Ecosystem Health Checker for Start-ups

Swisscontact and Start-up Heatmap Europe have come together to create a “self-serving toolkit” that will allow start-ups across the world to examine the health of their business ecosystem.

This is based on 8 science-based metrics ranging from governance to talent and diversity. It supports a range of roles like managers of start-ups, university incubators, and policymakers to track their ecosystem.

A business ecosystem is made up of a series of dynamic elements such as funding, talent, competition, etc, this toolkit allows them to be filled by local ecosystem professionals to create a key performance indicator (KPI). This allows entrepreneurs to assess their businesses’ performance and its ability to complete the objectives it sets out.

The main draw of this service is that users can use this toolkit to source data in their own ecosystem and enter them into an interactive dashboard and based on outcomes they can “identify recommended fields of action”. This tool is designed to be used by professionals on the ground, to encourage ecosystem builders through acquiring data to indicate if the business is taking the right path to develop/grow further.

Adaptable Ecosystem Tools

According to their website, “The framework is based on four dimensions, each having two metrics that ecosystem builders can connect with the data they have available or find most important for their ecosystem.” The tool is also flexible in that can be used in the early-stage and even in more mature stages of a business ecosystem.

It also accounts for different types of ecosystems like ‘high-growth ecosystems’ and ‘inclusive and equitable ecosystems, making the framework further adaptable. According to their website, “At the core of the concept is the Ecosystem Nutrition Cycle that shows how entrepreneurs are able to create more value based on the framework conditions they face.”

It also reiterates that while there is not a pre-set list of answers, it will guide the local ecosystem builders through asking the right questions for a start-up. After you can choose the appropriate metrics/responses in a local setting and if there is insufficient data a proxy can be inserted to facilitate a more accurate measure of your ecosystem’s health.

The health and direction, especially of a young start-up is a hard thing to track for success, this toolkit will allow you to make an informed decision about how well your business is doing. This can be done via a PDF available on their website, as well as a PDF of detailed case studies in which the toolkit has already been established, namely Guatemala and Germany.