeting other founders you can be exposed to much more and multiply your experience and knowledge.

It’s an Easy Way to Establish Your Support System

Even if you are a seasoned entrepreneur with numerous successful startups on your resume, don’t forget that you couldn’t have gotten where you are today without help. Another benefit of participating in your entrepreneurial community is that you can meet with other founders that can help advance you and your company in the future.

Here’s what Gascoigne has to say on the matter:

Meeting lots of founders also gives me a fantastic group of people to call on whenever I have a challenge. I might meet an awesome Android developer who needs to chat about struggles of creating a startup such as validating their idea or gaining traction. If I’m having challenges with Android development, I can easily hit them up for help.

Map Out Your Startup Ecosystem

The first step to building your startup ecosystem is to become acquainted with all of the entrepreneurial activity happening around you. While this may require research, you’ll be able to chart your next steps much more effectively.

This is going to be very important for the sake of knowing your area, and how to work with it to create startup successes. It will also play a key role in building your network so you can organize the ecosystem in a way that is lucrative for startups.

Mapping out your startup ecosystem is also a key step in properly laying out the infrastructure in your area. If your infrastructure is not properly laid out, you are setting your ecosystem up for failure.

Sergio Escobar, key ecosystem leader in Montreal and Founder Institute Director, remembers the early days of Montreal’s startup ecosystem where he attempted to build the ecosystem without properly laying the infrastructure.

Sadly, the incubator program was not very successful and we had to shut down. Frank & Oak, an online clothing shop for men, was the only successful startup coming out of that experience. The problem with the incubator was the issue of not establishing a solid startup infrastructure or pipeline prior to its launch in the community.

That exact reason is why it’s crucial for you to map your startup community out. It’s the first step to laying a solid, and lasting infrastructure.

We have an open-source process for this, called the Startup Ecosystem Canvas, where you can work with the support of your community and the Founder Institute to accurately map your community. Follow these steps to get started:

• Identify active technology- and entrepreneurship-related meetup groups.
• Pinpoint entrepreneurship organizations like the Founder Institute, Startup Weekend, tech conferences, etc. that are currently running programs in your city.
• Find out who the angel investors and VC’s are in your area if any.
• Discover local journalists and news outlets that cover startup-related subjects in your area.
• Track successful startups currently functioning in your area.
• List technology-related colleges, universities, and other educational institutions operating in your area.

Network with Like-Minded People

It is no surprise that the environment plays an important role in one’s success. This is the reason why aspiring actors move to Hollywood, or why fashion designers opt to live in New York. Similarly, those who want to be successful entrepreneurs flock to areas that increase chances of prosperity. So, what happens to the millions who can’t migrate to Silicon Valley? According to MIT Technology Review, centres for innovation are growing worldwide in areas like Bangalore, Beijing, Skolkovo, and London. In fact, not being in proximity to Silicon Valley allows other hopeful entrepreneurs to eliminate the need to move, and gives them the opportunity to create their own equally successful startup ecosystems.

Below are some key reasons to grow a startup network in your area:

Shared Problems, Shared Solutions

If you’re looking for a network that shares the same vision and goals, chances are you’re not alone. Entrepreneurs understand that people who provide support are a priceless resource. By supporting each other, solutions to problems are discovered more efficiently. In the words of Andrew Carnegie:

Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.

Accessibility Allows Growth

Building a network also means finding a common place to gather. Borys Musielak, a Mentor of the Warsaw Founder Institute realized his area didn’t have a center for entrepreneurs to converge when over 100 entrepreneurs from all over the country unexpectedly showed up to his housewarming party. His old fashioned house suddenly became a site for founders to flock and develop their ideas.

Succeed and Fail Together

Being surrounded by those who are trying to achieve their dreams means you will get a first-hand look into both their accomplishments and mistakes. Rather than learning lessons the hard way, you can gain in-depth knowledge from observation.

Your Network is Just as Important as Net Worth

For Musielak, the growth of one’s network also meant the growth of one’s success. Since many promising entrepreneurs and new innovative ideas were present at the monthly meetings, foreign investors began attending as well. People who are in pursuit of success attract others on the same path.

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success

Henry Ford