What is my role in the startup ecosystem? Should I have one?
Do ecosystems happen by magic, or are they created?
I have been around long enough to witness the powerful and emergent contribution of the startup ecosystem to Australian and global society.
It is a valuable asset for our planet and people in trouble because it mobilises society around solutions. It delivers impact at scale.
15 years ago (in Australia at least) people started identifying themselves as part of a group who would be good at starting companies. They referred to themselves as a ‘startup ecosystem’.
Inside that community today are tribes of #deeptech, #fintech, #climatetech, #web3, etc people building subcultures and toolsets so that the rising tide lifts all boats. It is massive. We can’t see the edges.
But if you concentrate you can see them operating like organisms.
Working on and in an ecosystem
Some of us believe in the job of working on the ecosystem itself. Nurturing it to grow strong and more capable.
One of my intellectual collaborators on this topic is Cameron Turner — an entrepreneur in residence and lecturer at University of Queensland.
Our last conversation was about Conjuring Scenius by Packy McCormick. ‘Scenius’ is a term coined by artist & thinker Brian Eno to describe the collective genius of a society.
“What really happened was that there was sometimes very fertile scenes involving lots and lots of people — some of them artists, some of them collectors, some of them curators, thinkers, theorists, people who were fashionable and knew what the hip things were — all sorts of people who created a kind of ecology of talent.” Brian Eno
Paddy’s post breaks down the properties of scenius and I encourage a read because you will recognise the world we live in. These times, as it turns out, have much in common with the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution.
Communities have formed, they are sharing ideas and tools to connect and network effects are delivering breakthrough successes. Now global crises of pandemics and climate change are creating an accelerant to push these dynamics harder.
But can we contribute?
One question in the post is whether or not we can cause scenius to happen or if we just need to get out of the way. A bit of both I would say. We can’t force it, but we can work it. I’ve seen people do it and I have done it myself.
Accepting that it needs to happen on its own accepts a passive engagement with the world.
I’m not that person.
We need to create the conditions for reactions to happen. Like any other biological system, we need to create the ‘growth medium’ in which the reaction can happen more strongly.
This post has consolidated some thoughts for me and highlighted what I will do more of.
But that’s for another post.
In the meantime…
… what are you going to do?
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