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What’s the Matter with Boston Tech?

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Re: What’s the Matter with Boston Tech?

#41

Post by ghc »

bcardarella wrote: post #18

Money. Unfortunately VCs and Angels in Boston have a very poor reputation for taking risk on startups. Instead they want to invest in companies that have already proven their model or just need money to scale. Public transportation. I know that every city dweller thinks their city has poor public transportation options. Let me tell you, Boston has you beat. When we take into consideration the perceived importance of…

$3k/month will also get you a nice 1br in one of the new buildings in Fort Point/Innovation District, right next to South Station.

Re: What’s the Matter with Boston Tech?

#42

Post by ghc »

thesausageking wrote: post #2

Odd article. If Boston is this amazing-but-quiet center of innovation, why not feature founders and innovators ? Besides the founders of Kayak and Runkeeper, everyone else interviewed worked for a co-working space (tim row), a university (Abby Fichtner), a consulting group (Michael Davies), or a large company like Microsoft (Annmarie Levins).

Most of the successful founders in Boston don't believe in the "promote Boston tech" agenda and so probably weren't too keen on accepting the interviews. It's basically the job of Tim Rowe, Abby Fichtner, etc. to promote Boston tech, so of course they're the ones available to be interviewed.

Re: What’s the Matter with Boston Tech?

#43

Post by ghc »

freyr wrote: post #40

Why would I, as an engineer, choose Silicon Valley over Boston? It's a petty reason, perhaps, but tech workers on the west coast enjoy prestige. In Boston, you rub shoulders with a large population of well-heeled management consultants, bankers, and corporate lawyers whose annual bonus might be several multiples of your total compensation (this exists everywhere, of course, but the banking and management consulting i…

I think you've pretty much nailed it. A highly paid engineer is still basically upper middle class in a land of multinational corporate lawyers, consultants and bankers.

Re: What’s the Matter with Boston Tech?

#44

Post by pentelkuru »

michaelochurch wrote: post #23

California's non-compete ban (see jhallenworld's post on the issue) is huge. California also bans "we own your side projects" clauses, which is major. Even if, on technicalities, the states may not be very different, the perception is strong enough to scare people into California, a state that otherwise wouldn't have more than weather and inertia. One of my posts is already linked here, by mwhite, and my perception h…

> Honestly, if something can be run by Lucas Duplan or Evan Spiegel, it probably shouldn't be done and it certainly shouldn't be funded at the expense of something legitimate.

Wow, you really have an axe to grind with those two, don't you? Despite their issues, they became "public figures" by tapping into something people want, rather than by writing endless bitter diatribes about how the world is unfair for not recognizing their brilliance.

> Never mind that I am so much smarter than the person who set these little rules in place that I could claim that I invented the letter "Q" and they'd believe me.

You've very publicly defined yourself as a guy with a massive chip on his shoulder, who blames everyone but himself when he doesn't succeed. Good luck with that.

Re: What’s the Matter with Boston Tech?

#45

Post by jkestner »

smeyer wrote: post #33
praccu wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Momogoose for life. There are a bunch of food trucks behind the T stop. Also, check out Aceituna.

Yes, this. Momogoose is fantastic. They have a truck by the T stop and a stand by the mall.

Oh, have they started making good food? I've had pieces of plastic fork in my food, which itself was actually bitter tasting. When they got the order right. They rebranded with a hip paint job to keep up with Clover when it showed up and stole all the customers.

Friendly Toast/Cambridge Brewing Company is a nice spot. Area IV could be awesome. Flour and Miracle of Science are the best.

Re: What’s the Matter with Boston Tech?

#46

Post by smeyer »

jkestner wrote: post #45
smeyer wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this. Momogoose is fantastic. They have a truck by the T stop and a stand by the mall.

Oh, have they started making good food? I've had pieces of plastic fork in my food, which itself was actually bitter tasting. When they got the order right. They rebranded with a hip paint job to keep up with Clover when it showed up and stole all the customers. Friendly Toast/Cambridge Brewing Company is a nice spot. Area IV could be awesome. Flour and Miracle of Science are the best.

Yeah, I have heard the occasional horror story like year, but they seem to have things mostly under control. I haven't been eating there all that long, but word on the street is it's definitely better than back in the day.

