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Bentos, Doughnuts and More…
New frameworks for entrepreneurial ecosystem building and life.
In January of 2020, before the pandemic lockdown, I was at a gathering of futurists in Charlotte, NC. The assorted disciplines represented included economists, academics, ecosystem builders, entrepreneurs and the simply curious. There, I was introduced to a book by Yancey Strickler, co-founder and former CEO of Kickstarter, “This Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World”. I was intrigued by the title, and put it on my ever growing list of books to read.
In the months that followed, like the rest of the world, I sought solace, sense and sanity in the new normal of chaos, uncertainty and misinformation. Learning to adapt was challenging, because the situation was ever evolving. Grasping a tangible guide seemed impossible, no compass existed.
That summer I decided to take a road trip and travel to the northeast coast to avoid the heat and spiking COVID numbers that plagued my state (Oklahoma). Along the way, I listened to the book, and at the risk of sounding cliche, it changed my life.
For the past few years, I have worked in the emerging field of entrepreneurial ecosystem building. It is a holistic and system level approach at the intersection of community building and economic development. A great deal of the work has been focused on…
