We asked this question at the Growing Entrepreneurial Communities Summit in Kansas City in May and thought we'd share some of what we learned from the almost 250 participants. Communities that are ready to build an E-Ecosystem were described in this way:

1. They have embraced an entrepreneurial mindset - they are proactive, often driven forward by a crisis (e.g., loss of a major employer); they view risks, challenges and barriers as opportunities.
2. They actively engage their entrepreneurs - they talk with them, understand their needs and use this intelligence to guide the work of building a stronger ecosystem.
3. They have strong leadership, often in both public and private sectors - leadership was described as strong, positive, consistent, inclusive and as "systems leaders".
4. They have created a place for everyone at the table - they engage all kinds of residents and leaders (formal and informal), including young people; they bring all stakeholders to the table to help overcome the silo mentality; they respect all the players even when they have not yet joined in the effort.
5. There is ownership of entrepreneurial development by local government, economic development agencies or other organizations whose job it is to direct economic development efforts.
6. They are in it for the long haul - they take a long view of the work of building a stronger ecosystem and economy; they celebrate early wins - even the small ones - to create positive momentum and stronger community support.

These readiness capacities are consistent with what we've observed working with communities all across the country for the past 15 years. What is equally interesting is that when asked about the obstacles to building a stronger E-Ecosystem, respondents pointed to the absence of capacities described above - lack of an entrepreneurial culture; lack of strong, positive leadership that is willing to challenge models from the past that aren't working anymore; inability (or lack of commitment) to engage diverse groups of people; not sure how to find and work with entrepreneurs; limited resources that aren't working well together.

One take-away from the Summit is that by helping more communities become ready for ecosystem building, we are setting the stage for creating stronger economies and more prosperous communities. We can't forget about this important capacity-building step - it is foundational to developing an asset-based strategy that is rooted in the realities of a particular community and its region. We have tools to help begin this process and are looking for partners who can help us continue to learn and evolve our own answer to the question - when is a community ready to build an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem? Listen to one of our partners, Ines Polonius, CEO at Communities Unlimited, talk about community readiness.

And, if you have thoughts on what it takes for a community to be ready for E-Ecosystem development, please let us hear from you - Don@e2mail.org or Deb@e2mail.org.