2026-09-29
2026 Fall ECOSYSTEM BUILDER SUMMIT Agenda | Tickets | accomodations September 29th - October 1st Richmond, Virginia In community How a community shows up for itself is the most important thing an ecosystem can teach. Come get a masterclass in love of place. About Richmond, Virginia Richmond is fiercely local — more local restaurants than chains, more independent stores than franchises, an arts district that is digging in to reconnect and rejuvenate a struggling downtown – all set the story for a masterclass in love of place. This is where Lighthouse Network, a nationally recognized accelerator, was founded by an SCN founding member. Where Capital One chose to put down roots and show up. Where CarMax, Dominion Energy, and Genworth were born and scaled. Richmond earns this the theme: In Community. This city also has a complicated history. It was the capital of the Confederacy, it built confederate statues along Monument Avenue to intimidate Black residents, and it gerrymandered a neighborhood to contain the Black vote. That neighborhood, Jackson Ward, rose into one of America's great Black Wall Streets, most notably named “The Harlem of the South.” Maggie Walker — the first woman to charter a bank in the United States — built her legacy here. The Hippodrome hosted James Brown and Cab Calloway. That's the Richmond pattern: pressure met with creativity, resilience, and an unshakeable love of place. You see it in the arts district that is fighting blight on Broad St. You see it in a startup ecosystem that is connected and community-rooted and you see it in homegrown companies like CarMax, Dominion Energy, and Genworth that scaled right here. “In Community” is what Richmonders are every day and what summit attendees will experience firsthand.