10+ years in the field · 170+ practitioner interviews · 7 podcast seasons · Author of It Takes a Valley
I've spent a decade at the center of ecosystem building. Now I help you do the same.
I'm Anika Horn, and I've spent a decade documenting, connecting, and working alongside the practitioners who do the hardest, least visible work in entrepreneurial ecosystem building.
Through ecosystem strategy, storytelling, and convenings that create genuine connection, I help organizations and coalitions make their work legible to the people who need to understand it most.
Anika is one of the top 5 thought leaders in the United States in entrepreneurial ecosystem building. It’s a new and emerging field, there’s lots to figure out and she has done more than many to help move the practice of entrepreneurial ecosystem building into main street approaches in economic and community development.
Andy Stoll
ESHIP Alliance
How we can work together
01
Ecosystem Building & Strategy
You're doing the work. I help you do it more effectively, with deeper impact, and without burning out. You get frameworks, field knowledge, and a decade of pattern-recognition with every conversation.
02
Speaking
I bring 10 years of field research, 170+ practitioner stories, and hard-won insights to any stage, from regional convenings to national conferences.
The stage is my home.
03
It Takes a Valley
My forthcoming book is a practitioner's guide to entrepreneurial ecosystem building. It tells the human side of ecosystem building through 50+ stories from builders around the world.
My Book: It Takes a Valley
Fifty ecosystem builders.
One decade of conversations.
The stories that shaped a field, and the people who refused to give up on it.
My Startup Champions Network Summit experience was profound. As a newcomer, I wanted to be bashful but was encouraged to sit around the collective table, share and collaborate. It got me thinking deeply about how diversity exists in my rural community and acknowledgment might be necessary before amplification. I can't wait to attend the next one.
Brian McGhee
Ecosystem Builder, Strasburg, Virginia
Previous & Current Partners
Ecosystems for Change
75+ conversations with the people building tomorrow's ecosystems.
Across seven seasons, I've interviewed grassroots ecosystem builders from Anchorage, Alaska, to Fargo, North Dakota.
Together, we are co-authoring the playbook for how to build thriving entrepreneurial ecosystems, one conversation at a time.
Grab my starter kit for ecosystem builders!
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My latest insights and conversations
The struggle for legitimacy
Last week, a LinkedIn post stopped my scroll. The author, Heath Naquin, was breaking down what had just happened to […]
Builder Deep Dive with Morgan Allen
The Ecosystem Builder Who Turns Vision Into Infrastructure “If you want clarity, you have to move. Waiting rarely gives it […]
2025: A Year of Building, Belonging, and Becoming
As 2025 draws to a close, I took a moment to look back at everything we worked on together. What stood out to me was not a big insight or a neat theme. It was the accumulation of small things that shaped this year: the conversations that grounded me, the moments of clarity that showed up at unexpected times, and the collaborators that showed up – seemingly out of nowhere – to walk part of the way with me. You know who you are.
What People Say About Me
Anika is an ecosystem builder’s ecosystem builder, a storyteller’s storyteller, and a curious, kind human who genuinely cares about all those around her.
She can explain and speak to the highest levels of systems change, community-driven impact and the importance of relational approaches.
But she has also spent time in community doing the work. She has lived experience as an entrepreneur who is supporting entrepreneurs and in building entrepreneurial ecosystems in some of the most interesting places.
Andy Stoll
ESHIP Alliance