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Seven years ago, we started with a radical belief: economic development should serve communities, not extract from them. That belief has evolved into Economic Impact Catalyst—a global network of dreamers and doers who refuse to accept that wealth-building opportunities should remain concentrated in the hands of a few.
The metrics tell one story—we've supported countless entrepreneurs and facilitated millions in community investment programming. But the real story lives in the possibilities we're creating: the single mother who could turn her home catering business into a restaurant that employs her neighbors. The rural tech entrepreneur who wouldn't have to move to Silicon Valley for capital. The cooperative that could transform a food desert into a place where fresh groceries are community-owned. These aren't anomalies or feel-good case studies. They're blueprints proving that when entrepreneurship becomes truly accessible, entire communities shift from survival mode to wealth-building mode.
What drives this work is something you can feel the moment you walk into any of our team meetings—an electric current of genuine excitement that can't be manufactured or faked. When someone shares news of a client's breakthrough, voices light up with authentic pride. When we hit obstacles, there's this collective lean-in, this hunger to solve problems together that makes challenges feel like puzzles rather than roadblocks. This isn't just workplace culture. It's fuel. The organizations we work with can sense authenticity from miles away, and they respond by sharing their boldest, most vulnerable visions with us. They know we're not just service providers—we're co-conspirators in community transformation.
The full weight of what we're building crystallized for me during our fifth year, when I found myself on a plane to Clearwater for our new office ribbon-cutting ceremony. As I watched other small business owners celebrating alongside us, it hit me: we were a small business supporting other small businesses, all of us defying the same brutal statistics together. The numbers are stark: 20% of small businesses fail within two years, 50% within five. Yet here we stand in year seven, more energized and committed than ever—living proof that when you align passion with purpose and surround yourself with the right people, sustainability becomes not just possible but joyful.
Let me be clear about something: this journey hasn't been a series of photographic moments. We've weathered late nights debugging systems that seemed determined to crash at the worst possible moments. We've had difficult conversations about systemic barriers that made everyone in the room uncomfortable. We've watched progress move at a pace that sometimes felt glacial while communities needed change yesterday. We've had to invent new frameworks for community engagement because existing models weren't built for the work we're doing. We've developed alternative success metrics because traditional venture capital measures couldn't capture the full value of community wealth creation.
But here's what strikes me most about our challenging moments: even when we're struggling, there's an underlying current of excitement. When roadblocks appear, our team approaches them with curiosity rather than defeat. When the organizations we support face setbacks, we rally with genuine care and creative problem-solving that surprises even us.
All of this matters more now than ever because the landscape is shifting in ways that validate everything we believed seven years ago. There's growing recognition that diverse entrepreneurship ecosystems aren't just morally imperative—they're economically essential. Corporate capitalism is showing its limitations, and communities are demanding alternatives that build wealth locally rather than siphoning it away. What energizes me most is watching the ripple effects not just from our work, but from the communities we've been fortunate enough to work alongside: entrepreneurs that were supported three years ago are now mentoring the next wave, communities are sharing strategies across state lines, and local governments are adopting policies that prioritize community wealth-building over corporate incentives.
Seven years ago, we set out to prove that equitable entrepreneurship could work. Today, we know it works. We've seen it transform communities, refined our own approach through trial and error, and built a team capable of scaling this impact exponentially. The next phase isn't about proving anything—it's about making equitable entrepreneurship the default rather than the exception. We're building technology and infrastructure for a movement powered by people who genuinely love what they do and believe deeply in the communities they serve.
This work is sustained by gratitude that fuels everything we do moving forward. To our team: thank you for bringing your full selves to this work every single day and for making even the mundane feel extraordinary. Your commitment to authentic community partnership makes everything else possible. To the community leaders who trust us with their visions: thank you for showing us what's possible when communities have the right support and for teaching us how to be better partners in this work. To the communities themselves: thank you for your patience, your feedback, and your willingness to experiment alongside us as we figure out how to do economic development technology differently.
The movement we're building isn't just about business success—it's about reimagining who gets to participate in wealth creation and ensuring that entrepreneurship becomes a tool for community liberation rather than individual extraction. We're seven years in, and we're just getting started.
