If you’re looking for entrepreneur support organizations in Massachusetts, chances are Megan Marszalek can point you in the right direction.
Megan is the Program Director for Entrepreneurial Ecosystems at Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, where she leads efforts to grow strong startup ecosystems throughout Massachusetts. As the state’s economic development agency tasked with promoting tech and innovation, MassTech strives to create conditions for entrepreneurial success in Massachusetts.
Megan manages a key tool in the state’s economic development toolbox used to create those conditions–the Entrepreneur Mentorship Fund. Megan supports entrepreneur support organizations by building relationships across organizations and providing grants to fund mentorship programs for startup founders.
“Our state leaders know support is important,” Megan said. “Startups are more likely to succeed if founders receive mentorship, particularly from folks who have gone through the process themselves.” To date, MassTech has awarded more than $5 million to community-based or sector-specific incubators and accelerators through its mentorship fund.
As an “ecosystem builder” passionate about building regional and cluster-specific entrepreneur ecosystems, Megan understands that healthy ecosystems are built on cultures of trust and the flow of information and resources between organizations. Ecosystems aren’t built overnight, and she uses her role to help convene people in those ecosystems to facilitate new initiatives. “There are a lot of competing interests at the outset of ecosystem-building projects. They require long-term commitment and it’s a beautiful thing when stakeholders align to collectively address the needs of entrepreneurs in their community,” she said.
A Worcester native and Stonehill College economics grad, Megan initially pursued a finance career in Boston with State Street, but came back to her hometown when she started her family. She kept pursuing economics-adjacent work: taking a role in the Worcester Public School District’s finance office, earning her MBA from Assumption University, clearing the first level of the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) exam, and working as an accountant for Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s endowment.
Megan’s core belief in the transformative power of entrepreneurship was sparked while teaching in the business technology department at Blackstone Valley Tech, a vocational school in Central MA. In the face of low student interest, she led a turn-around of the department to teach business through the lens of entrepreneurship. “It’s hard to learn business skills from a textbook,” Megan said, “an experiential approach where students learn while honing soft skills necessary to apply their knowledge is critical for today’s society.”
Her students loved it–and thrived. Several launched revenue-generating businesses while in school and a team won a statewide entrepreneurship competition, going on to place nationally. After several years guiding students through their early entrepreneurial journeys, Megan said she knew she wanted to continue this work on a larger scale.
Megan joined MassTech in 2019, where she champions an entrepreneur-led approach to economic development. She said she’s energized by MassTech’s mission to expand access to entrepreneurship across Massachusetts.
“Entrepreneur-led economic development is really coming into its own,” she said. “Recruiting companies is a big piece of the economic development pie, but strong startup communities are the heart of our innovation economy.”
There is entrepreneurial talent within every town and city of the Commonwealth. Megan’s goal is to ensure aspiring entrepreneurs, startup founders, and established business owners are aware of the resources available to them and can find supportive local communities. To that end, she created a new initiative with the Strong Entrepreneur Ecosystems grant program to support the growth of regional ecosystems.
“We saw tremendous interest from across the state in this program, with 13 unique communities and entrepreneur networks applying for funding to grow their ecosystems,” she said. Three communities – Worcester, North Central Massachusetts, and Northampton – were selected for grant funding, which enabled them to convene advisory groups of entrepreneurs and ecosystem partners, understand the unique needs of entrepreneurs in their region, and design and implement strategic plans to meet those needs.
As part of the Strong Entrepreneur Ecosystem program, MassTech also funded the creation of the Massachusetts Founders Network (MFN), where Megan serves as a founding team member. “MFN will help even the playing field for startup founders in Massachusetts regardless of which region they live in,” she said. MFN aims to supplement local support organizations and democratize access to high-quality entrepreneurial support for high-growth founders looking to access resources, share their stories, and connect with mentors and investors.
In addition to her regional ecosystem-building work, Megan also serves as the Strategic Advisor for the Massachusetts robotics industry, helping lead MassTech’s robotics cluster development efforts through investments in R&D infrastructure, commercialization programs, and workforce development.
Megan said although she never thought her economics background would lead her to work anywhere near the robotics industry, it has been an exciting path. “While I don’t have any technical background, it has been fascinating to learn about the robotics market – particularly challenges faced by hardware startups with long-range ROIs,” she said.
Megan said that exposure to deep tech startups makes her better at her job in helping to build intentional ecosystems with appropriate support for different types of entrepreneurs: “Again, it all comes back to the community and truly understanding their unique characteristics and needs.”
