Monday, December 31, 2007

Zync, Inc.

Company name: Zync, Inc.

Company URL: www.zync.com

Citation URL: http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/071228/0343741.html

Formation Date: September, 2006

Funding status: Seed Stage

Investors: Launchpad Ventures

Founders past companies: PureSpeech, Ucentric Systems, Cognio, Sapient

Industry: Consumer web, local events, social networking

Description: Social recommendation system that helps people find relevant local activities based on user psychographics and people with similar interests.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Lookery

Company Name: Lookery

Company URL: http://www.lookery.com/signup/

Citation URL: http://venturebeat.com/2007/07/26/lookery-the-facebook-advertising-networkwith-lots-of-data/

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: Seed Stage

Investors:

Founders or Execs past companies: Compete, MyBlogLog

Industry: Consumer Web, Advertising
Offering Description: Lookery provides demographic marketing services in and around social networks. We’re working to fix the the basic economic problem that social networks face: great user profiling but unpredictable ad inventory.

Sonian Networks

Company Name: Sonian Networks

Company URL: http://soniannetworks.com/

Citation URL:

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: Seed Round

Investors: Private Investors

Founders or Execs past companies: Dialogic, Intellireach

Industry: web infrastrucure

Offering Description: The latest innovation for hosted email archiving and e-discovery is here. Sonian removes the burden of compliance and storage management for all electronic communication.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Grrasp.com

Company Name: Grrasp.com

Company URL: http://www.grrasp.com/

Citation URL:

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: seed

Investors: ?

Founders or Execs past companies: Markem

Industry: Consumer Web, Wireless

Offering Description: Wireless oriented web site.

SecondRotation

Company Name: SecondRotation

Company URL: http://www.secondrotation.com/

Citation URL: http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/clean-break-second-rotation.ars

Formation Date: 2006

Funding Status: Seed

Investors: ?

Founders or Execs past companies: Pay Pal, Cambridge Information Systems, Boston Compliance Systems

Industry: Consumer Web

Offering Description: By making it easier to get cash out of old consumer electronics, we magnify the impact of sustainability by helping folks participate in the mission whether they care about it or not, (i.e. if you care only about the cash, fine, here's the cash - if you care about the mission too, fabulous - here's cash and a mission! :) ) and thus, just like Ben & Jerry's, The Body Shop and others, we put the power of business to work in making a social difference.




 

Friday, December 21, 2007

Sharing the Seed Corn in 2008

Being from the Midwest, I am all for agricultural analogies. So to continue with the Seed Corn theme and adding to the meme, I offer the following:seed corn

Reading an a blog focused on Start-up Ventures in India I came upon this excerpt about a " farmer whose corn won top awards year after year. When a reporter asked about the secret of his success, the farmer attributed it to the fact that he shared his corn with his neighbors. Why, the reporter wondered, would the farmer want to share his seed when those neighbors also competed with him for the prize? The farmer’s reply was, “The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grew inferior corn, cross-pollination would steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors do the same.”

Boston has not been known as a place where the start-up community 'shares the seed corn'. However that is changing and anyone involved will attest to an increased energy and camaraderie within the early stage venture populace.

One important issue that directly relates to cross pollination (non Compete agreements) is being Championed by Bijan Sabet a VC with the Newbury St. venture firm Spark Capital.

Evidence of entrepreneur community is all around us: BetaHouse PodCamp WebInno OpenCoffee Andala TechCocktail Boston Boston Media Makers Techcrunch Boston Meetup

Social Media Breakfast Cambridge Enterprise WEb 2.0 Meetup and many more.

