Sometimes our most innovative entrepreneurs are people often overlooked and underestimated. They represent a stage of the entrepreneurial journey that happens before people identify themselves as entrepreneurs or appear in our ecosystem—before we have a name, an email address, or a business to support. 

According to Andrew Button, guest speaker at our June SourceLink Affiliate Quarterly Conversation, this "messy middle" contains more potential entrepreneurs than the number we currently identify in our ecosystems. Button, former regional director of an economic development agency and founder and CEO of Mashup Lab, shared practical strategies his team has used over the past decade to activate this pool of untapped entrepreneurial potential sitting on the sidelines in communities across Canada and the United States. 

Activation Before Acceleration 

When we think about entrepreneurial ecosystems, we often focus on incubation and acceleration. Button challenged us to rethink that sequence. He believes the entrepreneurial journey begins with activation, the phase of curiosity, passion, idea generation, and idea exploration that comes before launching a business. 

Over the past 10 years, Button and his team have developed a playbook for this activation phase. The first step is finding people who don't yet consider themselves entrepreneurs. 

Mashup Lab's activation programs are intentionally designed to remove barriers and encourage experimentation. Every six months, the organization awards $1,000 microgrants, with no strings attached, to help people bring an idea to life. These grants have funded projects ranging from purchasing a truckload of dirt to launch a community garden to buying perfume bottles for a niche fragrance business. 

Mashup Lab has also launched seven coworking spaces and created the Dream Business Program, a virtual business incubator that serves as an activation program. Participants join a cohort of approximately 15 people, receive one-on-one coaching, and participate in weekly 90-minute group sessions over six weeks. 

Learning from Entrepreneurs on the Sidelines  

The Dream Business Program has proven remarkably successful. Over 11 years, Mashup Lab has led 110 cohorts, served more than 2,000 participants, and helped launch approximately 1,200 businesses across Canada and the United States. 

Perhaps the most surprising lesson, however, is who participates. 

Eighty percent of participants had never enrolled in a business or entrepreneurship program before, despite those resources already existing in their communities. Eighty-five percent are women, half have children under age 12, and 40 percent identify with populations traditionally underserved by entrepreneurship programs, including LGBTQ+ individuals, newcomers, people with disabilities, and other underrepresented communities. 

Why hadn't they participated before? 

Participants consistently said existing resources didn't feel approachable. Some didn't believe they would find people like themselves. Others didn't feel "ready" to call themselves entrepreneurs. Yet something about Mashup Lab's messaging and program design made them feel welcome. 

Button emphasized that finding these creative, passionate people begins with positioning and messaging. Organizations must build trusted partnerships with community groups that already have relationships with the people they hope to reach. Activation programs must feel accessible, relatable, approachable and not intimidating. 

• There is significant untapped entrepreneurial potential in every community. Many aspiring entrepreneurs haven't yet identified themselves as entrepreneurs. 

• Some of these entrepreneurs are already operating small businesses. They may never seek large investments or build large teams, but they make meaningful contributions to their local economies, particularly in rural and small communities. 

• Finding these entrepreneurs requires strong partnerships with organizations that have earned the trust of the communities you want to serve. 

• Activation programs should be designed to be welcoming, accessible, and approachable to attract aspiring entrepreneurs who might otherwise never engage with traditional business support organizations. 

Read Andrew’s blog to learn more about MashupLabs activation programs, https://www.joinsourcelink.com/2026/05/27/an-opportunity-for-entrepreneurial-ecosystems/ 

Join us in New Orleans: IEDC Annual Conference & Elevate  

Zachary Barker, Director of Entrepreneurship at IEDC, and Stephanie Hartman, Director of the Louisiana Growth Network at Louisiana Economic Development, shared updates about this fall's Elevate event in New Orleans. 

This October offers two opportunities to connect with entrepreneurship-led economic development community.  Attend the IEDC Annual Conference, October 25-28, then stay for Elevate, October 28-30, featuring peer-led sessions, practical ideas, and conversations with ecosystem builders from across the country. We promise “Laissez les bons temps rouler!” 

Speaker applications for Elevate are open. Sessions are just 20 minutes, so we hope to have lots of speakers sharing their best ideas and lessons learned. Visit the Elevate website for updates and check back as new details are added.  

 Celebrating News Across the Network 

Welcome New Affiliates – Loyola University is now hosting ChiBizHub (Chicago); City of Bloomington, IN; Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, CT; AYA Foundation in Denver, CO;  

Congratulations to The West Virginia Small Business Development Center (WV SBDC) State Director Will Miller and Deputy Director Mark Burdette who received Citations of Excellence during this year’s Bridging Innovation Week in April.  

In case you missed it, the National Urban League was awarded the Julius Morgan Diversity and Inclusion Award by InBIA in April. You can read more in our blog. 

About SourceLInk Affiliate Quarterly Conversations 

SourceLink Quarterly Conversations and SourceLink Users Conversations are an exclusive benefit for SourceLink affiliates. Agendas include topics, national speakers and inspired discussions suggested by our community of ecosystem builders and is an opportunity for the SourceLink network to share best practices. For more information about becoming a SourceLink affiliate and to join our conversations, please contact Krista Markley, kmarkley@joinsourcelink.com.