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Jason Evanish on Why There’s Never Been a Better Time to be a Young Entrepreneur in Boston
3/10/2010

 

As a young entrepreneur in the Boston community for the past half year, I have witnessed first hand a transformation; there is an incredible build up of momentum behind many initiatives and a growing buzz in the community.  New organizations are forming, old ones are evolving and there has been a dramatic increase in collaboration across the ecosystem. Innovative ideas, better ways of doing things and many new opportunities are the product of these efforts and it’s why John Harthorne is bullish about the community and I share his sentiments. 

In my opinion, the most underrated aspect of the revitalization of the community is the renaissance for young entrepreneurs.  I’d like to highlight some of the reasons I think…there’s never been a better time to be a young entrepreneur in Boston.

1) Many Great Organizations 

In just the short time we’ve been managing an entrepreneur calendar at Greenhorn Connect, we’ve watched as the events have gone from about 20 per week to over 40.  Having attended many of them, I have found them all to be of very high quality and filled with hard working, passionate people very open to new connections. 

In the last year, I’ve seen the emergence of  quite a few new organizations with some of the best events in the community: Mass Innovation Nights, DartBoston, IdeaStorm, and UltraLightStartups. When you combine this with established events like WebInno, Open Coffee, Mobile Mondays and Tech Tuesdays, you have a robust networking environment and many great avenues for getting connected to the community.   

2) Renewed academic commitments to entrepreneurship

It’s easy to look at Boston and think it’s a two horse race (Harvard and MIT), but in recent years, many of the other schools in the region have refocused their efforts on promoting entrepreneurship.  From Northeastern’s IDEA program to Babson’s E Tower, to UMass Boston’s Venture Development Center, there are programs emerging everywhere to make students have more entrepreneurial opportunities.

3) Office Hours

Starting in November, local members of the community started hosting office hours to break down barriers to meeting investors and influential members of the community.  Since then, the movement has exploded with many organizations having weekly hours.  You can see all of them on our calendar; just search “office hours” to filter the other events. Because of these office hours, it has never been easier for a young entrepreneur to get connected to key members in the community. 

4) Workspace options

In the past, you may have been left with either paying an exorbitant amount of money for an office or working out of your bedroom or a coffee shop.  Today, companies are sharing their workspace, new coworking options are emerging and hybrid incubator-office space programs are opening.  There has never been an easier time to find a place to work.   

5) State Government that’s in it for the Long Term. 

The commitment level of our local elected officials and government staff is very impressive. While there are obviously budget constraints due to the recession, they’re making the most of the resources they can provide; whether it’s the Mass It’s All Here program, helping support MassChallenge or Governor Deval Patrick coming to recognize the significance of the expansion of the Cambridge Innovation Center, their commitment is unquestionable.   

On Monday I saw Secretary Bialecki’s presentation at the Rappaport Institute and was amazed at the depth of his understanding of the challenges the state faces in trying to improve the entrepreneur ecosystem from health care questions, to property issues to improving collaboration amongst companies and organizations in the community.  Most encouraging was his strong assertion that they’re thinking long term; they have a vision for 10 years out; not an election in less than 4 years. With a strong understanding of the immediate challenges and the patience to avoid quick fixes, Massachusetts is poised to be an even better environment for entrepreneurs in the years to come.

6) The Career Combine

One of the biggest challenges facing the community is keeping the locally educated talent in the region.  Currently, only 26% of Massachusetts college graduates who go on to start companies actually start them in Massachusetts.  Silicon Valley’s retention rate is more than two and half times better than ours at 69%.  Obviously, there is great room for improvement here and as Secretary Bialecki said on Monday, “if even 5 or 10% more graduates stay here, it would do wonders.”

I’m proud to announce that Greenhorn Connect is teaming up with MITX to address this issue with our event, the Career Combine.  The Career Combine was created as a collaborative effort with the goal of connecting job seekers with open positions in the Internet marketing, technology and entrepreneur community.  The Combine will also educate students, recent grads and entry-level talent on the innovative companies in New England and on the skills needed to find their next job.  We hope this event will help infuse the community with new talent and provide aspiring entrepreneurs with opportunities to join and learn from our local companies. 

As a young entrepreneur I see so many amazing opportunities and hope you’ll join me in taking full advantage of all there is available to us in this great community.   I’m very excited for the future of Massachusetts entrepreneurship and hope you are too.

Jason Evanish is co-founder of GreenhornConnect.com, which connects Boston startups and enthusiasts with the many resources and events in the region as well as educational and informational content. The MITX-Greenhorn Connect Career Combine is April 13th 2010 at the Back Bay Events Center.

