This month’s initial public offering of Facebook will mint a lot of new multimillionaires. No doubt they will spend some of their wealth on fast cars, private jets, jumbo-size boats, and stunning vacation spreads in Hawaii. But as is the Silicon Valley tradition, they’ll also put some of it into a new generation of...
Read more Category: Chris Lynch, Dave Balter, Innovation Economy, Jean Hammond, Jennifer Lum, Jit Saxena, Jon Pierce, Steve PapaA Cambridge native who played professional hoops in Israel is getting ready to launch a new online marketplace for private coaches. CoachUp founder Jordan Fliegel took the wraps off a test version of the site recently — and among more than 100 golf, squash and baseball coaches on CoachUp, you'll...
Read more Category: CoachUp, Innovation Economy, Jordan FliegelMy comprehensive report on this spring's TechStars demo day is here... but as is my habit, I also wanted to single out a few individuals and teams for Innovation Economy awards. They receive no monetary prize, crystal paperweight, or certificate suitable for framing — just the warm glow of being...
Read more Category: Innovation Economy, Laveem, Libboo, Pact, Psykosoft, TechStars Boston, UberSense, Zagster‘What if?’’ It’s the question that powers Boston’s innovation economy. In academic labs, at start-ups and nonprofits, and within corporate walls, teams of exceptionally smart people hunt for ways to render the impossible possible. It may involve finding a new route to deliver potent drugs to a tumor...
Read more Category: Innovation Economy, MIT Media LabWhere in Boston can you drink or dine among the movers and shakers of the innovation economy? That was the question I've been posing to dozens of entrepreneurs and investors over the last few days. Basically, I wanted to know where they went regularly and were most likely to run into others of their...
Read more Category: Crema Cafe, Henrietta's Table, Innovation Economy, Meadhall, Naked Fish, VoltageIn Boston, it can seem like most of the city’s population has either authored a textbook, assigned one for a course they teach, or purchased one recently. So that makes a recently filed lawsuit our city’s version of Viacom v. YouTube, or the Department of Justice v. Microsoft, one of those cases...
Read more Category: Aaron White, Ariel Diaz, Boundless Learning, Brian Balfour, Innovation EconomyWe're all accustomed by now to text-messaging friends and colleagues to coordinate brunches, ask questions, and schedule meetings. It's often the quickest way to get an answer from someone, even if they're multi-tasking. So why can't you text message a business? Making that happen is the goal...
Read more Category: Innovation Economy, Stuart Levinson, TalkToMy overcrowded calendar in March had me attending a tech conference in San Francisco, meeting entrepreneurs and MBA students in Istanbul, and, back in Boston, speaking with representatives from Spain’s Catalonia region. Leaving the neighborhood and collecting perspectives from other places...
Read more Category: Brightcove, Innovation Economy, KontrolTV, MassChallenge, Terrafugia, The Venture Cafe, ZipcarChris Greendale has a picture of the Blues Brothers hanging near his desk, and he talks about building his new venture, cloudTP, in part by trying to "get the band back together." That'd be the consultants Greendale worked with in the 1990s at Cambridge Technology Partners, the systems integrator...
Read more Category: Chris Greendale, Cloud Technology Partners, Innovation EconomySeth Priebatsch, 23, has a big vision for his Cambridge company, SCVNGR. He wants to dominate the market for mobile payments, allowing cellphones to be used in place of cash or plastic to buy things. Already, 250 businesses around Boston allow consumers to use SCVNGR’s LevelUp mobile app to pay...
Read more Category: Innovation Economy, SCVNGR, Seth Priebatsch