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Built in Boston: Why Great Entrepreneurs Are Choosing MA to Build Their Startups

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Re: Built in Boston: Why Great Entrepreneurs Are Choosing MA to Build Their Startups

#51
post #9

Related question: if you're not aiming to raise money or grow big fast, how important is it to be in a tech hub? I live in Waltham, right outside of Boston, and am considering moving somewhere cheaper and warmer because the benefits of building a company here (or SV) don't seem as important if you're going the MicroISV/Micropreneur route. Thoughts?

I was born in Waltham and grew up in the area; I'm in New York right now.

It's unclear what stage you're at right now from your question, but being in a tech hub isn't always as important as you think. If you grow beyond a certain size (hard to quantify; there's no hard-and-fast rule here), you'd be foolish not to have at least an office in/near one of the large hubs, but that's not necessarily the biggest consideration at the beginning.

By the way, this is one area in which tech isn't really any different than any other industry - you'd be surprised how many companies in the financial sector have headquarters elsewhere and simply have a (rather large) office in New York (though not usually on Wall St. - that's more of a metonymy than the actual center of business these days).

Re: Built in Boston: Why Great Entrepreneurs Are Choosing MA to Build Their Startups

#52

I run a startup and a consulting business in Miami. My girlfriend has been offered to move to Boston, and I'm not going to hide that I'm afraid at the idea of leaving a place where I built tons of connection in the past 6 years (I moved to Florida from Italy, so I started with 0 connections). I'm afraid that I will have to start from scratch again in Boston, where I don't know a single person. What are you thoughts a…

Check out meetup.com groups in Boston.

I know that the Boston Python group has solid meetups, and I think the Ruby meetups are also popular.

Re: Built in Boston: Why Great Entrepreneurs Are Choosing MA to Build Their Startups

#53

Is there a particular type of startup that would be appropriate for Boston versus other locations? My instinct is that outside of Biotech and Enterprise software, it is still a huge disadvantage to start a startup in Boston, but I would love to be proven wrong (ideally by some sensible statistics). Is Boston the kind of place where you can locally raise a seed round with ten or twenty angels for your consumer web sta…

If you are looking for serious computer science expertise, Boston is a great place to be. It's not the place to find cheap web developers, but if your start up needs CS Ph.D.s who can write code you'll be set. Most of the famous Boston start ups were fundamentally algorithm shops.

For what its worth, most of the MIT grads I know have either stayed around Boston or gone into academia. Cambridge, and then later Arlington, are great little towns and vastly different than California.

Re: Built in Boston: Why Great Entrepreneurs Are Choosing MA to Build Their Startups

#54

People actually move to new cities in order to found startups? And when they do, they move to Silicon Valley or the Bay Area , where talent is more expensive than anywhere else on the planet? WTF? I live in Boston and dig it, but this sort of article screams "trying too hard." Anyone who even considers the possibility that Boston might not have enough talent for their startup is a crackhead. Basically any place with…

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Re: Built in Boston: Why Great Entrepreneurs Are Choosing MA to Build Their Startups

#55

I run a startup and a consulting business in Miami. My girlfriend has been offered to move to Boston, and I'm not going to hide that I'm afraid at the idea of leaving a place where I built tons of connection in the past 6 years (I moved to Florida from Italy, so I started with 0 connections). I'm afraid that I will have to start from scratch again in Boston, where I don't know a single person. What are you thoughts a…

Lots of good geeks and networking possibilities here. One big difference between FL and MA (besides the weather) is that in MA we're generally up-front about it when we dislike people. I much prefer it. Saves wasting time on people who don't want anything to do with you, and make it much clearer who the people that DO want something to do with you are. Obviously, your mileage may vary with this. Of course, living in…

You can live just outside of Boston for pretty cheap. I'm currently in Framingham and moving to Somerville sometime this summer. Probably going to be around $2000/month (counting bills).

Re: Built in Boston: Why Great Entrepreneurs Are Choosing MA to Build Their Startups

#56
post #32

People actually move to new cities in order to found startups? And when they do, they move to Silicon Valley or the Bay Area , where talent is more expensive than anywhere else on the planet? WTF? I live in Boston and dig it, but this sort of article screams "trying too hard." Anyone who even considers the possibility that Boston might not have enough talent for their startup is a crackhead. Basically any place with…

Basically any place with a university and access to the internet is a good enough place for the right founder to build something of quality. This is true, but making a successful startup requires a lot more than building a quality initial product. Although successful companies can be founded virtually anywhere, the domain knowledge needed to grow and scale a technology startup is concentrated in certain geographies—e…

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Re: Built in Boston: Why Great Entrepreneurs Are Choosing MA to Build Their Startups

#57

People actually move to new cities in order to found startups? And when they do, they move to Silicon Valley or the Bay Area , where talent is more expensive than anywhere else on the planet? WTF? I live in Boston and dig it, but this sort of article screams "trying too hard." Anyone who even considers the possibility that Boston might not have enough talent for their startup is a crackhead. Basically any place with…

It's not what you know, but who you know. Unfortunately.

Re: Built in Boston: Why Great Entrepreneurs Are Choosing MA to Build Their Startups

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, once you experience a Florida winter you will always laugh at people who say they "love the seasons ". If you decide to move there feel free to email me any Orlando specific questions.

I don't get it. Are you saying that's a platitude that people tell themselves because it sucks where they live? No, I love the seasons. I love a heavy winter storm and hiking up into the back country for virgin runs in 3 feet of champagne powder. I love sitting in front of a roaring piñon fire drinking hot cocoa. I love the spring thaw and swollen rivers. I love the summer and the heat and the smells and sitting on t…

It was a little bit of a joke with a lot of truth to it. I live in Boston now and wish it were warm like Florida but it is worth having crappy weather for everything else the city has to offer.

Re: Built in Boston: Why Great Entrepreneurs Are Choosing MA to Build Their Startups

#59
post #16

Why you might not want to move to MA/Boston if you're an employee: http://www.boston.com/business/technology/innoeco/2011/09/no... Their non-compete laws are some of the most repressive in the nation.

it doesnt matter where, once i tell people i wont sign NDAs or work on closed-source code, theyre no longer interested.

i'm sticking with boston though, at least it has seasons

Re: Built in Boston: Why Great Entrepreneurs Are Choosing MA to Build Their Startups

#60

I run a startup and a consulting business in Miami. My girlfriend has been offered to move to Boston, and I'm not going to hide that I'm afraid at the idea of leaving a place where I built tons of connection in the past 6 years (I moved to Florida from Italy, so I started with 0 connections). I'm afraid that I will have to start from scratch again in Boston, where I don't know a single person. What are you thoughts a…

Hi, Davide. Feel free to get in touch if you'd like to have a web developer in your network: http://techiferous.com/about/

My relocation to Boston was logistically difficult, so I have a soft spot for helping others relocate. I'd be glad to be of assistance if you need help or have questions about Boston neighborhoods or tech hangouts.

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