 

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1149
Cultural Changes in Boston
3/8/2010

As we’ve mentioned before, there’s been a lot of reassuring activity going on in Massachusetts lately. Some of it has been in Kendall close to MIT and some has been on the other side of the river, in Boston. Particularly, South Boston. Mayor Menino has some interesting plans for the Seaport District in South Boston with an aim of turning it into a downtown Geekville.

What does that mean?

Menino wants to create a “vibrant innovation district” in South Boston. Basically creating a home for well-educated workers who work long hours in start-ups for short money. Sounds pretty good to us. To learn more, click here.

Another project of Mayor Menino’s, Boston World Partnerships, is turning 1 years old. For those of you unfamiliar with Boston World Partnerships, we think it’s an organization definitely worth checking out. Mayor Menino created BWP to help business leaders worldwide understand and access Boston’s competitive advantages.

What does BWP do?

BWP is creating a global community of people who have ties to the Boston economy, similar to an alumni organization. Their most invested members are their Connectors, whom anyone can find through the website. Their role is to inform the world about Boston’s strengths, and they help connect businesses to the resources that Boston’s economy offers.

Where can you meet them?

Boston World Partnerships is celebrating their one-year anniversary March 16th 2010 from 5:30-8:30pm at the Liberty Hotel. Registration is here. 

What else will be going on that night?

BWP is hosting their first Odd Pairing Experiment, which will pair up two high-impact leaders from totally different industries. The goal is to identify and explore areas of overlap and commonality.

How can you get free tickets? 

As a partner of BWP, MassChallenge has been invited to host a contest for free tickets to the event.

We are inviting you to name your favorite odd pairing. Examples include: the Trinity Church and the Hancock Tower or Priscilla of Boston and Second Time Around in Back Bay. Feel free to think outside of the box. The most innovative idea will get the free tickets. Looking forward to reading your responses! Share them here or on Twitter just make sure to include @masschallenge in your tweets!

Competition ends Friday.

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1101
Hustle. Sleep. Repeat.
3/3/2010

 

Last Thursday, I had the distinct honor of acting as emcee for the NEXT event, celebrating emerging entrepreneurs in Massachusetts. The event was organized by the MA Office of Small Business & Entrepreneurship and hosted at the UMass Venture Development Center, both of whom did an amazing job.

Around 125 people came to celebrate four startup teams from Massachusetts that Businessweek identified as among the 25 best entrepreneurs under 25 years old. FTR, this is the second year in a row that Massachusetts produced more promising young entrepreneurs than any other state, including California which has almost 6 times more people than Massachusetts. Pretty amazing.

 

  • Emergent, Jesse Gossett, Jayson Uppal, Chris Jacobs
  • IdeaPaint, John Goscha, Jeff Avallon, Morgen Newman
  • SCVNGR, Seth Priebatsch, John Valentine
  • Wistia, Christopher Savage and Brendan Schwartz

Diane Hessan of Communispace was the keynote. She is an awesome role model for aspiring entrepreneurs: smart, funny, collaborative and highly successful – another incredible female entrepreneur in Massachusetts. Next time you see Diane, ask her to tell you about the hobo entrepreneur ….

My favorite part of the event, though, was John Goscha’s anecdote about a fellow entrepreneur who had experienced a spate of recent successes. When asked how he did it, the entrepreneur replied simply “I get up. I hustle. I sleep. Then I do it again.

I think that really sums it up. Entrepreneurship is hard work. Nothing comes easy when you’re forging new territory. There’s no time for self-pity. You just have to commit yourself to your vision and then hustle like mad to get there. That’s also why it’s so important to care about the business you’re launching. There’s just no way you can keep up the pace necessary to succeed if you don’t love what you’re doing.

I know the MassChallenge team and I are having a blast. We’re especially excited to shift our focus from planning to actually supporting entrepreneurs. They are the reason why we are working so hard to make MassChallenge a huge success. It’s a nice reminder to meet people like Diane Hessan, John Goscha and the other entrepreneurs in attendance at NEXT – all of them have taken significant risks and have hustled relentlessly to achieve their vision and improve their community. Made me proud to be around them.

So, to all you entrepreneurs out there:

                                 stop reading and get back to hustling

 

Author: John Harthorne is the CEO and Founder of MassChallenge.

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1003
Why I'm Bullish on a Startup Renaissance in Massachusetts
2/23/2010

I’m convinced we are poised for a major startup renaissance with its epicenter in Massachusetts & New England.

