Cross Border Collaboration

If approached properly, state lines and rivers should multiply vs divide. We should dream bigger and collaborate more.

• Rick Finch

Rural Opportunities

In our rural context, the greatest strength is the untapped potential of our people. 15%-20% of American's live in rural communities and are the greatest untapped strategic asset to their communities and our nation.

• Brad Rowland

Entrepreneurs are the true heroes of the American economy. And given the broad array of economic challenges that our nation currently confronts -- historically slow economic growth, a stalling labor market, soaring national debt, and persistent wealth and opportunity disparities -- the efforts of entrepreneurs, ecosystem builders, investors, and economic developers have never been more important.

• John Dearie

Capital, programs, and incentives matter, but they are most effective when aligned around helping founders become better decision-makers, leaders, and operators over time. Ecosystems that slow down to build real capability will outperform those that continue to optimize for speed, optics, or volume.

• Debbie Irwin

Entrepreneurs and the people who claim to support them need to stop mistaking activity for progress and start funding what actually moves founders from hustle to health and from survival to scale.

• Tanya T. Morris

Founder first. It's really easy to get caught up in the programs, metrics, and other ways we try to communicate our value... However, at the end of the day, the most important metric likely can't be tracked: the realized value we deliver to entrepreneurs. If we are hyper-focused on delivering value to founders, the metrics will follow.

• Taylor Vignaroli