The Commons at Nine Months: From Shared Vision to Shared Stewardship

A progress update on our growing digital and in-person community for ecosystem builders and the people who support them.

A glimpse of our growing community connections on the ESHIP Commons

By Fay Horwitt, ESHIP Alliance Field Builder-in-Residence and Founder, WayBuilders

Beginning in 2018, I had the honor of serving as the architect of the ESHIP Communities initiative, which was created to codify and test promising ecosystem building methodologies in communities across the country. The effort was a part of the broader ESHIP initiative, funded and stewarded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which also included the popular ESHIP Summits, the ESHIP Goals development, and the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Building Playbook.

In the early days of the ESHIP initiative—long before there was a digital platform to point to—during the pandemic, a small group of leaders from national organizations galvanizing the emergent entrepreneurial ecosystem building field were meeting regularly in an attempt to align goals and efforts. I am honored to have been a part of those conversations alongside leaders from Startup Champions Network (SCN), the International Business Innovation Association (InBIA), SourceLink, the Agile Strategy Lab, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Co.Starters, Kauffman Foundation, and Rural Rise.

Across summits, working sessions, and in ESHIP Summit hallway conversations, we talked about how fragmented our field felt—how much knowledge lived in people’s heads, inboxes, and isolated networks. We talked about the need for better ways to stay connected between convenings, to see what others were building, to share tools and opportunities, and to support one another in work that is long-term, relational, and often invisible.

Everyone repeatedly agreed the field needed a shared digital home. And just as quickly, we would, then, acknowledge how hard it would be to build and sustain one. The overwhelming consensus was that it was something no one organization could - or should - do on its own.

In May 2025, under the banner of the newly minted ESHIP Alliance, we took a meaningful step toward making that long-held vision real. The ESHIP Commons officially launched and I was honored to lead the charge in the development of this emergent digital and in-person community as the Alliance’s first Field Builder-in-Residence.

Nine months later, the ESHIP Commons is not only live—more importantly, it is alive. 

A few key network milestones and statistics

What We’ve Accomplished in Nine Months

When we launched the Commons, we set a modest initial goal: 200 members. We knew participation mattered more than scale, and we were focused on building a space that ecosystem builders would actually use.

As of today, the Commons has grown to 450+ members, with 280 actively contributing through posts, comments, reactions, shared resources, and live events.

That level of participation is notable. In many online communities, only a small fraction of members ever meaningfully engage. In the Commons, well over half of members are active contributors—asking thoughtful questions, responding to one another, and sharing insights from their work.

Just as important, we’re seeing:

• consistent month-over-month referrals and membership growth

• strong retention across legacy and new members

• repeat contributors and peer-to-peer exchanges that don’t rely on staff prompts

In a field built on trust, relationships, and long-term commitment, those signals matter. They tell us the Commons is becoming a place people return to—not just visit.

The ESHIP Commons builds upon the community and work that grew from the ESHIP Summits. Here’s a photo from the 2019 event.

From Field Vision to Field Infrastructure

For years, the ESHIP Summit community named the same needs again and again: better ways to stay connected between convenings, clearer visibility into events and opportunities across networks, shared places to exchange tools and practices, and more sustainable pathways for ecosystem builders themselves.

That vision was articulated early on. As Amanda West wrote following the 2017 ESHIP Summit, the intent was never for convenings alone to carry the work forward, but to help establish more permanent community infrastructure for the field—so ecosystem builders could find and meaningfully connect with the support and resources they need in a just-in-time way, long after any single event concluded.

The Commons is where many of those long-articulated initiatives—captured in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Building Playbook and early ESHIP reflections—are beginning to find a home. These ESHIP Goals projects, which once lived primarily in strategy documents and summit conversations, are now taking shape as shared, living infrastructure for the field.

In its first nine months, the Commons has begun to operationalize several of the initiatives the field collectively called for, including:

• A shared online platform for the ecosystem building field, enabling ongoing connection, peer learning, and professional recognition across networks

• A community-wide job board that surfaces ecosystem building roles and career pathways across organizations and regions

• A shared events calendar that makes it easier to discover trainings, summits, and learning opportunities across the broader ecosystem building landscape

• Spaces for storytelling, resource-sharing, and practice exchange, where members contribute tools, insights, and lessons learned from their work

• Direct communication and “ask-for-help” channels that allow ecosystem builders to surface needs, pose questions, and find collaborators when it matters most

• Ecosystem building programming embedded in existing conferences, through Commons Live curation and shared learning tied to gatherings such as Global Entrepreneurship Congress, e.Builders Forum, the IEDC National Conference, the SCN Summit, and the Entrepreneurship Funders Network convening.