More sharing, communication, cooperation and networking will strengthen our start-up DNA and propagate future companies. So I look forward to 2008 and seeing the results of the rising energy and cross pollination taking place in the early stage community here in theHub. Get out there and rub some anthers! Happy Holidays to All

ts

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Genotrope Launches: Boston area jobs in Emerging Technology and Startups

We are excited about the Boston launch of Genotrope. Keep in tune with what is happening with Boston early stage companies. The site is fully functional and ready for you to submit your resume to the hundreds of companies hiring for thousands of jobs here in the Boston area. So as we move into the holiday season, after you Elf Yourself , check out Genotrope and let us know what you think.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

RightsAgent

Company Name: RightsAgent

Company URL: http://www.rightsagent.com/

Citation URL: http://www.xconomy.com/2007/12/14/all-user-generated-content-doesnt-want-to-be-free-a-qa-with-cambridge-startup-rightsagent-about-its-new-approach-to-copyrighting/

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: Series A

Investors: Venrock, Highland Capital Partners

Founders or Execs past companies:

Industry: Web Publishing

Offering Description: RightsAgent is a provider of copyright management solutions for user-generated content. The initial release of our platform allows publishers to register where they publish online, consolidate their work into a personal feed for their readers to subscribe to, and perform copyright transactions with those who wish to license their work.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Zingdom/Convoq/Applied Messaging shutters doors

Sorry to see a company bite the dust. Read the founders post here. The current project Spark, a conversation oriented application that is based on the idea that extended interactions take place at varying tempos. Seems like it has potential and the architect is hoping to keep it alive. Anyone that is interested should contact Mark Waks.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Twitter might not exist without help from a Boston Software Icon

I was browsing through the blog of Dan Bricklin when I came across an interesting post about his involvement with Blogger.  It is a great story and an indication of what a nice guy Dan is. The rest is history as Blogger was eventually acquired by Google and Evan Williams has gone on to his next ground breaking communications application, Twitter.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Alluvial Labs

Company Name: Alluvial Labs

Company URL: http://www.alluviallabs.com/home.html

Citation URL:

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: Bootstrapped?

Investors:

Founders or Execs past companies: CombinatoRx, SAS Institute

Industry: Web Infrastructure, Software
Offering Description: Alluvial Labs builds software to help manage the flow and analysis of knowledge across networks of researchers, investors, and markets.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Matchmine

Genotrope Record: MatchMine

Citation URL: http://gigaom.com/2007/12/05/matchmine-made-for-the-multidimensional-you/

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: Series A

Investors: The Kraft Group

Founders or Execs past companies: m-Qube, eCredit.com, Predictive Networks, Dimensional Insight, Kraft Group Sports Properties

Industry: Consumer Web

Offering Description: matchmine lets you discover a whole new world of music, movies, video and other cool stuff that match the tastes of the one-of-kind inner you. How? Your MatchKey™ lets you capture your personal interests and media preferences and take them with you to get what you want across a growing list of partner websites and applications.

the Tech hiring Crunch

It is probably no surprise to you all, that there are a lot of career opportunities available for anyone in the emerging technology industry here in Boston. A recent Xconomy article regarding the Talent War here in the Boston area, did a good job of pointing this out.

The key point for hiring companies was, once you have identified the right candidate, you have to move fast to bring them on board . Also, good companies find a great candidate first and do not try to fit them into a job description. And lastly, candidates from start ups are very valuable, yet hard to attract to the larger companies.

The Bubble did not Burst, it leaked.

According to SVB Analytics, bubble era companies make up one third of the current private technology companies. 

This information paints a much different picture than the horrible nuclear winter we all remember with crashing paper values and losses of jobs.

My take away is that the underlying trends were sound and increased communication, personalization, disintermediation etc... would have a lasting effect, but the gold rush mentality overcame reality and it crashed to a halt.

Another interesting point is that 70% of those firms have received funding within the last 3 years and are significant in the current mergers and acquisition activity. Please read the linked article for the details.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Treedia Labs

Company Name: Treedia Labs

Company URL: http://www.treedia.com/index.html

Citation URL: http://www.motorola.com/mediacenter/news/detail.jsp?globalObjectId=8149_8078_23

Formation Date:

Funding Status: Seed?

Investors: ?

