01 3 / 2011
Today’s the day I become a Boston entrepreneur
I wasn’t at the talk yesterday that spurred on so much ire. So, I’m not going to speak to it. But, I can say this: as the rare entrepreneur who moves from the Silicon Valley to Boston, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the reverse-move and wonder what other web entrepreneurs are thinking when they move to the Valley?
Admittedly, I was skeptical in moving here. We moved to Boston for my husband’s career. Having grown up the in Valley for most of my life, I’d been indoctrinated with the belief that there is no where else in the world so nice and wonderful – both personally and professionally. So, I thought that moving to Boston would be a step-down for my career and my startup, LaunchBit.
Now that I’m here, I’ve been plesantly surprised by what I’ve found, and I had just been plain wrong. Sure, the Valley is a wonderful place. I personally love it because of my family and friends, and I certainly keep my loyalties there when I do things like keep my 650 phone number. But let’s be honest, there are some unspoken big big big problems that make it terrible for the Bay Area web startup community.
1) The traffic. Oh do not even get me started. You have to slog through traffic for 1-2 hours on 101 just to go 5 feet while giving everyone the finger at the same time. Not to mention that as much as I hate MASSholes, California drivers plain and simply can’t drive – slow people always hog the left lane with their granny-styled driving. I am so glad not to have to do any commuting anywhere anymore. These days, I can get to meetings / meetups / work without having to do any of that. I walk for just a few minutes or take the T for just a few minutes. Most convenient thing ever. Sorry BART and Caltrain – I’ve had a relationship with both of you at some point, and you just aren’t all that. Losing hours of your day to traffic is the biggest waste of time ever that I can’t believe entrepreneurs (and other people) put up with.
2) The entrepreneurial community. I’m not sure what the Boston consumer web community was like before I got here. But, there’s a lot of high energy these days that I didn’t realize existed. The consumer web community here is smaller compared to the Bay Area, but it’s very friendly and ambitious as whole. And, I like that. In just the short two months that I’ve been here, I’ve gotten to know a lot of folks in this community and am starting to get to know them better. Though I was quite connected in the Bay Area, the web startup community out there is so big, I never felt like I got to know anyone well whom I didn’t already know. Everyone and their mother is starting a company in the Bay Area, making it less personal. From a selfish perspective, I almost don’t want other entrepreneurs to make the same reverse-move that I did, because I enjoy how the Boston web startup community is today. Because of the small size, there’s a lot greater attention to the camaraderie amongst entrepreneurs that simply isn’t possible in the Bay Area. Entrepreneurs help each other – even people they don’t know – out here.
Case in point: I went to the best entrepreneur-event ever in January. Hands down, the best (and I’ve been to a lot). It’s called the DART Family dinner, organized by Flybridge’s Victoria Song here in Boston and sponsored by a different company each time. It’s a dinner event that happens monthly to bring entrepreneurs and investors together.
On the surface, the concept behind the dinner I attended wasn’t unique, but the execution was. We were seated for dinner at tables of 4 people with a good mix of entrepreneurs and investors at each table. This allowed us to really talk with everyone and build connections that lasted beyond 3 minute conversations. Before and after dinner, people mingled, and I was amazed by just how helpful people were. According to DART co-founder Cort Johnson, the premise of DART is that everyone should leave the dinner having gotten to know almost everyone in the room. And, it really showed – I had never been to a mingling event where everyone was so pro-active in making sure that everyone knew each other. I’m sorry to say – although there are lots of private events in the Bay Area, tight-knit networking events (with the purpose of meeting and getting to know new entrepreneurs) just don’t happen in the Valley.
2b) A central hub. I think one last reason the Boston community has so much energy is that Greenhorn Connect brings it all together. Just like anywhere else, there are always lots of fragmented entrepreneur events, job listings, and blogs. You really need a hub to bring it all together, and Greenhorn, which is about a year old, does that for the Boston area. Founded by Jason Evanish, Greenhorn is basically my way of finding out what is happening in the web startup community around town. There isn’t anything like that in the Bay Area. I used to find out about awesome events through word of mouth, through my friends. And, I have to admit, while it was a bit awesome to learn about events in an underground manner, when you think about it, it really isn’t a great way to bring an entrepreneurial community together.
So, as someone who has grown up and lived in the Bay Area off and on for about 25 years, I want to set the record straight for aspiring web entrepreneurs. Yes, the Bay Area has tons of tech, entrepreneurs, and innovation. Totally agree. You will find great opportunities out there, but the flip-side is that it’s so huge – you can easily get lost/un-noticed amidst all the noise, and as a result, its web startup community is remiss in a number of areas where Boston has managed to excel. So, if you’re web entrepreneur who loves a nearby, close-knit entrepreneurial community, Boston is definitely the place to be.
Happy to chat more in person in either location. I work on LaunchBit at the Cambridge Innovation Center and will be in San Francisco this month speaking at Web 2.0 Expo.