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Technical.ly
06-05-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Why every city has a ‘startup week' now — and whether they should
When first launched Philly Tech Week 15 years ago, the logic was straightforward: gather scattered entrepreneurs and technologists together, put the city on the map, and throw a few great parties along the way. A decade and a half later, nearly every US city with entrepreneurial aspirations seems to host a version of a 'startup week.' But as economic conditions, work habits and generational preferences shift, some are reevaluating whether the week-long event model is still effective — or necessary. 'The 'week' was proof that a city had arrived,' said Brian Brackeen, general partner at Lightship Capital and co-organizer of Black Tech Week, a national conference hosted since 2014. 'You had enough happening to fill multiple days.' The model flourished because it allowed cities to showcase a critical mass of entrepreneurial activity while providing flexible attendance options. 'If someone couldn't make Thursday or Friday, they could still attend events earlier in the week,' said Maria Underwood, a veteran ecosystem builder based in Birmingham, Alabama, which hosts the multi-day founded in 2015. Victor Hwang, founder of entrepreneur advocacy network Right to Start, believes a full week's slate of events encourages more local partnerships. Multiple groups could host their own gatherings under the larger banner, he said, relieving pressure from a single organizer and fostering greater community participation. Yet some old-school supporters — including CEO Chris Wink, who was instrumental in creating the original Philadelphia model — are skeptical the format still fits. 'Funding isn't there anymore to sponsor beer-soaked warehouse parties,' Wink said. He described the era of 'throwing 300-person parties subsidized by private equity firms' as 'insane by today's standards.' Instead, Wink said, founders now emphasize business value, intentional connections and efficiency in events — priorities that seem to clash with sprawling multi-day schedules. 'Happy hours are a dime a dozen' Brackeen, of Lightship Capital, echoed this shift toward intentionality. Black Tech Week, for example, has evolved to include highly structured investor-founder matchmaking sessions and corporate 'biz-dev days,'maximizing direct business outcomes rather than casual networking. Birmingham's Underwood agreed. 'Happy hours are a dime a dozen,' She said. 'The events that will sustain are ones creating intentional, strategic connections for founders.' Economic realities have also changed. CEO Wink cited the post-pandemic reevaluation of work-life balance and tighter capital environments as reasons why the sprawling event model might no longer be economically sustainable — or desirable. Still, 'weeks' remain valuable to emerging ecosystems. 'There's still a 26-year-old who was 12 when you first threw those parties,' Brackeen reminded Wink. 'They deserve their chance to experience it, too.' Though some places are still launching 'week'-themed editions — DC Tech Week was new on the scene last year, offering two dozen events across several days in the nation's capital — a rising trend is the startup 'weekend' instead. That's the branding for a program offered by Techstars, which partners on the three-day events in cities from Pittsburgh to New Orleans to Rome and Sao Paulo.. Ultimately, ecosystem leaders agree that while the week model once signaled vibrancy and ambition, its future might lie in hybrid, focused programming emphasizing specific business outcomes over sheer volume of activity. 'The vibe has shifted from 'cool and fun' to practical resilience,' Hwang said. 'People still care, but they care differently.'
Technical.ly
04-05-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
When do direct flights boost economic output (and venture capital deals)?
