By Serafina Lalany

There are moments when a place feels like it’s tipping forward.

You can feel it walking through Bentonville. A new coffee shop. A construction site where there wasn’t one last week. The hotel that seemed to go from studs to opening in what felt like a blink. Big projects, like the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, the Heartland Whole Health Institute, and XNA’s expansion, are changing the skyline, and they’re not just cosmetic. They point to something deeper: a region beginning to believe in its own trajectory.

And it’s not just happening here. From the transformation of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts to new statewide innovation hubs, the pace of change is unmistakable.

And when a place starts to believe in itself, people do too. You start seeing your own life getting better. You look around and think, “What can I add to this?”

That’s what last week felt like at Onward FX in Little Rock.

Over two days, more than 700 people showed up. 100+ founders. 50+ venture firms. Hundreds of others: ecosystem builders, operators, students, newcomers, returners, the curious. Nearly 200 founder–investor meetings were facilitated, many of them between people who had never set foot in Arkansas before.

And what stood out wasn’t just the scale. It was the energy. A palpable sense that something is forming here. Not fully built yet, but alive and growing. One investor from Los Angeles put it plainly: “You can tell the conditions are right. It reminds me of LA ten years ago.”

So why not here?

Why not Arkansas?

We stand on the cusp of what some call the fifth industrial revolution. One where the lines between AI and human ingenuity blur, and where success will favor those who know how to bridge the two. That advantage won’t come from technology alone. It’ll come from integration, discernment, and collaboration across disciplines.

That plays to our strengths.

Arkansas has real industrial leverage in retail, supply chain, ag tech, aerospace, and health care. We have generational companies and practical experience. Now layer on a new generation of builders trained in AI, automation, and software, and you begin to see the outline of something rare: a region where technology is applied to real-world systems by people who understand both. But none of this happens automatically. To lead, we have to keep creating the conditions that let new ideas take root.

That means founders need customers and capital. Engineers need co-founders. Students need examples of what’s possible. Investors need to be able to come here and see a pipeline worth betting on.

The good news? That’s already happening. It’s happening through events like Onward FX, where startup conversations are now a part of the civic fabric. It’s happening in coworking spaces, coffee shops, and accelerators. And it’s happening through the quiet choices people make when they decide to stay, to return, or to move here.

The connective tissue is growing. And that’s where our real edge lies.

Collaboration is Arkansas’ not-so-secret weapon. We don’t silo as much. In a state of 3 million, our economy is small enough to be cross-functional by default, and that makes it easier to move quickly, test ideas, and form partnerships that would take months elsewhere. We’ve seen Fortune 500s collaborate with startups, nonprofits partner with founders, and universities open doors to industry.

That kind of trust and proximity is hard to replicate. But here, it’s built in.

So yes, people can build from anywhere. But I think they’ll want to build here. Not because we’re trying to be the next Silicon Valley, but because we’re trying to be ourselves, at full throttle. A place with big industries, a low ego, and just enough momentum to feel like anything is possible.

Let’s keep going 🤘🏼