Q&A with Maria Meyers: Innovator who built KC’s resource-connected entrepreneurial ecosystem

Founder of SourceLink, KC SourceLink, and visionary leader, Maria Meyers, University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) vice chancellor of commercialization and entrepreneurship and leader of the UMKC Innovation Center, will retire during the summer of 2026.

In 2003, Meyers launched KCSourceLink in collaboration with the Kauffman Foundation, UMKC, and the U.S. Small Business Administration. Housed within the UMKC Innovation Center, KCSourceLink connects entrepreneurs at any stage to resources that will help them start and scale. It also brings more than 230 entrepreneurship support organizations and business resources into closer alignment to create a more vibrant, collaborative ecosystem.

As an innovative pioneer in Kansas City’s fledgling entrepreneurial ecosystem, Meyers saw the gaps that dampened opportunity, as well as the power and potential of entrepreneurship as an engine for local economic growth. She’s spent decades dedicated to the development of Kansas City as a model entrepreneurial ecosystem known for sustainable partnerships with the ability to attract startups, catalyze business growth, and spur job creation.

On the precipice of retirement, how does Meyers view her legacy and Kansas City now, and in the future, as a great place to start and grow a business?

Q: What is it about the Kansas City entrepreneurial ecosystem that makes it uniquely effective in supporting entrepreneurs?

A: What really stands out about Kansas City is how connected and collaborative the ecosystem feels. People who visit are often surprised by how seamlessly organizations work together – it doesn’t feel like a collection of separate groups, but more like a coordinated system. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes collaboration: referrals between programs, shared events, co-teaching, and intentional handoffs that help entrepreneurs move from one stage to the next. That spirit extends beyond support organizations to include civic leaders, media, and the broader community, all of whom genuinely show up for entrepreneurs.

Unlike many places, we collectively and consistently work to strengthen the ecosystem every day. That commitment shows up in long-standing efforts like the quarterly meetups among entrepreneur support organizations, convened by KCSourceLink since 2003. Today, it’s also reflected in initiatives like “Forging the Future,” where the community is coming together to identify gaps in the ecosystem and work collaboratively to fill them.

In Kansas City, if you reach out, people will answer. This allows us to connect the treetops with the grassroots. We’ve been lucky to have CEOs of our largest companies interact directly with and support the entrepreneurial ecosystem as well as the large civic organizations such as the Civil Council of Greater Kansas City and Kansas City Area Development Council (KCADC). Our small businesses are just as important to the community as our large ones are.

— Maria Meyers
Founder, SourceLink and KCSourceLink
Vice Chancellor of Commercialization and Entrepreneurship, UMKC
Leader, UMKC Innovation Center

Q: You position KCSourceLink as providing the right resources at the right time. When you look back, what was it for you, personally, that made this work the right thing at the right time?

A: When I joined UMKC to lead KCSourceLink, it felt like the perfect role at exactly the right time. As a trailing spouse, I’d had the chance to work in a wide range of environments across multiple cities, building experience in industries like insurance, manufacturing, retail, telecom, museums, and biotech. I’d work in both for-profit and nonprofit organizations, in large corporations and startups, and had been part of growing companies from the ground up.

Along the way, I gained experience raising funding for both startups and nonprofits, and I’d personally turned to entrepreneur support organizations at different stages. That gave me the ability to see issues from multiple perspectives: the entrepreneur, the support organization, and the funder. By that time in my career, I had also had the opportunity to learn from my mistakes, had good project management skills, liked working on impossibly complex things, and enjoyed working with people and helping others be successful. I had a passion for the work – I liked creating jobs – and a strong desire to not fail.

Q: You’ve forged so many opportunities to put the KC entrepreneurial ecosystem in the regional, national, and international spotlight with events like Global Entrepreneurship Week and Global Entrepreneurship Conference. Why is it important to hold KC up as a model, and what do you see in KC that is going to fuel this ecosystem’s growth in the next 20 years?

A: I really feel that many of the breakthroughs in entrepreneurship support have come out of Kansas City, and we’ve been proud to be part of that story. Kauffman Foundation initiatives like 1 Million Cups and the Kauffman Fellows program have helped build vibrant founder communities, while efforts to seed entrepreneurial education in secondary and post-secondary schools across the country are shaping the next generation.

Partnerships like Global Entrepreneurship Week originated here in KC, and a wide range of research has inspired people to take action and strengthen their own communities. Kauffman has also sparked a constellation of spinouts, including programs like Pipeline and Right to Start, that continue to expand its impact. Programs like SourceLink have found a national following as an outgrowth of Kauffman funding. KC also boasts a number of companies that started from scratch and have grown into successful, scaling businesses, further reinforcing KC’s reputation as a place where entrepreneurs can build and thrive.

With so much entrepreneurial thought leadership coming out of Kansas City, we’ve become a model for others around the world. Pair that with standout sports teams, abundant green space, and a genuinely welcoming community, and it’s easy to see why KC is such a great place to live and build. It sends a powerful signal to talent and investors everywhere that there’s an accessible, supportive place to pursue entrepreneurship – and succeed.

— Maria Meyers
Founder, SourceLink and KCSourceLink
Vice Chancellor of Commercialization and Entrepreneurship, UMKC
Leader, UMKC Innovation Center

I feel like we’ve reached a new level of development in Kansas City that will carry us forward over the next 20 years. We’ve evolved from a fledgling entrepreneurial ecosystem with limited connection and capital into one that is now supporting major, emerging clusters in critical materials, biotech, and digital health. The conversation has shifted to more sophisticated forms of investment, along with stronger collaboration among companies of all sizes and deeper reach for regional, national, and international connectivity than ever before. This momentum is elevating KC’s profile and driving increased interest in – and recruitment of – both businesses and talent.

At the same time, there is still – and will be for a long time – a need to continue breaking down barriers for anyone who wants to start a business. Entrepreneurship still depends on access to education, networks, and capital, and we must keep finding ways to extend those resources into every community.

If the region continues to lean into collaboration, stay committed to learning from real data, and expand access to opportunity, it is well-positioned to become an even more dynamic and influential entrepreneurial hub over the next two decades.