Some people think I’m crazy. I disagree. Here’s why.

We find ourselves in the latter half of a major economic recession in which multiple industries are experiencing major crises: media, healthcare delivery, real estate, automobile manufacturing, energy generation, desktop software …  the list goes on.

Why so many crises, and how does this relates to renaissance?  

There’s no single cause, but many of these crises are catalyzed by rapid technology advances, which are challenging the business models on which these industries are based. Why pay for newspaper delivery to get day old news on my doorstep when I can get news instantly on my laptop or cell phone? Why pay for desktop software when universal connectivity enables me to store my data and preferences in the cloud for seamless access on multiple devices wherever I want? This process is not new. Innovative technology always challenges business models predicated on old technology – but the scale and scope of theses challenges are greater than we have seen in decades.

So where’s the renaissance?  

So far, we have mostly seen the new wave of technology weakening and destroying old business models, but over the next several years we will witness an acceleration of startups whose business models are explicitly based on the availability of new technology. The horse and buggy industry has shown weakness – here comes the Ford assembly line.

We are already seeing the emergence of game-changing technology. Like online media distribution, renewable clean tech, hybrid non-profit business models serving key social needs. This next wave will produce dozens of high-growth, game changing startups across multiple industries. That’s the renaissance. And it is upon us.

So why Massachusetts?

These game-changing innovations will occur in a broad set of industries and will require lots of talented, hard-working young people. Massachusetts has one of the most diverse startup environments on the planet. We are strong in virtually all sectors of every major industry: not just healthcare generally, but also specifically in telemedicine and biotechnology; not just energy generally, but also specifically in thin film solar technology and hyper-efficient battery technology; not just hardware, but robotics and other cutting-edge technology areas … you get the idea. We’re really good at technology.

We also have the most and best universities of pretty much any region on the planet. Yes, historically we have lost many of these young people to California and elsewhere upon graduation, but right now Massachusetts is better positioned economically to capture this wave of growth and I am convinced we can attract and retain the brilliant minds that will usher in this renaissance.

There has been a lot of reassuring activity organized for and by young innovators in Massachusetts lately. WebInno, MassInno, DartBoston, Greenhorn Connect, Techstars, the proliferation of co-working centers, the ever-expanding Cambridge Innovation Center, Boston World Partnerships, the Microsoft NERD Center … plus dozens of great entrepreneurial university programs.

So that’s how I see it. Crisis is giving way to opportunity. That opportunity will require smart, well-educated, passionate young people. We have a lot of them right here, and they appear to be readying themselves rapidly. I have never been more bullish on Massachusetts. We are on the verge of a period of great innovation and growth, the likes of which we haven’t seen perhaps since the industrial revolution.

What do you think? Do you agree or am I just crazy?

 

By: John Harthorne

John Harthorne is the CEO and Founder of MassChallenge. Click here for John's bio.

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981
Drinking Beer to Save the World
2/12/2010

I can’t resist commenting on this post as it combines two of my favorite things in life, renewable energy and beer. Eric Fitch of PurposeEnergy has found a way reduce and reuse waste streams created in the beer production process. While the approach of reducing waste in a production process is not new, Eric has found a market that produces organic waste that can be transformed into clean energy and even help fuel the production process. This is similar to the model Brazil uses to produce sugar ethanol for cars (which you technically can also drink). In Brazil, the stalks and waste from the sugar fields are used to fuel the ethanol production, which is one reason it is cheaper and has a better carbon footprint than US produced corn ethanol. Let’s hope that more breweries realize the benefits PurposeEnergy can provide, giving us all just one more excuse to drink beer, “I’m saving the environment!”

… Fitch’s aim is for his company, Arlington, MA-based PurposeEnergy, to excel in the beer market, and then let its first customers become the startup’s loudest advocates as it expands into other industries.

Brewing and bottling beer creates organic byproducts at almost every step of the process, from spent grain and yeast to protein deposits. The resulting waste is mostly water with a high concentration of solids, which companies have to pay to transport offsite to treatment facilities that charge by the pound to make the water safe enough for disposal.

