See your ecosystem clearly.
Build it intentionally.
The only tool that makes ecosystem building visible —
to funders, boards, your team and even yourself.
I'm here as a...
🔧 ECOSYSTEM BUILDER
I design the day to day work. I build the relationships. I hold the coalition together. I need to report progress.
Regional convener
Entrepreneur support organization
Economic developer
Innovation officer
University entrepreneurship director
Workforce developer
💰 FUNDER
I fund the work. I need to know if it's working—before, during, and after my investment. I need to show impact.
Foundation program officer
Grantmaker
City or County administrator
Corporate innovation lead
University administrator
Federal program manager
20+ ecosystem assessments | 15+ regions
Trusted by ecosystem builders across the US
© 2024-2026 Ecosystem Edge | Built by ecosystem builders, for ecosystem builders.
THE FUNDER'S DILEMMA
You fund coordination.But is it working?
You know ecosystem building matters. The research is clear: connected regions outperform fragmented ones.So you fund coordination. Convenings. "Partnership development."But when you ask for results, you get:
→ Event attendance numbers (not outcomes)
→ "Relationships deepened" (not measurable)
→ Lists of meetings held (not impact created)
Your board wants jobs. Investment attracted. Companies scaled.Your grantees give you coffee meeting counts.It's not that the work isn't happening. It's that you can't see it.And if you can't see it, you can't improve it. You can't compare regions. You can't justify the spend.What if you could actually see ecosystem health and progress — before, during, and after your investment?
I fund coordination. I can't see if it's working.
You've invested in "ecosystem building" for years. When your board asks what you got, you point to activities, not outcomes. That's not evidence. That's hope with a budget line.
Every region claims to be thriving.
Austin says they're thriving. So does Tulsa. Without a consistent framework, you can't compare. You can't benchmark. You can't tell who's ahead and who's just good at grant writing.
By the time I see decline, it's too late.
Jobs created. Investment attracted. Those are lagging indicators. By the time they show up (or don't), years have passed. What if you could see the leading indicators?
Am I funding the same thing twice?
Three orgs in the same region. All "building the ecosystem." All asking for money. Are they coordinating? Competing? Duplicating? You have no idea. Neither do they.
WHAT'S CHANGED
What if you could see ecosystem health at a glance?
The Ecosystem Edge Scorecard gives funders something they've never had:A consistent framework to assess, compare, and track ecosystem health across regions and over time.
FREE
Self-Serve Assessment
$0
✓ Full scorecard (9 partner types and 4 phases)
✓ AI diagnostic conversation
✓ Personalized PDF report
✓ Funder-ready one-pager
✓ Shareable insights
No credit card. No catch.
FACILITATED
Team Workshop
$5,000
✓ Everything in Free, plus:
✓ Up to 10 participants
✓ 2-hour live facilitated session
✓ Team alignment report
✓ Discussion guide + follow-up debrief
20% off for recent conference attendees.
PORTFOLIO
Custom Engagement
Let's Talk
For foundations and government:
✓ Multi-region assessment
✓ Consistent methodology
✓Comparable data across grantees
✓ Portfolio-level insights
We can't wait to chat.
WHO WE ARE
Built by ecosystem builders who understand what funders need to show impact.
Amy Beaird, PhD
Co-Founder
✉️ [email protected]Amy is a nationally recognized innovation strategist with over 18 years of experience spanning research, entrepreneurship, and ecosystem building. With a PhD in Chemical Engineering and a background supporting NSF Engines and regional tech clusters, she’s helped hundreds of organizations align vision with action. Amy brings a rare blend of analytical rigor, systems savvy, and facilitation magic to every engagement.She also serves as Treasurer for the ESHIP Alliance Core Team and as an Advisor to The Builder Platform, where she contributes to advancing national innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems.
Dawn Haynes, MBA
Co-Founder
✉️ [email protected]Dawn is a seasoned innovation executive with 30+ years of experience in entrepreneurship, economic development, and organizational leadership. As CEO of StarterStudio and a leader at Disney, British Airways, and WW she brings a global lens to regional challenges. Dawn is known for her strategic clarity, ecosystem empathy, and deep belief in underestimated founders.