Definite second to all of your other suggestions as well. I'm glad to see HNers by and large seem to have good taste in Kendall area food joints.

Re: What’s the Matter with Boston Tech?

#47

Post by praccu »

smeyer wrote: post #46
jkestner wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, have they started making good food? I've had pieces of plastic fork in my food, which itself was actually bitter tasting. When they got the order right. They rebranded with a hip paint job to keep up with Clover when it showed up and stole all the customers. Friendly Toast/Cambridge Brewing Company is a nice spot. Area IV could be awesome. Flour and Miracle of Science are the best.

Yeah, I have heard the occasional horror story like year, but they seem to have things mostly under control. I haven't been eating there all that long, but word on the street is it's definitely better than back in the day. Definite second to all of your other suggestions as well. I'm glad to see HNers by and large seem to have good taste in Kendall area food joints.

Jumping (back) onto the Kendall food comment train:

Other places I haven't seen mentioned:

-- Squeaky Beaker

-- Boca Grande

-- Take-out from Similans

Also, what happened to the MIT food court and when is it coming back? I want terrible Chinese food again.

Re: What’s the Matter with Boston Tech?

#48

Post by srj »

api wrote: post #35
GFK_of_xmaspast wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Words mean things. Look at page 12 here: http://www.ncsu.edu/cqsb/presentations/Hu.pdf

This kind of makes my evening in weird way. Perhaps it shows a lot about my own psychology at the time. Events that had nothing to do with the fellow I was talking to had biased me to interpret it that way. People who say failure and hardship are good have never experienced them. It teaches you all the wrong things-- be conservative, be suspicious, be jaded, don't dream, assume the worst about people, ... That was ma…

Well I don't think you're completely off the mark. I just moved to Boston recently and have been struck at how people often seem to evaluate your pedigree during introductions.

As negative as that sounds, I think different regions just have different ways individuals brand themselves to show value in their society.

Re: What’s the Matter with Boston Tech?

#49

Post by api »

srj wrote: post #48
api wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This kind of makes my evening in weird way. Perhaps it shows a lot about my own psychology at the time. Events that had nothing to do with the fellow I was talking to had biased me to interpret it that way. People who say failure and hardship are good have never experienced them. It teaches you all the wrong things-- be conservative, be suspicious, be jaded, don't dream, assume the worst about people, ... That was ma…

Well I don't think you're completely off the mark. I just moved to Boston recently and have been struck at how people often seem to evaluate your pedigree during introductions. As negative as that sounds, I think different regions just have different ways individuals brand themselves to show value in their society.

Yes, that's definitely true and is a big reason I would have been primed for a negative interpretation of what might have been a simple comment.

Boston is really aristocratic. I think that's the best word. Pedigree, status, and ... Breeding?

Re: What’s the Matter with Boston Tech?

#50

Post by hnriot »

NateDad wrote: post #11
hnriot wrote: post #10

Boston's losing tech startups to SF because the weather here is drastically better (well, not today...) All other things being equal, we have better beer, more sunshine, a bay that doesn't turn to ice in winter, an airport you can fly in and out of reliably without the constant storm closings, faster public transport and of course California Girls (1) :) 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuENHA1l_K0

Almost everything you said is blatantly incorrect with the possible exception of better weather (some of us actually like having seasons... But it is obviously much colder in winter).

I think you mean to say patently, but aside from that mistake I just don't see what you're saying, clearly CA has better weather, it's not a matter of being a "possible exception", the rest well, Cambridge has some decent beers it's true, I lived and worked there for a couple years, but the micro breweries in CA are better. SFO is much more reliable to fly in an out of, I should know, I flew into and out of Logan so many times and countless times flights are cancelled. By the time I'd get to SFO it would be clear blue skies and uneventful arrivals. As for MUNI vs MBTA, SF has much newer, faster trains, MBTA is like going back 40 years to rickety old trains and antiquated (but not quaint) stations. I suppose you disagree, and of course some of this is a matter of opinion, you might like your trains and you might like airport delays, traffic delays, shitty weather for 8/12ths of the year. One thing Cambridge does do better than SFO is universities. I'll give you that. Colorado makes better beer than either Cambridge or San Francisco, better still, English beer of course.

There's a reason why most startups are here, the brightest minds want to live here, after going to school there and getting sick of all the above.

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