Arizona's startup landscape
We mapped the 22 organizations Kyle drew on the whiteboard, plus 7 statewide players the board left out. For each one: what it does, who it serves, how the groups connect today, and where Silicon Oasis could bring them together into one startup culture.
Who sits where, and what connects them
Silicon Oasis is in the middle, with its five sector pillars around it. The other groups sit in the corners by what they give a founder. The statewide players missing from the board run along the bottom. Click any organization to see its connections.
What each organization does
Confidence shows how sure we are that the handwritten name matches the organization. Filter by the part of the founder journey each group serves.
Where a founder finds help, and where they don't
Each dot means the organization actively serves that stage of the founder journey.
The funds weren't on the board
The board's capital is angel groups and TiE. Yet Copper Sky Capital, PHX Ventures, Monsoon and Emmeline all invest at seed or Series A here, and Silicon Oasis's own chair runs Copper Sky. Founders need to see the path from angel check to institutional round.
Community is strong but split
Silicon Oasis, Freeway, AZ Emerging Tech, the Nerd Network and TiE all run their own events and calendars. Founders have to follow five feeds to see what's happening.
Three builder niches aren't pillars
Hardware (Startup Central, HeatSync), bioscience (Phoenix Bioscience Core) and security (CactusCon) are all active, but none of them is a Silicon Oasis pillar yet.
The developer on-ramp went quiet
Desert Code Camp, the long-running free developer day, has had no event since October 2024. AZ Emerging Tech now carries most of the grassroots technical community on its own.
The state is already organizing
The Commerce Authority runs Arizona Tech Week and convened the Venture Alliance, and Silicon Oasis board members sit in both. Silicon Oasis needs a clear lane beside them: the everyday community, not a second statewide coalition.
The board is Phoenix-heavy
Desert Angels is the only Tucson group on the board. University of Arizona launched 11 startups last year and runs a nationally ranked incubator, but has no tie to Silicon Oasis that we found.
How to turn 22 organizations into one culture
Silicon Oasis shouldn't compete with these groups. It should be the connective tissue between them: a shared calendar, shared introductions, shared credit. Most of these ideas cost organizing time, not money.
Norms matter more than programs
Startup cultures that last run on a few habits people repeat. Silicon Oasis can name these habits, model them at every event, and reward them publicly.
- Give before you get. Ask every event host and speaker to make one introduction that has nothing in it for them.
- Refer out, never hoard. If your group can't help a founder, hand them to the group that can, in writing, on the same day.
- Share the stage. Co-branded events by default, with every partner's logo the same size.
- Celebrate attempts, not just exits. Invite founders who shut down to tell what they learned, at a regular slot in the calendar.
- Be statewide by default. Stream or record the flagship events so Tucson and Flagstaff are in the room too.
Open questions from the whiteboard
- Firewheel: resolvedIt's Firewheel STEM Institute (firewheel.org) in Chandler, founded and led by CEO Fredi Lajvardi, a retired robotics teacher. Its STEM Center and award-winning robotics teams make it the strongest youth-to-engineer pipeline on the board. It isn't a Silicon Oasis pillar yet.
- The "?" and "?E" marksWhat do they mean: not contacted yet, relationship unclear, events only? And why was Stand With Crypto crossed out?
- ArizonaAI's leadershipIt's Silicon Oasis's AI pillar, but its website names no leaders or sponsors. Who runs it, and should the adult builder community (AZ Emerging Tech) sit next to it as a second AI pillar?
- Silicon Oasis vs. the Venture AllianceSilicon Oasis's board shares at least five people with the Venture Alliance and Tech Week. Is there an agreed split of roles, or is that still open?
- ResolvedAZ Proptech Collective, ArizonaAI, Idealab Arizona, and Mike Wolfson and Kiran Mudiam as co-organizers of AZ Emerging Tech are all confirmed.