A plea for a more transparent and integrated startup ecosystem

As a newbee in the Leuven - and by extension Flemish and Belgian - startup ecosystem, I rapidly became intrigued by the complexity of the landscape.

Sure thing that startups are in need of and can tremendously benefit from support, coaching and mentoring of different kinds (financial, legal, administrative, infrastructural, mental, sector-specific, …) in all stages (start-up, go-to-market, scaling, exit) and from different angles (peer-to-peer learning as well as grey hair tapping).

Seemingly, this awareness has led to a plethora of dedicated startup supporting initiatives and organizations, each of them undoubtedly valuable. Taken together, however, they represent a jungle of overlapping scopes, duplicate activities and – when it comes to the governmentally funded organizations - competitive KPI’s. Taking into account the myriad of regrettably non-synoptic and non-searchable opportunities for innovation funding, this is a landscape not obvious navigating through as a starting entrepreneur.

I believe there would be great value for all stakeholders involved if startup supporting initiatives and organizations would sharpen their USP’s and jointly seek to fit into a transparent and integrated roadmap for starters, complemented by the goodwill and guts of startup supporters to think and act from the startups best interest perspective. The latter comes down to an organizational pay-it-forward attitude and strong belief in asynchronous reciprocity, generally recognized as the most rewarding mindset for the entrepreneurs themselves.

In practice, startup supporters should engage more in co-coaching with other parties and even redirect young entrepreneurs to other initiatives or organizations from which they can benefit more/most given their particular project, stage and needs, if need be. An approach every person involved is intrinsically aligned with, but when it comes down to shipping, often cramps back in a defensive, protective mode.

As a government and tax payer, I’d rather bet all my money as a whole on a transparent, well-governed eco-system than on scattered, competitive initiatives. Although grants should not be favored as a long-term solution and notwithstanding the need for action at other fronts too, why not also start ‘ecosystem thinking’ at the grant provider’s side, if only to support the above transition towards more road-mapping and cooperation?

By the way, there’s likely a lot to say in favor of extending the above ideal to the overlapping up- and downstream ecosystems, i.e. the initiatives in fostering entrepreneurship at all stages of education as well as the organizational networks surrounding incumbents.

An Tanghe

Project coordinator BRYO I Bright&Young potentials at VOKA l Chamber of Commerce, Leuven, Belgium (Bryo.be); pro bono supporter and facilitator of the Leuven Startups community (Leuven.io); @AnTanghe

P.S. Feel like all of the above paragraphs deserve a separate, more substantiated post. Join in to discuss and for spinning out some thoughts together.