Founders or Execs past companies: Pro CD, Pulvermedia, BBC News Interactive

Industry:Internet Infrastructure

Offering Description: home of Treedia, a Web service platform that powers services such as Podcast.com. Treedia enables consumers to find, enjoy and share digital entertainment delivered via RSS feeds such as podcasts, videocasts, photos, blogs, music, news and more.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Foneshow

Company Name: Foneshow

Company URL: http://www.foneshow.com/

Citation URL: http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9685025-2.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Webware

Formation Date: 2006

Funding Status: Series A

Investors: Masthead, CEI community Ventures and the Small Enterprise Growth Fund of Maine

Founders or Execs past companies: Yahoo, Angel Networks

Industry: Mobile Application

Offering Description: Foneshow delivers audio content directly to your cell phone. With automatic notification, the content is always fresh; it's great for news, finance, and sports programming. Foneshow doesn't require a data plan or a smart phone.

Friday, November 30, 2007

User submissions of Startups

Now that  Buzz in theHub has been integrated with www.genotrope.com our readers are encouraged to tell us  about any new company that is not already in the Genotrope database. You can always add the data directly if you are a registered user, or if you  prefer, send the company info to Buzz in theHub  and we will post it for you as  well as include the information in the Genotrope database.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Kinset

Company Name: Kinset

Company URL: http://www.kinset.com/

Citation URL: http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/10/21/a_shopping_trip_aisle_by_virtual_aisle/

Formation Date: 2006

Funding Status: Self Funded

Investors: Self Funded

Founders or Execs past companies: LiveVault, Concord Communications

Industry: Consumer Web, online shopping

Offering Description: Kinset is the leader in the development of 3D immersive online stores. Our software allows shoppers to shop inside virtual stores that stock thousands of SKUs and feel like the stores at their local shopping center. Shoppers can chat with store clerks, and shop with friends. It is designed to appeal to shoppers who enjoy shopping, and prefer shopping in stores to shopping on web pages.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Carbonrally

Company Name: Carbonrally

Company URL: http://www.carbonrally.com/

Citation URL:

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: ?

Investors: ?

Founders or Execs past companies: Orange

Industry: Consumer Web

Offering Description: Reduce global warming by taking quick & easy challenges.
Compete with others in your area and around the world.

Friday, October 26, 2007

BigSwerve

Company Name: BigSwerve

Company URL: http://www.bigswerve.com/search/

Citation URL:

Formation Date: 2006

Funding Status: Seed?

Investors:

Founders or Execs past companies: EMC

Offering Description: BigSwerve is a great new service that organizes and captures what people say when they comment on blog posts. While reading blogs is a great way to get a fresh perspective or keep up on the latest events, you are missing half the conversation if you don't read the comments. Until now, keeping up with comments or people whose comments you find particularly insightful has been tough to do ... Bigswerve changes that.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Punchbowl Software

Genotrope Record: Punchbowl Software

Company URL: MyPunchbowl.com

Citation URL: http://venturebeat.com/2007/10/02/mypunchbowl-lands-seed-funding-for-online-invitations/

Formation Date: 2006

Funding Status: Seed Round

Investors: Intel Capital and eCoast Angels.

Founders or Execs past companies: Adobe, Bose Corp.

Industry: Consumer Web

Offering Description: a new web application for online invitations and party planning. MyPunchbowl provides software for every stage of planning. With MyPunchbowl.com you'll actually enjoy planning while saving time.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Change is in the air for old guard Boston area VC's

I just got wind of a new start up funding by a couple of venerable Top Tier Boston VC's that blew my socks off. These are old school Communications infrastructure, Enterprise software kind of guys with Midas Touch rankings. They just ponied up on a round for a new company in a market that would make even PG smile. They also wrapped the whole deal up in a matter of weeks, with unproven founders, not in their stable of past deals. Maybe the local entrepreneurial community won't have to automatically move to Silicon Valley if they want to fund a Web company.