Though the US already has more liquid capital than any other country, regions short on institutional money still chase outside investors with tactics like subsidizing direct flights and flying in VCs for 1:1 meetings. Research does show startups gain measurable innovation advantages (more patents and citations) when direct flights link them to VC centers — with effects far stronger on international routes than domestic ones. So yes, ecosystem leaders should invite investors and host meet-and-greets, but not universally fixate on capital, because entrepreneurs need many resources, including quality of life. → Read on for details and join Chris Wink's weekly newsletter for more Pressed to choose between being a home for investors and entrepreneurs, choose the entrepreneurs every time. Venture capitalists are bankers with better branding. So forgive me for raising my eyebrows whenever I hear an economic development leader tell me they're working on attracting more capital to their region — or that an entrepreneur thinks her hometown just 'needs more capital.' Everybody says this everywhere. The United States has more liquid capital markets than any other country on the planet. We also have more airports than anywhere else. Stop complaining. Still, I admit research shows there are cases where that is sound economic development strategy. So when is it smart for regional economic development groups to chase venture capitalists? And what does it have to do with direct flights? 'Venture capitalists monitor their investments closely,' said Brian Brackeen, the Lightship Capital general partner whose Black Tech Week event series in Cincinnati matches startups directly with VC investors and corporate clients. 'Founders think constantly about capital. They prefer not to, but they have to.' Brackeen was my foil on this topic in the last Builders Live podcast alongside our cohosts Victor Hwang of Right to Start and Maria Underwood, an ecosystem builder turned startup COO from Birmingham, Alabama. Our conversation veered into the role of local events to bring in outside investors — the topic of a separate future story — but our original debate centered on when local ecosystems chasing outside capital made sense. Brackeen assured me that no 'sensible' local economic leader is expecting to attract a top-tier investment firm to open an office in their city or state on a whim. Most US regions are without much institutional capital. Local rich grandees might be angel investors, but can often be unsavvy, or at least limited in their checkbooks. Many economic leaders want to create ties to bigger pools of money to accelerate homegrown inventors — and limit departures for bigger investment hubs. Air travel is often regarded as an economic salve for such far-flung places. One signature initiative from Jobs Ohio, the liquor-tax funded, state economic development powerhouse, is its ' air service restoration program,' in which it effectively subsidizes direct flights from its airports to major financial centers at up to $10 million annually. Northwest Arkansas's entrepreneur support organization is organizing a VC immersion program, in which it flies in investors for 1:1 meetings with inventors. Ecosystem organizer Serafina Lalany posted a video of her team happily distributing posters of the campaign. 'Bringing investors to your city works,' said Underwood, who led efforts to integrate investor pitches into Birmingham's upcoming Sloss Tech event. 'We bring VCs who've never been to Birmingham to meet our founders. It's economical and effective.' Research backs her up, to a point. Startups gain measurable innovation advantages when connected by direct flights to venture capitalists, according to a 2016 MIT paper, with a 3.1% increase in patent filings and a 5.8% increase in patent citations. Interestingly, US communities don't benefit from new direct flights anywhere near as much as international cities do, at least according to a 2018 paper. Foreign cities with new direct flights to Silicon Valley saw an additional $23 million in VC funding over the next year. Any connection between big enough domestic and foreign hubs did the trick. With each newly introduced direct route between a U.S. and Chinese city increased annual M&A transaction volumes by approximately $50 million, according to a 2021 paper. Domestic cities didn't see the same boost. 'For companies farther away, particularly internationally, direct flights matter immensely,' wrote Waters. This advantage is magnified by geographical distance and cultural barriers. Selling bits of an early-stage private company for infusions of cash is always tricky, especially for first-time founders and in untested markets. Network effect is real, and local organizers can change that. Invite investors to your annual events and organize meet-and-greets, but ecosystem leaders ought not universally fixate on venture capital. Entrepreneurs need many resources. As Hwang put it: 'Making connections for entrepreneurs will make good things happen in lots of unexpected ways.'