PurposeEnergy, incorporated in 2007, has come up with system that uses a process called anaerobic digestion to turn the byproducts from brewing into renewable fuels. Installed on-site at a brewery, the “PurposeEnergy Biogas Facility” would convert much of the organic waste into methane, the main component of the natural gas that most breweries use to fuel their plants. In doing so, it would cut costs for energy and byproduct remediation by about 40 percent at its first brewery partner, according to Fitch, PurposeEnergy’s CEO. Fitch developed the technique as a hybrid of a few different anaerobic digester methods mostly used in farming, a world that Fitch is familiar with, having grown up in Wyoming….  (for full article see http://bit.ly/aMMnL6)

 

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980
HBO Show on Entrepreneurship Highlights Interesting Questions
2/11/2010

HBO’s new show ‘How to Make it in America’ is pretty good. Doesn’t make the life of an entrepreneur look glamorous by any means but its set in New York so it makes it look pretty cool. We’re introduced to our two main characters Ben and Cam. From what we can gather, Ben is an aspiring artist who often gets pulled into Cam’s scams. We see Ben’s apartment full of skateboards and then find out Cam owes his cousin $5K. So Ben and Cam buy some bootleg leather jackets and borrow the rest of the money from a guy from Ben’s highschool who has a hedge fund. I like the interaction between Cam and their friend GiGi’s dad the most. There is a scene in which Cam starts pitching ideas to Gigi’s dad that goes like this.

Cam: “It’s Cold Stone Creamery but for donuts. I call it Build a Nut.”

Gigi’s Dad: “No Cam.”

Cam: “You pick your own toppings. Caramel frosted for the dudes. And strawberry flavored high heel sprinkles for the ladies.”

Gigi’s Dad: “Nooo. You keep coming to me with these crazy ideas and maybe some of them might be good. But everybody’s got ideas. Nobody wants to put in the work. Don’t tell me what you are going to do. Show me what you’ve done and then maybe finally I’ll write you that check.”

Cam: “How many zeroes on that check?”

I think that one scene sums up what I’ve seen from the last few months since I’ve ventured into the entrepreneurial community. VCs, Angels, everyone wants to be shown what you’ve done. How much of your own time and money have you invested? One of the most important questions entrepreneurs are asked is how much they have already committed to their idea, i.e. have you quit your job? How long have you worked without pay on this? For how long are you willing to work without pay? Ultimately, it’s about passion and sincerity — why should an investor or mentor care enough about your idea to take a risk on it if you haven’t?

The pilot of “How to Make it in America” is on YouTube. If you’ve seen it, what do you think? Do you think they could have set the show in Boston? Cambridge?

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979
5 Common Misconceptions about MassChallenge
2/10/2010

1. MassChallenge is a government program. FALSE

Actually, MassChallenge is an independent non-profit that is using both public and private funding. Our initial funding came from the Mass Tech Collaborative’s John Adams Innovation Institute, the Deshpande Foundation, the Kauffman Foundation, and Microsoft. We will announce more partnerships and support soon … please contact us if you are interested in joining this exclusive group.

2. MassChallenge is a venture fund. FALSE

We had originally proposed including a MassChallenge investment fund alongside our other offerings because we thought this would help promote other investments and ultimately benefit entrepreneurs. Having spoken with thousands of stakeholders, including some of the areas biggest investors and top lawyers, we realized that we will be more effective without a separate investment fund, especially since a fund would significantly complicate our status as a non-profit. So, no, we do not offer investments directly — instead we provide grants and we partner with dozens of outside investors eager to deploy their capital in high-growth firms.

3. MassChallenge has lots of strings attached and requires winners to headquarter in Massachusetts. FALSE

Anyone can enter MassChallenge, from anywhere on the planet, with any idea. There are no strings attached — you don’t have to give up any equity, and you can headquarter your company wherever you like. We love Massachusetts. It is an amazing place to launch your business, and we will certainly help you get set up here if that’s what you want, but there are no requirements to headquarter or operate in Massachusetts following the competition. The only entry requirement is that you promise to engage in the competition processes up until the final ceremony — that requires you to be physically present for 2-3 months over the late Summer / early Fall. We’ll do our best to help you get situated in Massachusetts.

4. MassChallenge is “just another business plan competition”. FALSE

We partner and collaborate with lots of university-based business plan competitions, including the MIT $100K, but we are later stage than these competitions. Our goal is to produce fundable startups that launch and succeed either during or immediately following our competition. We are a startup creation machine, not an educational event. If you were a recent finalist or winner of a university based competition, you are likely a strong potential entrant for MassChallenge. You could also be a professional who has recently left work and is looking to realize a life-long dream by launching a startup based on your extensive knowledge and experience.