I would love to spill the beans, but to do so would compromise my ability to gain info in the future. The company is in stealth for the time being but one of the founders is a known blogger, so I will let him break the story.

Update: The company is Viximo and is now well on it's way.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Did Boston VC's let the the seed corn rot?

I was speaking with Adam Green the CEO of Grazr recently and we were talking about what happened to all the boomer software developers. Conjecture was they either made their money pre bubble burst or became disenchanted when there wasn't much interesting going on 2001 to 2006. The conversation then turned towards the root cause of their disappearance.

With the VC's in Boston taking a powder, the field became infertile and now is in need of some serious fertilization. Adam pointed out that while the Boston VC's waited out the downturn, the ecosystem withered. We know that while nothing was going on here, there was still activity in Silicon Valley, ie... PayPal IPO 2002, Google IPO 2004, etc... The end result is that Boston is now playing catch up in the Web space. Another issue that has compounded the problem is that the continued activity in Web businesses out West has created a class of investors that does not exist here. A lot of companies are funded by angel investors that are seasoned Web entrepreneurs using significant amounts of cash to seed the next generation of up and comers. We don't have the equivalent here.

So on the one hand you hear "we didn't get burned when the bubble burst", what that means is that we didn't participate in a major field of innovation (actually turned down deals that went to SV) and now we don't have a bull pen of founders to build companies in this space.

Flimp Media Inc.

Company Name: Flimp Media, Inc.

Company URL: http://www.flimp.net

Citation URL:  http://inbrief.prweekblogs.com/2007/10/18/flimp-media-introduces-digital-canvas/


Formation Date: 2006

Funding Status: Privately Funded

Investors: Private Investors

Founders or Execs past companies: Environmental News Network (ENN.com), Lycos.com, Roots Inc (acquired by Novozymes), TJX Companies, Inc.

Industry: B2B, Web Video Marketing Technology

Offering Description: Flimp Media, Inc. develops next generation hosted software platforms for web video and rich media direct marketing, sales and communications. We also provide web video marketing services and technical support to clients. Flimp Media’s patent-pending Digital Canvas video microsite technology provides users with the ability to quickly create and distribute self-tracking rich media (flash) microsites called Flimps without any programming or technical skills.

Friday, October 19, 2007

EnvIO Networks

Company Name: EnvIO Networks

Company URL: http://www.envionetworks.com/

Citation URL: http://www.dmwmedia.com/tags/envio-networks

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: Series A, Stealth

Investors: Matrix Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners

Founders or Execs past companies: Winphoria, FusionOne Networks

Industry: Mobile Application

Offering Description: We're delivering a product that defines a new category of mobile application, bringing content to subscribers in new and innovative ways. Socially Oriented?

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

StylePath

Company Name: StylePath
Company URL: stylepath.com/shop
Citation URL:

Formation Date: 2007
Funding Status: Self-funded
Investors: Self-funded
Founders or Execs past companies: Smarter Living, Lycos, Ascend, Lucent, Gap, Opt-Intelligence
Industry: Consumer Web, ecommerce
Offering Description: StylePath’s visual search technology matches people to products based on their personal taste, and creates social networks for people of all styles. This patented process simplifies on-line shopping by offering more accurate product recommendations.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Genotrope integrates BUZZ in theHUB

We are pleased to announce that BUZZ in theHUB is now a part of Genotrope the job website. Genotrope is focused on opportunities at Boston/Cambridge area start-ups and emerging technology companies. Registration takes 30 seconds and an email address. Put in your profile data and check it out. The Research Company page with the Company Tree graph is fun to explore.
Genotrope's novel approach uses the concept of "corporate DNA" to match individuals and companies. Find a company first, then find a position in the company.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Paul Graham Gets Vague when Boston needs analysis

Paul Graham, founder of Y-Combinator, chief driver of the Boston Web 2.0 scene and accomplished essayist has long been chastising the Boston Venture community. Mostly he points out how conservative and tentative they are when it comes to investing in Web 2.0 and Consumer Web companies. He encourages his fledgling companies to relocate to Silicon Valley where the VC's are more aggressive and understand start ups better.