Technical.ly
02-03-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Ecosystem building is coalition building
Current federal policy shifts, which are forcing significant funding cuts and other changes to innovation programs, are creating challenges for local ecosystem builders. But ecosystem building is about bringing together diverse groups to support entrepreneurship, technology and economic development. So despite national political turmoil, many local organizers remain focused on practical solutions and community-driven economic growth. Shared goals like job creation can bridge political divides. One definition of justice is ensuring everyone has a fair shot at thriving. That's what lights me up about entrepreneurship, technology and career training. It's also why I care about information resources (read: journalism) and the rule of law. I'll talk to practically anyone who is serious about this work, even if I disagree with them on plenty else. This is the heart of ecosystem building, which I think of as the art of encouraging the big and the small, the weird and the square, the fast and the slow to inhabit the same environment. Not all species need to interact, and when they do some may even be at odds. My pursuit: Find the most important work that stitches together the most good-faith actors. Ecosystem building is coalition building, then — and boy could we use coalition building right now. This week, I recorded the next in Technically's ecosystem-building podcast with investor Brian Brackeen, the founding partner of Lightship Capital, and small business advocate Victor Hwang, the founder/CEO of Right to Start. What unites us is a passion for how local organizing and entrepreneurship define the American project. Our intention is to focus on that local work, which we've all found is better at uniting than dividing. 'When you start talking about entrepreneurship and the power to create jobs, to lift communities, to create wealth, to raise incomes, to fight poverty, fight inequality, it's pretty universal how [popular] that is,' Hwang said. 'But it's also one of those issues that doesn't get talked about much, which means it's still pretty fresh.' Trouble is, I feel unable to ignore how a bombastic start to the Trump administration has impacted local organizing around the country. In addition to firing an estimated 200,000 federal workers and cutting federal funding less out of budgetary consequence than political motivation, the bipartisan Tech Hubs program has been under fire, as has reported, alongside data gathering and AI research. And so, with a pledge to work to focus more on local, Hwang, Brackeen and I took some time to gather our advice for each other, and peers, that are in ecosystem building work around the country. Local bright spots in entrepreneurship Plenty of local organizing continues. Brackeen praised Endeavor, a global network that supports entrepreneurs outside traditional venture capital strongholds like Silicon Valley and New York. '[Endeavor is] doubling down on ecosystems and investing in positive entrepreneurs who create a multiplier effect in their communities,' Brackeen said. Hwang, reflecting on a road trip he took last fall, emphasized the unlikely places where entrepreneurial energy is thriving. 'In Portland, Oregon, there's an effort to build a shoe innovation district in Old Town,' Hwang said. 'In Akron, Ohio, they turned an old Goodyear tire plant into Bounce Innovation Hub, a massive coworking and innovation space.' The federal policy landscape: A challenge for local builders Entrepreneurship-led economic development may be on the rise. But strategies developed under the climate and racial justice–focused industrial policy of the Biden administration are being scrutinized, if not abandoned altogether. A report released last fall by Senate Republicans as an analysis of National Science Foundation grants titled ' DEI: Division. Extremism. Ideology. ' was recirculated this month by organizations attempting to redact politicized terms from their websites and applications. Of the major innovation role research universities play in many regions, Brackeen said: 'If you're Columbus and your ecosystem is driven by Ohio State spin-offs, you could be affected more than, say, Tulsa, which relies on philanthropic private capital.' 'The news makes it seem like we're at war with each other, but when you actually visit communities, people are just focused on doing the work.' Victor Hwang, Right to Start national Map of Innovation Ecosystems includes an index that relies heavily on the influence of major R&D investments. How much those investments change over time will shake up where technology is commercialized. Federally-funded Tech Hubs organizers are nervous. Yet Hwang says on the ground, local organizers and entrepreneur supporters can only focus on what they can control — and many are doing just that. 'It's almost like we live in two different universes,' he said. 'The news makes it seem like we're at war with each other, but when you actually visit communities, people are just focused on doing the work.' Coalition building as a path forward As ecosystem builders look for ways to sustain momentum, the conversation turned to coalition building as a strategy for navigating political uncertainty. Hwang's Right to Start organization is actively working across political divides, launching in-state coalitions in places like Arkansas and Indiana, with plans for expansion into California, Michigan, Missouri, New York and North Carolina. 'We had over a dozen Right to Start Act bills introduced across states with vastly different political leadership,' he said. 