Member Profile: Marek Hajn of Principal Technologies

Marek Hajn is one of Pittsburgh's top tech entrepreneurs with a mission to bring more companies from around the world to the region. As the Executive Director for the US and Canadian markets at Principal Technologies, Hajn has successfully led the marketing and sales team, as well as the delivery and project management staff across multiple locations, including Pittsburgh, Niagara Falls, Toronto and Calgary.

In addition to his role at Principal Technologies, Marek is the founder of a boutique consulting firm specializing in assisting international businesses entering the US market. His primary objective is to showcase Pittsburgh as an ideal starting point for businesses looking to establish operations in the country. Through strategic partnerships and collaborations with various government agencies and organizations, Hajn aims to showcase Pittsburgh's potential as a thriving market for their business endeavors. We wanted to know more and had to ask.

Pittsburgh Technology Council: Give us the scoop on Principal Technologies.

Hajn: Principal Technologies has been one of my clients for several years now: I started the relationship to help them establish their presence in the US. Then I transitioned to the role of executive director for the US and Canadian markets; I took over the latter at the beginning of 2023. I lead the small marketing / sales team along with the delivery and project management staff. We have staff in Pittsburgh, Niagara Falls, Toronto, and Calgary

Pittsburgh Technology Council: Your international business consulting is in high gear. We want to know more.

Hajn: I started this journey during the pandemic. I run a small boutique consulting firm focused on international businesses coming to the US. My primary focus is to show them that Pittsburgh is a great starting point for their business operations.

For several years I've been working with different governments or government-funded organizations in Europe and for upcoming years my plan is to bring government/business missions directly to Pittsburgh. I would like to show at least 100 different companies every year that Pittsburgh is a great market to consider for their business operations.

Back in 2022, I started collaborating with Gregory Caprara of Certantum Strategies, and in 2023 we formed a partnership called PocketSquare Ventures. There’s obviously a story behind that name...We work with companies in different stages of maturity from different European countries. We’ve been partnering with some official channels from those countries as well.

On the US side, we have built an extensive network that includes businesses from the SMB market up to Fortune 500 companies, many universities, and also chambers of commerce, professional associations, as well as governments of different states.

That brought us to the position where we also have US-based companies as our customers and we help them with finding opportunities in Europe as well as strategic planning and revenue growth.

One of the most interesting projects is a company called BigHub that focuses on AI and machine learning. They already have some impressive references globally and we are building very interesting relationships here in the region. I will be more than happy to introduce that company separately. We also started working on a project with Maggie Women’s Research Institute, unfortunately at this point I can’t disclose any more details.

Another very interesting project is a company called Peig that is already a member of Pittsburgh Tech Council