Column by Jayamohan
Ecosystems aren’t designed. They emerge.
We learn this early in biology (thanks to my son who is a biology major), long before we sit through meetings about “innovation strategy.” Every organism plays a role. Balance is maintained through feedback loops. The weak don’t survive out of politeness. And when equilibrium forms, the system thrives without a logo, a launch event or a five-year plan.
Startup ecosystems behave the same way. They’re messy, uncomfortable and deeply human. They take years to form. Many fail. The ones that succeed do so because the right forces align before optimism runs out.
Silicon Valley didn’t happen because someone decided it should. It emerged from a rare convergence of defense spending, semiconductor research, top universities, early venture capital, immigrant talent and a tolerance for failure so high it bordered on reckless. Experience recycled. Failure wasn’t fatal; it was expected.
Yet for decades, cities have tried to copy Silicon Valley by replicating its surface features —accelerators, pitch nights, coworking spaces, demo days — assuming that if the structure looks right, the outcomes will follow. They don’t.
Pennsylvania knows this story well. First Pittsburgh. Then Philadelphia. Each cycle brought headlines, new hubs and renewed promises that the ecosystem would finally click. Meanwhile, a Brookings Institution study delivered a sobering conclusion: Despite enormous assets, Pennsylvania struggles to translate innovation into broad, high-quality economic growth in advanced industries.
The ingredients are here. The system isn’t.
In Central Pennsylvania, the issue isn’t talent or ambition. It’s fragmentation. Countless organizations carry “innovation” and “entrepreneurship” in their mission statements, well-intentioned, yet often competing for the same funding, and attention.
That’s when ecosystems wobble. When success is measured by small businesses launched, grants distributed or press releases issued, ego replaces equilibrium. Programs multiply. Efforts overlap. Founders are left navigating a maze of support that rarely adds up to sustained growth.
Startups don’t need vanity. They need oxygen.
They need capital that understands losses are part of the process. Mentors who have failed publicly and survived. Operators who know when to push, pivot or walk away because they’ve learned those lessons the hard way. Most of all, they need systems that recycle success into the next generation of companies.
That recycling is where many ecosystems break down.
New York now accounts for roughly a quarter of all U.S. venture deals, nearly double its share from two decades ago. That scale matters because exits don’t just create headlines. They create angels, repeat founders, and experienced mentors who reinvest both capital and credibility. The flywheel spins.
Pennsylvania has seen wins. Philadelphia has recorded more than 30 startup exits in recent years. But the flywheel remains inconsistent. Too much liquidity leaves the innovation economy. Too many founders shift into safer, more predictable investments. Real estate feels safe. Startups feel risky. Safety, however, is the enemy of innovation.
A functioning ecosystem requires capital willing to behave a little irrationally, backing unproven founders, strange ideas, long odds. Without that tolerance, regions don’t produce breakthrough companies. They produce incremental progress and good marketing.
This is why the Keystone Innovation Collaborative matters and why it’s different. KIC isn’t trying to crown a winning city or build another shiny hub. It is a statewide platform connecting universities, industry leaders, founders and capital – purpose-built to move breakthrough research from lab to market with speed and discipline. In doing so, it applies lessons learned – good and bad – from one of the rare small ecosystems that works: the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Harrisburg University. CIE incubated 24 companies, 15 of which remain active. Five raised more than $11 million in external capital, and one reached a $100 million valuation.
Those outcomes aren’t hype. They come from real operators, real feedback, and an environment where failure wasn’t punished, it was processed. KIC scales that approach statewide. Instead of forcing each institution to reinvent commercialization, it provides a shared platform that reduces friction, manages risk, and connects intellectual property to experienced entrepreneurs and active investors early. Less theater. More throughput.
But structure alone doesn’t build ecosystems. People do.
Successful startup communities are guided by founders who have built companies, missed payroll, raised money and sometimes exited. That experience can’t be taught in a workshop. It must be transferred. KIC is led by experienced, multi-exit founders rooted in the region. That credibility matters. Founders listen to people who’ve been there.
Central Pennsylvania doesn’t need to outshine Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. It doesn’t need another rebrand. It needs alignment, a system where institutions collaborate instead of competing, where exits recycle locally, and where experienced operators stay engaged long after their first win.
Ecosystems don’t announce themselves. They stabilize. They hum. And when they work, nobody argues about who won. They’re too busy building the next thing.
Jay Jayamohan is the director of the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurshipand a multi-exit founder who raised investment and scaled businesses with support from strong ecosystems of Silicon Valley, New York and the Washington, D.C., metro area.
Executives Insights is a recurring feature from biznewsPA. It provides local business executives and leaders a platform for sharing advice and perspective with the business community of Central Pennsylvania. If you are interested in contributing an executive insight, email [email protected].
