Santa Cruz Works was founded in 2012 as an umbrella organization for the entire local tech ecosystem. The mission: to make Santa Cruz County a great place to start, sustain, and grow businesses—not exclusive to technology. A healthy tech ecosystem is composed of educational institutions where business and new technologies are taught, assistance from local government like Santa Cruz Economic Development, co-working & accelerators when entrepreneurs can develop their ideas and skills, event organizations like “meetups,” successful businesses where there are jobs and mentors, and venture capital to seed new businesses.