Rally During Global Entrepreneurship Week
What Impact Week 2025 Shows Us About Building Stronger Businesses and Stronger Communities
Each November, Global Entrepreneurship Week offers cities around the world a chance to spotlight the people and ideas moving their communities forward. Impact Week — an official Global Entrepreneurship Week Conference recognized by the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) — is part of that global movement bringing innovators together to learn, test, and grow.
Held in Tallahassee, Impact Week convened entrepreneurs, students, business owners, funders, educators, and ecosystem builders from across Florida and beyond. For Rally, it was an opportunity to both contribute and listen — to deepen our understanding of what founders need and how ecosystems grow.
Rally joined for sessions, conversations, and workshops that created space to connect with leaders, listen to founders, and share tools to help ventures strengthen their impact.
Workshops & Takeaways
The Rally team led two workshops that underscored the heart of our work: equipping founders with practical, accessible tools to build businesses that make a difference.
• Building Businesses That Make a Difference — led by Kyle Steele
• Messaging That Moves People — led by Erica Lee Ricketts
Founders left with clearer language for defining their impact and practical frameworks to express their “why,” speak to their audience’s needs, and strengthen engagement. Both workshops reinforced a central truth: mission-driven ventures don’t grow only through good ideas — they grow when founders build clarity, community, and strategy at the same time.
We joined a powerful session led by Doug Ramos, Founder of Picked, on turning passion into a loyal community. His workshop, Hand-Picked Growth, highlighted how nostalgia, storytelling, and a strong sense of place can fuel real business growth — and reminded founders that community is often a venture’s greatest asset.
We also had the chance to collaborate with Amia M. Nunn, Founder of Haulin’ Threads, on a hands-on hat-making activity. It was a fun and unexpected reminder that creativity, craft, and connection are powerful tools for building community — and that entrepreneurship is about more than strategy. It’s about belonging.
Impact Week offered a real look at how innovation grows when a region invests in its people, its partnerships, and its willingness to test ideas in real time.
Why Conferences Like Impact Week Matter for Founders
Whether you're building your first MVP or scaling a proven venture, events like Impact Week offer something you simply can’t replicate in a webinar or a social feed.
1. Exposure to Ideas Outside Your Usual Circle
Impact Week brought together founders tackling different problems in different ways — from first-time pitchers to established entrepreneurs refining their models. Being in that mix pushes your thinking further and faster.
2. Immediate, Real-Time Feedback
The South’s largest pitch competition unfolded across a five-story IMAX screen, where founders presented to judges, investors, and attendees. Finalists — Esperance Healthcare, AthenGuard Technologies, KeyRise, and Cogmi — competed for $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000 awards.
For founders, watching these pitches wasn't just inspiring — it was instructive:
– How did they frame their problem?
– What evidence did they lead with?
– What questions did judges focus on?
These insights can sharpen your own approach.
3. Opportunities to Build the Right Relationships
Innovation rarely happens alone. Throughout the event, Rally connected with partners, including Tallahassee State College, FAMU SBDC, FSU’s Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship, the Office of Economic Vitality, NACCE, and the Venture Mentoring Team.
For founders, these touchpoints are reminders that your network is one of your most valuable assets — and conferences accelerate the process of finding collaborators, advocates, and potential customers.
What Founders Can Take With Them
Whether you attended Impact Week or watched from afar, these lessons apply to any mission-driven builder:
1. Your Story Matters — Tell It Clearly
Customers, partners, and funders respond to entrepreneurs who know who they are, what they solve, and why it matters.
2. Testing Beats Talking
Founders grow faster when they test, iterate, and gather real-time feedback — not when they wait for the perfect moment.
3. Your Network Builds Your Reach
Every conversation expands your visibility. Every introduction opens a door.
4. Show Up in Community
Founders learn best in rooms full of other founders. Conferences create the energy and momentum that fuel progress.
Looking Ahead
Rally is grateful to the organizers, partners, students, and entrepreneurs who made Impact Week TLH 2025 such a meaningful space for learning and connection. These moments strengthen our statewide ecosystem and remind us of the talent and determination shaping Florida’s future.
And they reaffirm something we see every day: founders thrive when the right spaces, relationships, and opportunities come together.
If you’re interested in joining a future Rally event, connecting with founders, or exploring our programs, stay connected — we’d love to build alongside you.