Experienced. Mission-Driven. Ecosystem-Literate.At Ecosystem Edge, we’re not just strategists, we're ecosystem builders who understand the complexity, nuance, and heart it takes to lead regional transformation.We’ve sat in your seat. We’ve built coalitions. We’ve chased grants and juggled partnerships with too few resources and our community at stake.Our team combines deep expertise in innovation strategy, entrepreneurship, research, and regional development with a shared commitment to clarity, impact and systems-level change that drives regional growth.Our Extended Team
We collaborate with a growing network of designers, marketers, facilitators, and regional leaders to scale impact without losing what matters most: relationships, trust, and purpose. If we can’t serve you directly, we’ll connect you with someone who can.
© 2024-2026 Ecosystem Edge | Built by ecosystem builders, for ecosystem builders.
FOR THE PEOPLE HOLDING IT ALL TOGETHER
You're doing the work.
Now you can prove it.
You've spent years building relationships that don't fit on a spreadsheet.
Convening people who'd never talk otherwise.
Preventing disasters no one will ever know about.And when someone asks what you've accomplished?
You're stuck translating "trust infrastructure" to people who want a pivot table.That ends now.
20 minutes. No login. A report your board will actually read.
LET'S NAME IT
The work is real. But no one can see it.
You know exactly what you've built:The introduction that led to a $2M deal. The meeting that prevented three orgs from duplicating effort. The trust you spent 18 months earning that let two competitors actually collaborate.But try putting that in a grant report.Meanwhile:
Your funder wants "jobs created" and you have "relationships deepened"
Your team thinks you're aligned but everyone pictures a different ecosystem
You can feel partnerships stalling but you can't diagnose why
The hard conversations keep getting pushed to "next quarter"
You're exhausted from carrying the whole picture in your head
You're not failing. You're doing the hardest work in economic development—with no tools designed for it.Until now.
We can't prove what we've built
Your funder wants a spreadsheet. You have a network of trust. Every time you try to explain "relationship infrastructure," you watch their eyes glaze over.
My team thinks we're aligned. We're not.
You've all nodded in the same meetings. But ask each person to draw your ecosystem and you'll get five different pictures. You're not aligned. You're just not fighting about it yet.
Everything feels urgent. Nothing moves.
Corporates. Capital. Universities. Government. Media. It all needs attention. Without a roadmap, you're guessing. And guessing is exhausting.
I can feel it stalling. I just can't show it.
Some relationships started strong and just... stopped. You sense it in your gut. But by the time it's obvious, it's usually too late.
No one sees the whole picture
You're the institutional memory. The connector. When you're out, things fall apart. You need a way to make what your see visible so others can carry the work forward.
HOW IT WORKS
From gut feel to "hot dang, that's useful"
Step 1: Rate your partnerships
Red. Yellow. Green. 9 partner types × 4 phases. You already know more than you think, we just give you a place to put it.
Time: 5 minStep 2: Talk it through
Our highly trained AI expert asks the questions that surface what you know but haven't articulated. A thought partner who's seen patterns 200+ ecosystems.
Time: 10-15 minStep 3: Surface the patterns
Get a personalized report revealing where your ecosystem is strong, where it's stuck, and why. No generic advice, just clear patterns and what to do about them
Time: InstantStep 4: Walk in with receipts
Export a one-page Funder Brief that translates your work into language boards and funders understand. Finally feel on the front foot.
Time: Ready when you arehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-haynes-74a1b74/
WHAT'S INCLUDED - FREE
Everything you need to stop guessing
| Title | Author | Year | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🗺️ | Your partnership map | See all 36 intersections at a glance. No more "I think we're good with corporates?" | |
| 🤖 | AI that actually helps | Not chatbot energy. A diagnostic conversation that pulls insights you didn't know you had. | |
| 📊 | Personalized report | Strengths. Gaps. Opportunities. With specific org names and next moves. Not a template. | |
| 📋 | Funder Brief | One page. Funder-friendly language. The thing you wish you had for every board meeting or quarterly funder call. | |
| 👥 | Team alignment | Run it with your team. See where you agree, and where you really, really don't. | |
| 📈 | Progress tracking | Come back quarterly. See what moved. Build the receipts that make your work undeniable. |
GET STARTED
Start Free. Go deeper when you're ready.
FREE
Self-Serve Assessment
$0
✓ Full scorecard (9 partner types and 4 phases)
✓ AI diagnostic conversation
✓ Personalized PDF report
✓ Funder-ready one-pager
✓ Shareable insights
No credit card. No catch.
FACILITATED
Team Workshop
$5,000
✓ Everything in Free, plus:
✓ Up to 10 participants
✓ 2-hour live facilitated session
✓ Team alignment report
✓ Discussion guide + follow-up debrief
20% off for recent conference attendees.
