Nurturing Innovation in New England – Really shouldn’t be a Novel Idea

by Dana Harris

I have attended all of MassTLC’s unConferences and the event yesterday was definitely the best. The crowd was very optimistic and you could feel the energy as soon as you walked into the room. The event was sold out and there were entrepreneurs buzzing around looking to get advice on how to run their businesses and learn more about various technology topics from their peers (see agenda – http://masstlc09.org/wall).

My favorite session of the day was when Globe columnist Scott Kirsner teamed up with Tim Rowe, CEO at Cambridge Innovation Center & Venture Partner at New Atlantic Ventures, to run a well attended discussion on “Turbo Charging the New Culture of Entrepeneurship in MA”.  Scott ’s premise for the discussion was what we know as Old School Boston VC culture: You have to know the “right” people, go to the “right” school, and have a successful track record before any VC will talk to you seriously. Many people still believe it really doesn’t matter if you are smart, aggressive and have a great idea…if you don’t have an “in”, you don’t have a chance at getting funded. And as a consequence, many now successful entrepreneurs left New England and established their companies elsewhere.

He stated that he is starting to finally see this change.  All of us involved in New England technology now have an opportunity to get involved to help make this change.  Here’s is how I sum up the discussions:

(1)         Keep the entrepreneurs here – Many of our leading tech companies such as Lotus, Interleaf, Open Market, Napster and Facebook were all “born” out of New England’s educational institutions.  Let’s keep the future entrepreneurs here upon graduation to bring forth the next generation of leading tech companies. CEOS of tech companies should all look at flexible ways of hiring students into their organizations, even rotating them if necessary, and highlight the companies that take this initiative to connect students to businesses.  Bottom line, we need to figure out how to get students into the culture of innovation and break down silos of resources that reside in not only educational institutions but in the broader business community.

In addition, someone (possibly a VC) should take charge to create an “Open Employer Logo” to banish non-competes as we know them today.

(2)        Better coordinate our many innovation initiatives – We need to coordinate innovation/venture/entrepreneur initiatives that have been started. The group compiled a list of over 50 active, existing initiatives such as TechStars, WebInnovators Group, Boston World Partnerships and Beta House with a dozen in process such as Mass Challenge, VentureCafe and IDEA @ NorthEastern. Coordination will enable students to more easily find the right group for their needs and allow for market consolidation for better efficiencies. In addition, these meetings need to be practical and focused on solving real business problems.

(3)        Boston VC funding needs to become more flexible – VCs and angel groups still have an “Old School” mentality. They need to change, to be more flexible, look at different ways in funding companies and open up their broader networks (including company infrastructure services such as communications, marketing, HR, IT and technology specialists) so great startups stay here and don’t run to Silicon Valley.  The tech culture in Silicon Valley is much more open and collaborative than it is here in New England. Silicon Valley has been investing in companies with passion, energy and give new entrepreneurs a chance. We need a greater amount of seed stage capital and an effort around getting more “acquirers” for sound exits.

 (4)        All leaders need to join in and give back – We need more high-profile thought leadership for the larger companies in this area. Scott noted his disappointment in not seeing many “experts” at the event. We are all part of the larger New England Tech community ecosystem and need to give back to our industry and “harvest it, plant the seeds.” Companies should give preferential treatment to local companies for partnership opportunities and make this fact known.

(5)        Lessons learned globally – It’s not just Silicon Valley.  We need to compare ourselves to the rest of the world and take notes from successful innovation centers taking place across the globe.

The great discussion ended with Scott asking the group, ”How can we make it actionable?”  We all go to many events where we hear great ideas but no one takes charge to do something to make a change.  Therefore, if you are reading this blog, please review the above points and see where you can make a difference.

We at Red Javelin are leaders in tech communications and marketing and want to give back. We are experts at helping young companies package themselves. One of the activities we’d like to do is donate our partners’ time two days per month to young companies looking for funding or recently having received funding. We will provide advice on how to package their company up in a cost effective manner and use cost effective tactics with limited resources. So calling interested entrepreneurs, let’s get together…. dana@redjavelin.com. 

So what can you do?