Together, these elements represent more than a collection of features. They point toward a connective layer for the field—one we are beginning to steward and experiment with, and that will require ongoing contribution, care, and collaboration from the broader ESHIP community to fully take shape.

Looking Ahead: From Platform to Catalyst

Looking ahead, the Commons is beginning to explore how it can evolve beyond a place to connect and share—into a place that supports collective action across the field.

At its fullest expression, it could become a creative hub where field-level initiatives are generated, tested, and integrated — helping ideas move from conversation to collaboration to lasting impact. Some may, as with the ones listed above, also find their home here on the Commons.

This vision builds on years of testing and learning within the ESHIP efforts and reflects a growing recognition across the field: advancing ecosystem building practice requires more than good ideas. It requires scaffolding. It requires trust. And it requires shared spaces where people can find one another, test ideas together, and coordinate action over time.

The Commons is not a finished product. It is intentionally designed to evolve with the help of the field it serves.

A handful of ESHIP-ers from over the years that you may recognize

What’s Coming Next

As we move into this next chapter, our focus is on deepening what’s already working while thoughtfully testing a small number of new ways the Commons can support connection, visibility, and shared leadership across the field. Some of what follows is already underway; other elements will be explored in phases, shaped by member interest, partner collaboration, and available capacity:

• Expanded learning resources and curated content, with new tools, reflections, and learning opportunities designed to support ecosystem builders in their day-to-day work and long-term practice

• Monthly Partner Spotlights, highlighting organizations advancing ecosystem building practice and inviting the network to engage more deeply with their work, insights, and opportunities

• Partner Spaces, designed for aligned organizations to convene their networks within the broader Commons community community and connect their members into field-wide conversations

• Member-Led Spaces, where ecosystem builders can host conversations, working groups, and communities of practice around shared interests, challenges, or emerging ideas

• A new Our Field section, which will serve as a home for a showcase of field building projects, as well as a growing directory of National Resource Providers (more than 100+ organizations that support people building local ecosystems). This will make it easier to see who’s doing what and where collaboration is possible.

And yes—there will be a few new ways to engage and some fun surprises along the way, too!

An Invitation to Participate (at Your Own Pace)

As the Commons grows, so does our invitation to you. Participation doesn’t look the same for everyone, and all levels of engagement matter. What makes the Commons work is not everyone doing the same thing—but many people contributing in ways that fit their capacity, interests, and moment in time. A community grows as more people contribute as co-creators.

There are a couple of simple ways to engage:

1) Show up regularly

Visit the Commons a couple of times a week to read posts, respond to conversations, and stay connected to what’s emerging across the field helps keep the Commons active, responsive, and relevant.

2) Share and participate

Posting updates, insights, resources, and opportunities through the News Feed or Ask-a-Builder spaces—and joining live events when you’re able—strengthens the collective learning and connection that the Commons is designed to support.

Each of these forms of participation helps the Commons do what it does best: surface knowledge, foster relationships, and make the field more connected between moments of convening.

An invitation just for you!

Introducing the Commons CREW: Shared Stewardship in Action

For some, participation is enough. For others, there’s a desire to help care for the space itself. As the Commons has grown, it’s become clear that sustaining a high-touch, collaborative community requires shared care. We often get asked by network members about how they can best contribute to the ESHIP Alliance.

This year, we’re launching the Commons CREW - a group of members who want to play a more active role in supporting engagement, content flow, and connection across the platform.  CREW stands for ‘Connect Rally Empower Weave’.

The CREW is not about moderation alone. It’s about intentionally activating our community. CREW members help welcome new participants, spark conversation, curate content, uplift valuable contributions, make connections, and support the rhythms that make the Commons feel alive and human. In doing so, they help ensure that leadership, creativity, and momentum are distributed across the network rather than concentrated in a small core.

This is an invitation for those who have found value in the Commons and feel called to help care for it—to shape not just what happens here, but how it happens. Your help will give us the capacity to add more features that benefit the entire network.

Click the button bellow to explore what the Commons CREW looks like in practice and how to get involved.

Gratitude—and a Shift Toward Shared Ownership

None of this would exist without the commitment and care of many people.

Thank you to the ESHIP core team and council for their leadership and guidance. Thank you to our partners and funders—especially the Kauffman Foundation—for supporting the long-term vision behind this work. And thank you to every ecosystem builder and national resource provider who has joined the Commons, contributed a post, shared a resource, asked a question, or simply shown up to learn alongside others.

The growth of the Commons so far—and its future sustainability—depend on the contribution, talent, insight, and leadership of the network itself.

What began years ago as a shared aspiration is becoming a shared responsibility.

We’re grateful to be building it with you.

Fay Horwitt
(from the desk—and slightly behind-the-scenes heart—of your friendly field platform builder)