'Creating an office of entrepreneurship, tracking entrepreneurs, shifting economic development priorities — all of these are ideas with broad appeal.' Brackeen added that economic development strategies differ by region but ultimately share the same goal. 'Ohio's model is very different from New York's, but at the end of the day, they both want the same thing — thriving businesses,' he said. 'If you strip away the political middleman, it's clear that entrepreneurship is a common ground.' Can local ecosystem builders continue to thrive in an era of political division? Hwang and Brackeen remain optimistic but realistic. 'This is still a bottom-up democracy,' Hwang said. 'Both parties haven't quite figured out how to tap into the energy of entrepreneurship, but the leader who does will have a major political advantage in the coming years.' Policing language is easier than forging connections My favorite social video of the week is from TikTok user @nopebrigade0 who identifies as a sociology PhD candidate and argues two of my favorite points: If you call everything fascism, the word loses meaning, and policing language is often classist virtue signaling. After I published an op-ed critiquing Elon Musk for arrogantly overriding democratic ideals, plenty of readers criticized me for not being critical enough. Following my last column in which I argued that a Trump-championed witch hunt for DEI programs was no less an attack on free speech than mandating DEI language, one friend belittled my writing as daring to equate his political views with those of his political opponent. I find this unproductive. As the social activist Bernice Johnson Reagon, who sadly died last year, put it: 'If you're in a coalition and you're comfortable, you know it's not a broad enough coalition.' It is so much easier to police the language of someone you mostly agree with, than it is to build bridges to someone you mostly disagree with. Better to build a coalition around important issues we can agree on. 'What we need is a narrative of who we are together, who we are as a nation,' as that TikTok user eloquently puts it. 'It can be a big, expansive, wonderful one.' National politics and federal priorities do shape state and local strategies. They did under the Biden administration, and they will under Trump. Activism is necessary, so do call your elected officials and attend town halls. For most of us though,the best path forward remains at the community level. 'People ascribe evilness to the 'other side' without actually knowing them,' Brackeen said. 'But when you focus on real entrepreneurs, real businesses, and real job creation, you can find common ground in any political environment.'
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Two Missouri lawmakers looking to dismantle the ATF
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Two lawmakers representing Missouri are now leading the charge of dismantling the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. The agency dates back to 1886 but has worked in a standalone capacity since 1972. The ATF has a field office in Kansas City, so that would mean more locally based federal employees laid off. This agency does a lot of work we don't always see, from leading firearm and arson investigations, to background checks, and making sure firearm dealers are in accordance with federal law. KCKPS employee on leave after alleged bank robbery Steve Brackeen owns a local gun shop and he calls the agency's role 'critical'. It was almost two years ago when Brackeen had his gun shop robbed, nearly 50 guns were stolen. 'This was our book keeping. They drove right through the wall, smashed all the furniture and computers into the wall. If the secretary was sitting here, she would have been dead.' The ATF was the agency tasked with solving this crime. 'Shortly after they broke in, the ATF comes in and of course they start collecting evidence. After a short while, they knew everybody involved and arrested them all.' The Jackson County Prosecutor's Office stated: 'As a result of our strong collaboration with the ATF, prosecutors are able to secure convictions in firearms and arson cases that might otherwise remain unsolved.' But two congressmen—Mark Alford and Eric Burlison—are part of a group of GOP lawmakers who want the bureau dissolved. Alford's team said because of his 'packed schedule,' he couldn't speak on camera but sent FOX4 a statement that in part says: 'The ATF is a rogue bureaucracy with one of the worst track records in law enforcement. Time and again it has infringed on Americans' God-given Second Amendment rights, while inappropriately collecting vast amounts of personal information on law abiding citizens. If this agency is not willing to respect the constitution, it should be abolished, and its authorities reallocated to other departments with a record of following the law.' Prosecutors not pursuing criminal charges against former pastor, school board president Bobby Hawk The statement did not provide any evidence supporting those allegations. 'They're the critical part of the gun world. We have to follow their rules and their regulations and keep everything up to date and up to snuff,' Brackeen said. KCPD told FOX4 today they appreciate their relationships with all federal partners, which includes the ATF We reached out to the ATF. A spokesperson said they were given a 90-day period where they are not allowed to do media interviews. That person reached out to headquarters and our request was denied. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