I believe he is referring to his type of start ups which are mostly Web 2.0 consumer plays, but the Boston start-up market would be better served if he used his powers of analysis to more thoroughly evaluate the issue. Just making a general statements about Boston VC's not understanding start ups, will not move the mountain. It reminds me of Scott Kirsner prodding the top tier Boston VC's to open up to entrepreneurs and start blogging, when the old guard is rolling in IPOs from Airvana, Starent Networks, Bladelogic, Netezza, Constant Contact, AcmePacket and the Q2 IPO numbers are equivalent to Silicon Valley. Things are changing but it is hard to see it when the old ways have been successful.

I am hoping that if he can delve into data regarding the price of slaves in ancient Greece and Rome to support an essay regarding the variations in income in modern society, then a more thorough analysis comparing the Boston and Silicon Valley VC communities could lend more credence to the discussion than generalities. My wish list would include topics such as sector preferences and expertise, per-capita and company density comparisons to IPO or funding levels, and a discussion on why the perception is that CA. can market and Boston cannot. Could there be some insight into Microsoft's problems and the fact that is run by people from the Boston area? So many possibilities!

I always look forward to a new essay at http://www.paulgraham.com/index.html and if a future article can shed more light on improving the Boston start-up market, I am all for it. I realize that Mr. Graham may not take up the challenge presented here, so if anyone else would like to delve into the details, please do so, as it is well beyond the scope of my abilities to attempt the project. I look forward to the results.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Inquisix

Company Name: Inquisix

Company URL: http://www.inquisix.com/

Citation URL:

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: Pre Funded

Investors:

Founders or Execs past companies: Verdasys, Wis.dm

Industry: Business Web

Offering Description:

Inquisix is the new web sales tool for every business sales professional. It automates and improves upon the business networking sales reps do today.

Inquisix is not about more contacts or better contacts but meeting better contacts!

Acquia

Company Name: Acquia

Company URL: http://www.acquia.com/

Citation URL: http://www.bostonphp.org/content/view/83/

Formation Date: 2007 stealth mode

Funding Status: First Round

Investors: North Bridge Venture Partners

Founders or Execs past companies: Pingtel

Industry: Open Source Software

Offering Description: Open Source Software and Services

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Peermeta

Company Name: Peermeta

Company URL: http://www.peermeta.com/

Citation URL:

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: First Round

Investors: Sigma Partners, Kepha Partners

Founders or Execs past companies: Arrowpoint, Airvana, Tatara, Sycamore

Industry: Mobile Applications

Offering Description: Peermeta is leading the charge into a new era of mobile innovation and user experiences. We are changing the way disparate forms of media are personalized, distributed and consumed.

Autovirt

Company Name: Autovirt

Company URL: http://www.autovirt.com/

Citation URL:

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: First Round
Investors: Sigma Partners, Kepha Partners

Founders or Execs past companies:

Industry: Storage and Data Center Infrastructure

Offering Descripton: AutoVirt is developing state of the art solutions to the problems of Data Migration and File Server Consolidation.

LocaModa Inc.

Company Name: LocaModa Inc.

Company URL: http://www.locamoda.com/

Citation URL:

Formation Date:

Funding Status: First Round

Investors: Dace Ventures, Sumitomo

Founders or Execs past companies: Symbian, Prodigy International

Industry: Mobile Interactivity

Offering Descripton: LocaModa enables interactivity between mobile phones and out-of-home networks via the web.

