If you are a startup founder in Western Massachusetts, you might sometimes feel like a small fish in an even smaller pond, compared to the state’s overall innovation ecosystem.
Lever’s Western Mass Health Technology Challenge is specifically designed for health technology startups in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire counties. Finalists participate in acceleration workshops, work with expert mentors, and pitch their concepts to a panel of judges. The challenge is focused on locally based companies to highlight the innovation and uniqueness of the Western Massachusetts startup community.
Connor MacFarlane, founder of MacFarlane Medical LLC and an alum of Lever’s Western Mass Health Technology Challenge, knows the importance of community and networking.
Connor first learned about Lever’s challenge program through UMass Amherst, where he was studying chemical engineering. He was part of the 2023 cohort and found that the curriculum contributed measurably to his startup’s progress. Connor noted that the program “challenged a lot of the assumptions” he had made, and helped him realize the importance of having a strong team. MacFarlane Medical won third place.
Connor’s medical technology startup is developing an insulin delivery device that would provide a third option along with the established insulin intake methods of pumping or daily injections. Nearly 12 percent of the U.S. population is diabetic, according to the CDC.
“We’re looking at a couple of years to finalize the device,” Connor said. With ongoing developments in product functionality and intellectual property, MacFarlane Medical is making headway and has entered a phase familiar to many startups: searching for a co-founder.
Connor relocated to Boston shortly after completing the challenge. He noted that working in the tight-knit innovation scene in Western Massachusetts instilled a sense of community – something that is harder to replicate with founder meetups in the larger city environment. “To me, you meet one person, and they’ll introduce you to five more people. Then you’ll see those same six people at the next event, and the next event,” he said regarding his experience in Western Massachusetts. “They will continue connecting you to other people they know.”
Connor added that his involvement in the Massachusetts Founders Network (MFN) is helping to recapture that sense of community. For example, he is participating in a founder roundtable discussion group through MFN, where he is expanding his network and forging new connections. Connor also recently introduced a fellow roundtable member to an entrepreneur support organization in Springfield, a resource the member had not been aware of before. “If you’re in the roundtable, everyone is looking to help you,” he explained. Learn more about the MFN roundtables here.
From Connor’s perspective, building on personal interactions such as working with colleagues in a challenge program and shaking hands at a networking event moves progress along faster than making “cold calls.” If you have the opportunity to speak with other founders in front of you, he advised, don’t be afraid to mention the questions you’re tackling. More likely than not, the founders you meet have faced the same obstacles.
For more networking tips, check out this article.
