Ottawa’s Founder Institute wants to create an ecosystem canvas — and it’s inviting the local startup community to help them do it.
The Ottawa Startup Ecosystem Canvas provides a list of resources meant to serve companies at all stages of their startup. The list spans from the idea and launch stage, all the way to growth stage. The list also includes resources should startups be looking for talent or local employers, as well as a list of startup evangelists.
The Ottawa Ecosystem Canvas was created by Founder Institute, with local tech leaders Sergio Escobar and Shawna Tregunna. Founder Institute has also made its template for the Ottawa Canvas publicly available should startups in other cities want to create their own.
“Startup ecosystems can be fragmented, competitive, and hidden to newcomers, which is detrimental to local startups and community growth,” the site reads. “The Startup Ecosystem Canvas seeks to provide local entrepreneurs with a clear list of resources for every stage of their startup journey, and outline a basic framework for communities to map their ecosystem.”
Founder Institute says that the canvas is currently in its second version, and invites the community to contribute through an open Google Doc.
The idea to create the Canvas was inspired by Brad Feld’s book Startup Communities, which talks about the problems with fragmentation in ecosystems. According to the Founder Institute in a blog post, creating a map of resources lowers the barrier to entry for new entrepreneurs by making the ecosystem more transparent.