Buzzwire

Company Name: Buzzwire

Company URL: http://www.buzzwire.com/fm/home.action

Citation URL:

Formation Date:

Funding Status: First Round

Investors: Spark Capital, Matrix Partners

Founders or Execs past companies: Software.com, Monster

Industry: Mobile Application

Offering Descripton: Your world of streaming internet content.
Audio. Video. Live Radio.
All on your mobile phone, on demand.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Technizzel

Company Name: Technizzel.com

Company URL: www.technizzel.com

Citation URL:

Formation Date: August, 1 2007

Funding Status: Angel

Investors:

Founders or Execs past companies: GreatPoint Energy, Lux Capital, Nantero

Industry: Consumer Web Publisher targetingHigh School Science/Engineering Education

Offering Descripton: Technizzel is an online publication designed to inspire young people
to pursue careers in engineering and advanced technologies. Focusing
on fields such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, and engineering,
Technizzel incorporates age-appropriate explanations and images in
order to attract even the most non-science oriented readers. The word
"Technizzel" represents a combination of two cultures: Technology and
Pop Culture (Thanks, Snoop).

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Assembla

Company Name: Assembla

Company URL: http://www.assembla.com/home

Citation URL:

Formation Date: 2006

Funding Status: Seed Round

Investors: Angel

Founders or Execs past companies: PowerSteering Software, Centerline Software

Industry: Web Infrastructure and SAS dev tools.

Offering Descripton: Assembla provides tools and services for building software with high-velocity global teams.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

TrustPlus

Company Name: TrustPlus

Company URL: http://www.trustplus.com/

Citation URL: http://masshightech.bizjournals.com/masshightech/stories/2007/06/04/story3.html

Formation Date: Mid 2007
Funding Status: Seed Round

Investors: Brad Feld, Will Herman

Founders or Execs past companies: Genetic Anomalies

Industry: Consumer Web

Offering Descripton: With TrustPlus you can view the reputation of others and build your own reputation anywhere on the Web.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Grazr

Company Name: Grazr

Company URL: http://www.grazr.com/

Citation URL: http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/09/18/grazr-10-blasts-off-into-the-future-of-rss/

Formation Date: mid 2006

Funding Status: $ 1.5 Million Seed Round

Investors: Angels

Founders or Execs past companies: EMC, Andover.net

Industry: Consumer Web , Blogging feed tools

Offering Descripton: Grazr is a free publishing tool for feeds. It lets you quickly and easily display RSS, RDF, Atom, and OPML files on any Web page so they can be viewed by any visitor to the site.

Friday, September 7, 2007

DailyHomeowner.com

Company Name: DailyHomeowner.com

Company URL: http://www.dailyhomeowner.com/

Citation URL:

Formation Date: H2 2006

Funding Status: Bootstrapped

Investors:

Founders or Execs past companies:

Industry: Online Real Estate

Offering Descripton: Search Homes for Sale, Move-in / Move-out Tools, Change Utilities, Helpful Links Local Business Directory & Reviews, Find a Local Real Estate Agent, Local Events, LocalTalk

MyPerfectGig

Company Name: MyPerfectGig

Company URL: parked www.myperfectgig.com

Citation URL:

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: First Round

Investors: NorthBridge, CommonWealth Capital

Founders or Execs past companies: BrassRing, DirectoryM, BeFree

Industry: Web Service, Online Jobs

Offering Description: My Perfect Gig’s (MPG) mission is to be the “sourcing intelligence ” company by offering the right mix of market intelligence and quality candidate sourcing. MPG will improve the efficiency and quality of the online recruitment experience for both employers and candidates.

Boston TechCocktail lives up to its name.

500 or so attendees descended on Tequilla Rain for the first Boston TechCocktail. Along with the original founders of TechCocktail Frank Gruber and Eric Olson, which originated in Chicago, many thanks should go to the Boston organizers;

Peter Glyman - Geezeo

Shawn Ward - Geezeo

Jay Meattle - Compete.com

Brian Balfour - ZoomInfo

Top Tier VC's tolerated buzzed out java engineers, mobile technology moguls mingled with facebook widget developers, bloggers scooped some stealth company details and did I mention, the cocktails were plentiful. There might even have been some business done as bootstrapping start up founders took the opportunity to do their elevator pitch to willing listeners.