CUSTOM
Custom Engagement
Let's Talk
For regions that want
✓ Larger groups or summits
✓ Multi-city assessment
✓ Ongoing insights
✓ Consistent methodology
✓Comparable data across other regions
We can't wait to chat.
WHO WE ARE
Built by ecosystem builders. For ecosystem builders.
Amy Beaird, PhD
Co-Founder
✉️ [email protected]Amy is a nationally recognized innovation strategist with over 18 years of experience spanning research, entrepreneurship, and ecosystem building. With a PhD in Chemical Engineering and a background supporting NSF Engines and regional tech clusters, she’s helped hundreds of organizations align vision with action. Amy brings a rare blend of analytical rigor, systems savvy, and facilitation magic to every engagement.She also serves as Treasurer for the ESHIP Alliance Core Team and as an Advisor to The Builder Platform, where she contributes to advancing national innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems.
Dawn Haynes, MBA
Co-Founder
✉️ [email protected]Dawn is a seasoned innovation executive with 30+ years of experience in entrepreneurship, economic development, and organizational leadership. As CEO of StarterStudio and a leader at Disney, British Airways, and WW she brings a global lens to regional challenges. Dawn is known for her strategic clarity, ecosystem empathy, and deep belief in underestimated founders.
Experienced. Mission-Driven. Ecosystem-Literate.At Ecosystem Edge, we’re not just strategists, we're ecosystem builders who understand the complexity, nuance, and heart it takes to lead regional transformation.We’ve sat in your seat. We’ve built coalitions. We’ve chased grants and juggled partnerships with too few resources and our community at stake.Our team combines deep expertise in innovation strategy, entrepreneurship, research, and regional development with a shared commitment to clarity, impact and systems-level change that drives regional growth.Our Extended Team
We collaborate with a growing network of designers, marketers, facilitators, and regional leaders to scale impact without losing what matters most: relationships, trust, and purpose. If we can’t serve you directly, we’ll connect you with someone who can.
© 2024-2026 Ecosystem Edge | Built by ecosystem builders, for ecosystem builders.
Contact Us
Let’s Build Something Bold TogetherWhether you're exploring a pilot project, writing a big grant, or just trying to align a dozen partners on a shared vision, we’re here for it.At Ecosystem Edge™, we work with ecosystem builders, innovation leaders, and regional changemakers to turn complexity into clarity and momentum.Have a question? A bold idea? An impossible-to-map stakeholder network?
Let’s talk.🤝 Work With Us
Want to explore how we can support your strategy, programs, or systems-building work?➡️ Book a free 30-minute consult
Let’s explore what’s possible, what’s next, and how we can help.
[email protected]
© 2024-2026 Ecosystem Edge | Built by ecosystem builders, for ecosystem builders.
Thank You
Your Scorecard Is In.
Your personalized ecosystem insights will arrive in 10 days.You just took an important step.
By color-coding your ecosystem (Reds, Ambers, and Greens), you surfaced where your system is strong, where it's stuck, and where you’re carrying more weight than the ecosystem should ask of you.Most people spend 20 months uncovering what you revealed in 20 minutes.What Happens NextBecause you submitted your Scorecard photo, we’re now analyzing the specific patterns in your ecosystem. No generic advice. No templates. Just a tailored read of your system’s structure, signals, and emerging opportunities.Ecosystem building is often invisible, but the impact is not.
Thank you for engaging deeply and helping move your region forward.Your personalized insights are on the way.— Amy & Dawn
Amy Beaird & Dawn Haynes
Co-Founders, Ecosystem Edge
[email protected]
© 2024-2026 Ecosystem Edge | Built by ecosystem builders, for ecosystem builders.
2 Hours to Align Your Regional Ecosystem Leaders
Stop guessing. Stop misalignment. See your ecosystem clearly, together.Bring your regional ecosystem leaders — funders, local government, universities, entrepreneur support organizations, startups — into one 2-hour session and walk away with:
✅ Visual Clarity: Your scorecards in one place, easy to understand✅ Aligned Priorities: Everyone sees strengths, gaps, and critical moves✅ Focused Action: Identify the 2–3 opportunities that will move the needle✅ Shared Roadmap: Clear next steps the whole team agrees on
Half-Day Workshop • $5,000 for up to 10 participants • Includes follow-up debrief20% off for SCN/INBIA attendees