In publishing my Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Boston Tech Community, I had a heavy emphasis on grassroots efforts vs. big top-down events and organizations.  This is clearly a value judgement on my part.  I’m a big believer in organic communities […]

Boston is a great place to start and build a company.  There is a wealth of resources that are unique to this town and a vibrant community of hackers, business people, and investors at various stages in their career. It […]

When and How Should you Hire a Technical Co-Founder? I talked to multiple people this week who are working on interesting projects but lack a strong technical partner to help build their business.  I was going to write a blog […]

The “fail fast” and “lean startup” principles are leading to a resounding chorus that ideas matter little.  I’ve heard multiple Investors say that they back people, and count on them to navigate their way towards the right opportunities. I agree […]

Culture is an underestimated driver of a company’s long term success.  It’s hard to talk about because it seems corny, impractical, or “soft”. But I believe that great organizations and great teams are built (intentionally or not) around a very […]

Everyone wants to know what areas that VC’s and angels are investing in.  They usually hope to hear some profound answer, but in the end, it pretty generic stuff. Most VC’s have themes around which they are investing.  These are […]

This is a departure from my typical tech/startup posts.  It’s really just a rant. I read this article this morning in the NYT titled “Climate Change Doubt is Tea Party Article of Faith”. It made me very sad.  A couple […]

I am a huge fan of the writings and research of Steve Blank.  But I think that his most recent post on first movers vs. fast followers can be easily misinterpreted.  His uber-point is that fast followers actually win more […]

Sometimes, early stage companies hear investors say that it’s “too early” for them to invest. It’s a puzzling response when most VC’s are considered “early stage”.  The definition of “early” seems to be inconsistent, and the very same investor might […]

The latest funding data from CB Insight came out recently.  Om Malik commented on it here.  Fred Wilson did the same and commented on the vibrancy of the NY internet eco-system.  The data is really great – innovation is alive […]