Since joining WEDC in June 2024, Vice President of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Shayna Hetzel has been working to evaluate the gaps where Wisconsin could be doing a better job of supporting entrepreneurs and encouraging their companies’ success. In this Q&A, Hetzel shares what she’s learned and how WEDC and its partners will be shifting their approach in the months and years to come.
Q: What trends do you notice when you examine Wisconsin’s entrepreneurial landscape?
A: Let’s be honest—Wisconsin isn’t seeing as many new businesses start as we’d like, and that’s been the case for quite a while. Over the past two decades, the number of new businesses launched here each year has gradually declined. While we’ve had some bright spots along the way, the overall trend suggests there’s work to be done.
Compared to other states across the country, we’re not just behind in the number of new businesses—we also see fewer jobs created per startup. And while Wisconsin used to stand out for its high survival rates for new businesses, even that advantage has narrowed, moving closer to the national average.
Shayna Hetzel
WEDC Vice President of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
When it comes to venture capital—the primary investment source for high-growth startups—we have a wide gap to close. Among Midwest states, Wisconsin ranks sixth in deal count, seventh in total investment, and eighth in venture dollars per capita. And while the University of Wisconsin-Madison is a national leader in research spending, we haven’t yet unlocked the full potential of commercialization to turn that research into thriving new businesses.
Now, that might sound like a challenge—and it is—but it’s also an incredible opportunity. We have the talent, the ideas, and the drive to turn this around. The question isn’t if we can do it; it’s how fast we can make it happen.
Q: Why does this matter?
A: Startups are engines of economic growth, and they create high-wage jobs—on average, significantly higher than Wisconsin’s median income. That means more opportunities for individuals and families to build wealth, stronger communities, and a thriving business climate that benefits everyone.
When we grow our startup ecosystem, we also grow our state’s tax base, allowing for more investment in our schools, infrastructure, and quality of life. And let’s not forget—today’s high-growth startups are tomorrow’s legacy companies. The businesses we support now could be the ones shaping Wisconsin’s economy for decades to come, creating products, technologies, and industries that keep our state competitive and innovative.
Q: What are some ideas you have for how we might start to reverse the troubling trends you’ve identified?
A: There’s so much potential here, and we’re ready to tap into it. A big focus moving forward is building density—getting more founders, investors, and industry leaders connected so innovation can move faster. We’re already seeing that happen with projects like the Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub, TitletownTech’s catalytic activity in Green Bay, and the Connected Systems Institute at UW-Milwaukee working with the Microsoft Co-Innovation lab focused on AI integration for advanced manufacturing. When we bring together people with shared goals, the results can be game-changing.
We also need to support serial founders—people who have built and scaled businesses before—so they can help first-time entrepreneurs navigate challenges and attract more capital into Wisconsin. The more we foster these connections, the more we create an environment where investors see Wisconsin as a place worth betting on.
Of course, none of this happens in a vacuum. We have strong partners who are deeply embedded in Wisconsin’s entrepreneurial communities, and their insights are invaluable. We’ll be listening, adapting, and tracking key metrics—new business starts, venture deal activity, founder-centric considerations and the impact of incubators and accelerators—to make sure we’re moving in the right direction.
It’s easy to look at the numbers and say that we’re behind. We can’t get better if we don’t talk about what we’re not doing well. I believe we’re at a pivotal moment. A time to be bold, to try new things, and to take an entrepreneurial approach to how we support entrepreneurs. That’s what makes this exciting.
Q: How does your past experience shape your approach to entrepreneurship and innovation in Wisconsin?
A: My career has always centered around community and collaboration—whether that was helping build community spaces like Union South at UW-Madison, working at the State Budget Office to shape policy and budget decisions, or launching corporate responsibility and social impact efforts at American Family Insurance.
At the UW-Madison, I worked on building a true community hub, Union South—creating a place where students, faculty, alumni, and the community could connect and collaborate. That experience taught me how important it is to design spaces where people feel welcome and where new ideas can take shape.
My time at the State Budget Office gave me a front-row seat to how policy and funding decisions directly impact people’s lives. Writing and shaping policy wasn’t just about numbers—it was about understanding how those decisions ripple through communities. That perspective has been invaluable as I think about how public investment can unlock innovation and create lasting economic change.
At American Family, I had the chance to not only help create an innovation hub in downtown Madison but also build the Institute for Corporate and Social Impact—where venture capital and philanthropy came together to drive meaningful change. As I sat on rapidly growing startup boards filled with investors and strategic partners, as I joined national panels on impact investing and public-private partnerships, and as I traveled across the country to meet with community coalitions and leaders, I saw firsthand how bringing together the right people with the right resources can drive real change.
Each of these experiences taught me the same lesson: Lasting progress happens when you bring the right voices and ideas not just to the table but into positions of real visibility and influence. That’s the mindset I bring to Wisconsin’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. We’re not going to move forward by working in silos—we move forward by building connections among founders, investors, universities, and community leaders. The best way through something difficult is together.
What excites me is that Wisconsin has all the right pieces—we have brilliant entrepreneurs, committed partners, and untapped potential. My job is to help weave those pieces into something powerful, where innovation can thrive and where every founder, no matter where they start, feels like they have a real shot at success.