5. MassChallenge doesn’t need any volunteers. FALSE

Actually, this wasn’t a misconception. We’re just using this opportunity to remind you that we encourage all types of volunteers to help us empower entrepreneurs and catalyze a startup renaissance in Massachusetts and beyond. Please sign up for our newsletter and social media feeds if you are interested — we’ll be making an announcement soon about how you can get involved. Thanks!

If you have any other questions please join us for a MassChallenge Info Session either

Today at 12:30pm in Cambridge Innovation Center 5th Floor Training Room OR

Tuesday, February 16th at 5:30pm in the Venture Development Center at UMASS Boston OR

Tuesday, February 23rd at 12:30pm at CIC.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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978
ARPA-E Spurring Innovation and Funding
2/5/2010

Xconomy reported that 1366 Technologies Wrapped Up $5.2M

1366 Technologies, a Lexington, MA-based company developing more efficient photovoltaic panels, has raised a $5.2 million Series B round from North Bridge Venture Partners and Polaris Venture Partners, says company president Frank van Mierlo. An SEC filing puts the total offering amount for the round at $6.2 million, but van Mierlo says the round closed at $5.2 million, with $5 million coming from the venture firms and the remainder coming from investments by 1366 management. He says investors were spurred by funding 1366 received from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Projects Research Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) program, which looks to fund innovations in energy efficiency.

While that is great for 1366, what is more exciting for MA as a whole is that the ARPA-E grants are spurring follow-on funding. Often it is said that government initiatives are not compatible with promoting innovation, in part due to the conservative and slow nature of government spending, as compared to the quicker, riskier VC-funding. Since the recession hit, it seems that bit of a role reversal has happened. What is great for MA is that of the ARPA-E grants awarded in October ‘09, MA captured 22% of the total money. If this trend continues, there will be continued investment in the MA clean energy space and may make it the center for the country’s cleantech innovation. Keep your eye on this trend.

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977
Competition is Everywhere
1/27/2010

Great post by Seth Godin. We couldn’t agree more! Competition is everywhere and it’s when people see it that they are pushed to excel. Competitions give an artificial sense of urgency — in reality there is urgency everywhere all the time, people just need to see it.

Sure, there are playoffs in football, but competition is everywhere, we just forget to notice it.

There are three hundred photographers looking for work in a particular specialty. One puts a creative commons license on his shots in Flickr and they start showing up in many places, from presentations to brochures. Which of the 300 photographers has won the competition for attention? Which one of the three hundred has shared his ideas enough to be noticed?

There are twenty towns you can choose for your family’s new home. One invests in its schools, has a focus on inquiry, AP courses and community, while the others are muddling through, arguing about their future. Which one commands a higher premium for its houses?

There are a hundred new kinds of snacks and energy bars at the checkout of the supermarket. One is a little bigger, a little more exciting and a little closer to eye level. Which one of the hundred wins the battle for your impulse buy?

There are fifty people applying for a job. Forty nine have great credentials and beautifully standard layouts on their resumes. One resume was hand delivered to the CEO by his best friend, together with a glowing recommendation about a project the applicant did for the friend’s non-profit. Who gets the interview?

There are ten great jobs for the superstar programmer who is looking for a new challenge. One offers offices not cubes, free lunch, great customer support and the freedom to work on interesting projects. Where does she choose to apply?

There are 30 places that sell bumper stickers. One shows up first in the Google ads when I do a search. Which one gets my business?

There are seventy houses for sale in town. One of them is represented by a broker who is a pillar of the community, a friend of many and a role model for the industry. Which one gets more people to its open house?

….

You don’t have to like competition in order to understand that it exists. Your fair share isn’t going to be yours unless you give the public a reason to pick you.

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976
StartUp America
1/26/2010

Great post from Andrew Hyde. A startup enthusiast and TechStars employee.

To all my startup friends: you inspire me.

There was a fantastic op ed this morning in the NYTimes More (Steve) Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs.

What the country needs most now is not more government stimulus, but more stimulation. We need to get millions of American kids, not just the geniuses, excited about innovation and entrepreneurship again. We need to make 2010 what Obama should have made 2009: the year of innovation, the year of making our pie bigger, the year of “Start-Up America.”

I would change it should be Startup America, because startup is a word, in my mind at least.

The people I’m around in the startup world could make a damn good run to change the world on $100,000. The banks couldn’t give a mid level manager a bonus that low.

Reject that mentality. I wonder if we took an ounce of that money and seeded Matt to start a bank, or perhaps not fund, but enable them to compete against those that have failed, and will continue to fail, if we just keep propping them up.

We would have a better country, that is what.

To all my startup friends: you inspire me.

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