Ten years is a long time for a business. Only about 34% of small businesses last for a full decade so I believe this is an accomplishment and a milestone worth reflecting on, and of course celebrating.
Being a business owner can feel at times like the odds are stacked against you. Other times it feels like you’re finding your way in the dark without a flashlight. There are times it feels like gambling, but then you remember you’re betting on yourself so you double down. Sometimes it feels like the pressure to succeed might make a diamond, or it might give you heart disease - possibly it will do both. Each day as an entrepreneur will likely hold a bit of stress, triumph, clarity, confusion, success, and failure - and you have to have enough determination to do it all again the next day.
Heather Gregory Circa 2022
Over the past ten years, I’ve used my skillset in space making, architectural design, community building, program management, event production, entrepreneurship, and leadership to shape Stoke into what it is today. But more than any skillset, shaping Stoke was personal: when I started my first business in my 20s, I didn’t have a community I could lean on or learn from. I wanted to create for Denton the thing I wished I’d had in my first venture and do it in a way that felt authentic to the creative culture of Denton, and the innovative and inspiring entrepreneurs that live here.
There were plenty of times that the odds were stacked against us - politics, big ideas with limited budgets, and complex plans to execute with tiny teams, and a global pandemic. Our revenue had just reached an exciting milestone in early 2020, only to be cut in half between April and May. I found myself in a position where I’d hired in early March an events coordinator, only to be told we couldn’t gather in person. We pivoted to online, but I deeply resented the endless hours spent on Zoom. Late that year, I had to make the decision to eliminate the events coordinator position, which was hard to do to a bright person with loads of potential.
Heather Gregory + the 2025 CWE Accelerator cohort
10 years ago the walls of Stoke were bare. The conference rooms were stark. The space was cavernous and echoey. The member community was sparse. There was no budget to invest in art, plants, paint, cute furniture, or cozy rugs. Through two renovation projects, partnerships with local individuals and organizations, and making small improvements over time - Stoke’s walls are full of local art and murals, our 12,000 sq ft space is buzzing with business owners and community leaders, and the programs have had impacts throughout the city.
FlintConf 2023
When I reflect back over the past 10 years of Stoke, I see a diamond. I see a business that has been guided by values of inclusion, creativity, and learning and those values are being lived out on a daily basis in our entrepreneurial ecosystem. We have curated a space, and facilitated connections between people that allow them to gain new knowledge, grow their skills, diversify their perspectives, and expand their networks. Over the past ten years Stoke members have launched new businesses, closed acquisitions, raised capital, grown their teams, found co-founders and collaborators, and turned ideas into real revenue.
Ten years in, we’re part of that 34%, and we didn’t get here by accident. We got here because we believed in the community as much as we believed in ourselves. Here’s to many more years of supporting entrepreneurs, facilitating connections, cultivating community, and endless fire puns.