Professional development for ecosystem builders who lead from the inside out.

Training. Reflection. Transformation.

Professional development for ecosystem builders ready to level-up.

WayBuilders Academy

The Academy equips entrepreneurial ecosystem builders as whole people—strengthening their clarity, confidence, and resilience—while also providing the skills and strategies to excel in their work and grow the field. Participants gain access to:

  • A formalized curriculum grounded in codified practices and proven ecosystem-building strategies.

  • Foundational skills training to strengthen leadership, facilitation, and systems-thinking capacity.

  • Cutting-edge promising practices from across the field, ready to adapt to local contexts.

  • Practical tools and frameworks to design, evaluate, and sustain impactful ecosystem initiatives.

Through this blend of personal grounding, structured learning, and applied practice, builders leave ready to lead with vision, build with confidence, and deliver measurable impact.

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Our Flagship Offering

Our full Academy is coming soon — but we’re starting with the core.
The ESHIP Way course is built for early to mid-career ecosystem builders ready to grow themselves and the systems they lead.

What to Expect

This is a highly interactive experience that emphasizes peer sharing, collaborative learning, and applied practice. You’ll have dedicated opportunities to workshop your own real-world challenges, gaining fresh perspectives and actionable strategies from both facilitators and fellow ecosystem builders.

Intensive Series Includes:

  • 8 virtual sessions

  • Expert guests

  • Online learning platform with interactive content

  • 1:1 coaching sessions

  • ESHIP Way Digital Workbook & Toolkit

The ESHIP Way

Ecosystem Building 101 - for existing and emergent entrepreneurial ecosystem builders

Nov 11 - Dec 4 • Only 8 Spots • Application Required

🗓 8 sessions | ⏰ 90 minutes per session | 💻 Virtual

The ESHIP Way with Lead Instructor, Fay Horwitt, is a first-of-its kind professional development experience for entrepreneurial ecosystem builders — an investment in both your personal clarity and your leadership capacity. Designed for early-mid career practitioners, this immersive program offers a space to reflect, realign, and grow from the inside out.

Rooted in the WayPoints (see below) — our tangible method for operationalizing the ESHIP Principles — this experience will equip you to:

  • Apply the principles in your own professional life as a way of being.

  • Amplify the principles by putting them into practice in your day-to-day work.

  • Multiply the principles by modeling and equipping other stakeholders in your ecosystem to do the same.

Along the way, you’ll gain strategies, tangible methods, and innovative tools to help you embody this work with confidence and sustainability.

Instructors & Guest Practitioners

  • Fay Horwitt

    WayBuilders

  • Kevin Carter

    EcoMap Technologies

  • Paulo Gregory

    Cohado

  • Anika Horn

    Social Venturers

  • Jason Schneider

    Civic Possible

  • Andy Stoll

    ESHIP Alliance

  • Jim Woodell

    Venn Collaborative

  • Magalie Yacinthe

    Fprward Cities

Complete the Interest Form

Limited space available in our inaugural cohort. Complete our interest form to receive course details, pricing, and next steps.

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Preview Our WayPoints

Our WayPoints are shared truths that form the foundation of the WayBuilders methodology. They are inspired by the Kauffman Foundation’s ESHIP Communities pilot program and the Ecosystem Building Design Principles, first introduced in the Kauffman Foundation’s Ecosystem Building Playbook. These foundational guideposts serve as the compass for our methodology and practice.

  • Ecosystem building begins by deeply understanding and responding to the real needs of entrepreneurs. Ecosystem builders put entrepreneurs front and center.

  • The most trusted entrepreneurial champions are those whose humannistic values show up in both what they do and how they do it. Ecosystem builders live the values.

  • Trust and shared understanding emerge when we engage in open, ongoing dialogue across roles and communities. Ecosystem builders foster conversations.

  • Entrepreneurial ecosystems thrive when people and resources flow across silos, geographies, and backgrounds. Ecosystem builders connect people bottom-up, top-down, and outside-in.

  • No single organization can support entrepreneurs alone; change requires aligned efforts across the system. Ecosystem builders enlist collaborators—everyone is invited.

  • Narratives shape who gets supported and seen—and who gets overlooked. Ecosystem builders tell a community’s authentic story.

  • Developing and sustaining strong and resilient entrepreneurial ecsystems takes time, trust, and persistence. Ecosystem builders must start with intention —and be patient.

A Better Way of Leading.

This work is bigger than any one of us—and it starts with connection. Ready to build better with us?