Enterprise Support Organisations (ESOs) are at a turning point. Technology is accelerating, ecosystems are becoming more complex, and expectations from entrepreneurs are higher than ever. But the way most ESOs are designed hasn’t really changed. There are more programmes, more workshops, more activity, but not necessarily better outcomes. I’ve seen this first-hand across universities, councils, and national ecosystems over the past decade. On paper, everything looks strong. In reality, the experience for entrepreneurs and advisors often tells a very different story.
In almost every ecosystem we’ve worked with, there’s no shortage of support. There are dozens of programmes, multiple funders, and strong delivery partners. But sit down with an entrepreneur, and they still don’t know where to go. Sit down with an advisor, and they’re overwhelmed. Opportunities go unused. Good support exists, but it’s hard to access at the right time. I’ve been in rooms where hundreds of entrepreneurs sign up for support in a matter of weeks, and the team has no real way to prioritise who needs what. I’ve also seen ecosystems with dozens of active programmes where no single organisation can confidently explain how it all fits together. The issue isn’t effort. It’s design.
The instinct in this situation is to do more. Another programme, another initiative, another funding call. But more activity doesn’t solve fragmentation. It often makes it worse. The ESOs that will thrive over the next decade won’t be the ones doing the most. They’ll be the ones that are designed differently. From the work we’re doing across different ecosystems, four shifts are starting to define what that looks like.
The first shift is from scaling administration to scaling impact. Most ESOs today are optimised for reporting rather than outcomes. Spreadsheets, manual processes, and disconnected systems create a ceiling where growth in support requires growth in staff. At the same time, entrepreneurs expect personalised, relevant, and timely support. The challenge is no longer just delivering services, but delivering tailored journeys at scale. This is exactly the challenge we’ve been focused on solving — how to move from programme delivery to personalised support without increasing administrative burden. Scaling impact and scaling admin are not the same thing.
The second shift is the new mandate of curation. ESOs are no longer just service providers; they are becoming navigators of the ecosystem. As the number of programmes, partners, and opportunities grows, so does the noise. In this environment, value is created not by offering more, but by helping people find the right support at the right time. I’ve seen ecosystems where incredible opportunities exist but remain buried, accessible only to those who already understand how the system works. That is not a supply problem. It is a curation problem.
The third shift is the imperative of differentiation. There was a time when simply existing as an ESO was enough, but that is no longer the case. Today, ESOs compete with accelerators, private platforms, global communities, and increasingly AI-powered tools. Entrepreneurs are not limited by geography and will engage with whoever provides the most relevant support. Every organisation must be able to clearly articulate why it exists, who it serves best, and what makes it different. Differentiation is not a branding exercise. It is a strategic design decision.
The fourth shift is preparing for a future shaped by AI-led interaction. In the near future, entrepreneurs will not search for support in the way they do today; their AI tools will do it for them. These tools will recommend opportunities, connect them to advisors, and even complete applications. But most ESOs are not set up for this reality. Their data is fragmented, their systems are disconnected, and their services are not structured in a way that can be surfaced by AI. If your ecosystem is not structured, connected, and machine-readable, it will not be part of that journey.
This is not a distant future. It is already happening. Across the organisations we work with, there is a clear divide emerging between those continuing to add more programmes and those investing in how their ecosystem actually works. The difference in trajectory is already visible.
Future-proofing an ESO does not start with adopting new technology. It starts with design. It requires clarity on how services are structured, how data is captured and connected, how ecosystems are coordinated, and how value is defined. When these elements are in place, technology becomes a powerful enabler. Without them, it becomes another layer of complexity.
Most ESOs do not have a resource problem. They have a design problem. The next decade will not be defined by who does more, but by who finally fixes how support actually works.
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This article is the first in a series exploring each of these shifts in more detail, with practical examples of what they look like in real ecosystems and how organisations can begin to respond. The future of enterprise support is not about incremental change. It is about redesigning the system.
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