Tuesday, June 1st, 2010...10:38 PM
Boston Next Hot Start Up Town
Great post today by Rob Go posing the question is Boston the next hot city for entrepreneurs?
This is not new territory to Boston. We have led the minicomputer wars with Digital, Wang, Data General & Prime. We had two big time entrants in the Web 1.0 world with Lycos and Monster.
We surely have some great companies in these contemporary times that are independent/acquired like TripAdvisor, Constant Contact, Rue La La, Kayak, CSN Stores, ZipCar, Quattro Wireless, Compete and ShoeBuy. Also some cool emerging companies like BzzAgent, HubSpot, PangeaMedia, JumpTap and Visible Measures..all mentioned by Rob.
Congrats to ZipCar on filing their S1 for a public offering today.
I contend there are others like NameMedia, Oneforty, BlueLeaf, Swaptree, Scvngr, DailyGrommet, LogMeIn, Viximo, Gazelle, Carbonite, Akiba and many more operating and emerging in the Boston market.
This is all great news. Something to celebrate as we kick off “New England Innovation Month.”
Judging by the high level of interest at the launch of 12×12, todays Angel (and Entrepreneur) Boot Camp, tomorrows TechStars Demo Night, the upcoming launch of MassChallenge and other activities around town…I would say that it is getting pretty exciting to be in Boston.
16 Comments
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:07 PM
I could not agree more.
It’s exceptionally exciting to see all the entrepreneurial energy in the Boston area. There seems to be something in the air here now. Things are kicking into high gear.
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:08 PM
You are so right Dharmesh!
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:21 PM
Great stuff Jeff. I agree, it seems like everywhere I look more cool companies are emerging in the area. It’s an exciting time here in Boston and I’m flattered that Viximo gets to be included on your list.
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:24 PM
Sean – big fan of what you are doing. Indeed cool time to be in Boston. Lets keep it going!
June 2nd, 2010 at 4:11 PM
There does seem to be tremendous energy in the angel world of late. In addition to the angel bootcamp yesterday and Tech Stars tonight, the New England ACA held its deal sharing quarterly meeting this afternoon. And I understand there is at least one very new angel group launching – Race Point Capital. So hopefully we will get the next great companies funded from Boston.
June 2nd, 2010 at 4:26 PM
Thanks Jill for your pioneering work in the Boston Angel community. Must be gratifying for you to see so much energy emerging. This bodes well for Boston.
June 2nd, 2010 at 4:26 PM
thanks Jeff. it’s been a fun and wild ride, and we’re truly all just getting started at it…
thanks for being a part of oneforty and a part of it all.
June 2nd, 2010 at 4:31 PM
Laura it is great to be part of oneforty. Love your passion and commitment! Great space. Lets keep it going!
June 2nd, 2010 at 9:57 PM
Jeff, thanks for the Gazelle mention. Ever since I moved back to Boston (from the Bay Area) in 2006, I’ve been on a personal mission to help build the next generation of innovative, entrepreneurial, consumer businesses in the Boston area. It is so gratifying to see things coming together on so many fronts, and I look forward to getting more involved in the local business community and help leverage New England’s unique pool of talent, ideas, and investors.
June 2nd, 2010 at 10:19 PM
Thanks Israel. I love your “change the world” spirit. There are many of us just like this. Pretty cool!
June 3rd, 2010 at 7:03 AM
OK Jeff…you can say you spotted us first…but last night we (Daily Grommet) won the Best of Category for Innovative Business Strategy at the MITX Technology awards. You have an eye for promising companies, clearly! Thanks for including us in this list, and for your enduring encouragement and help.
June 3rd, 2010 at 7:35 AM
Jeff, comments are spot on, as usual—Boston always has had the unique ability to reinvent itself and adapt to changing market conditions —(Remember the 1996 book “Regional Advantage” by Annalee Saxenian re: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and 128)– Difference now is efforts are buoyed by active and vibrant angel community–powerful stuff!
June 3rd, 2010 at 8:26 AM
Jeff —
Great post. And let’s not forget that Facebook started in a dorm room here. Also great to see the award-winning innovators at MITX awards last night. Cheers to Gemvara for winning their category, a site that launched in February and has already taken off. Gotta love those Babson grads.
Definitely a fun time in Boston, we’ve got some things up our sleeves here at Ave100 for a Sept. launch that should be fun, we’ll keep you advised!
Cheers, b
June 3rd, 2010 at 1:18 PM
Jeff thanks for the kind mention.
We think its a great time to be entrepreneurs in Boston.
Thankfully people like you, who’ve been participating in early financings for some time, are bringing new investors into the fold and thinking more aggressively about doing investing.
As a result, angel and seed funding is becoming more accessible in Boston (we just raised an oversubscribed angel round mostly locally).
That coupled with a vibrant community of entrepreneurs and abundant talent makes it a fantastic place to build a company.
June 3rd, 2010 at 2:14 PM
John – Thanks for the comment.
June 4th, 2010 at 6:18 PM
so many of my favorite people in this post! I love the constant overlap which is part of a vibrant community. I go to Fresh Tilled Soil’s website and get a Blueleaf case study. (In my mind, John Prendergast is one of the faces of the “lean startup” movement in Boston.) Laura Fitton is such a great booster of the developer community, other startups and TechStars. Both Jules Pieri and Laura have a great investor base which speaks volumes about their businesses and their personal approaches. And Jeff, I am an avid Swaptree “swapper” – great to see you at the helm.
Leave a Reply