Entrepreneurs Need More Than Capital—They Need Ecosystems

In the book Do Bigger Things, Dan McClure and Jennifer Wilde write about how true innovation happens. It can be messy and requires a lot of listening and convening. It requires a willingness to experiment and learn. It requires networks of actors, not lone heroes.

For decades, our economy has rewarded a narrow slice of entrepreneurs—those who can pitch, scale, and exit quickly. But most mission-driven founders—especially those from historically excluded communities—don’t want to be the next unicorn. They want to build businesses that last, that create jobs, that regenerate communities.

To do that, they need money. But not just any kind of money. They need money that is deployed in a way that is consistent with their values, goals, and realistic projections. And to be able to access this “right fit” money, they need ecosystems: networks of community members, organizations, experts, and cheerleaders that come together with a willingness to think outside the box to achieve results that benefit all stakeholders.

Community investing can only thrive when it is embedded in a strong ecosystem where legal tools, investors of all levels of wealth and income, customized term sheets, financial literacy, and community trust work together to bring formerly invisible assets to the table to support the healthy development of the local economy.

To grow healthy ecosystems to support community investment, we need to invest not just in founders, but in connectors—the people building bridges across silos, holding space for experimentation, and weaving together diverse actors with shared purpose. 

Ecosystem building is not glamorous work. It often goes unrecognized. But it is the foundation for the kind of bold, inclusive, regenerative economy we all deserve. It’s how we stop playing small. It’s how we do bigger things—not by scaling the next app, but by building networks of care, capital, and courage.