Anytime the Boston web start up community can get exposure to each other and some of the investor community, good things may happen.

Again congratulations to the organizers for filling a much needed void in bringing the web community together.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Incelligence

Company Name: Incelligence

Company URL: www.incelligence.com

Citation URL:

Formation Date: 2005

Funding Status: Seed

Investors:

Founders or Execs past companies: AMCC, Transwitch, Microsoft, digiCHOICE, Rational

Industry: Mobile/Wireless

Offering Descripton:
Incelligence provides an end-to-end solution for the development and delivery of mobile phone applications that enhance or expand existing revenue/business processes for companies in the Enterprise, mPublishing and mCommerce markets. Our Mobile Application Factory is a highly automated combination of processes and patented technology which enables the conversion, mobilization and distribution of customer content to virtually any Java-enabled mobile phone, in an easy-to-navigate format.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

SNIF Labs

Company Name: SNIF Labs     Social Networking in Fur

Company URL: http://www.sniflabs.com/

Citation URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/business/yourmoney/05novel.html?ex=1343966400&en=a627abfa22e8c410&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Formation Date: 2005

Funding Status: Seed?

Investors:

Founders or Execs past companies: MIT Media Labs

Industry: Consumer Electronics, Consumer Web

Offering Descripton: Snifftag Adding recently-invented motion sensing circuitry and developing proprietary analysis software, the team created a powerful tool that could at once monitor the activities of a pet and provide a social connection among people.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Enough with the Boston Start-up Inferiority Complex

Too many cycles have been spent on the East Coast vs West Coast masochism lately. Sob, Sob, I can't find funding for my Web 2.0 User generated content, social networking, new media, widgetized "feature company" built using ROR and AJAX.

Wake up people, we have IPO's and liquidity events popping all over the place.
2Q 2007 Venture-Backed IPO Metro Region Breakdown

*Number of Total Venture-
Venture-Backed Backed Offering
Metro Region IPOs in the U.S. Size ($M)

Boston 6 548.1
San Jose 6 608.0
Other US 3 545.6
New York Metro 2 170.4

See Boston tied with Silicon Valley..... feel better?

Here is a list of IPO's off the top of my head.

Acme Packet

Airvana

Starent Networks

BladeLogic

Netezza

Salary.com

TechTarget

Virtusa

Filed for IPO:

Constant Contact

Equallogic

Liquidity Events:

Tabblo purchased by HP

Silverback purchased by Dell

AppIQ purchased by HP

Symantec buys Relicore, Imlogic

Citrix buys Reflectant, Ardence

Microsoft buy Softricity

Oracle purchases Profitlogic

I'm sure I didn't get them all, feel free to add to the list. So anyway, things aren't that bad. TheHub does not need to be playing catch up as some have suggested.
The point is, the Boston/Cambridge area has strengths in certain areas such as the old reliables: infrastructure, enterprise software, storage and communications as well as the up and comer sectors of mobile applications, wireless technology, gaming, Rich Media and Video Blogging/Podcasting.

But if you are in the Web 2.0 space, don't fret, we also have the archetype early stage VC program, so just get picked up by Y Combinator and move to Silicon Valley if you feel compelled to do so.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Zindicate

Company Name: Zindicate

Company URL: http://www.zindicate.com/

Citation URL: http://blog.nextnewnetworks.com/index.php/2007/07/23/boston-media-makers-in-the-house/

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: Seed?

Investors: ?

Founders or Execs past companies: Kino-Eye.com, TopTenSources, RocketBoom

Industry: Comsumer Web, On-line Video, Vlogs

Offering Descripton: cool and creative video supported by online advertising

Monday, August 13, 2007

Ben Franklin was a Hacker

ben franklin paintingBen Franklin was born in Boston. Based upon his lifestyle, what he liked and what he accomplished, he would be called a hacker by today's standards. Check out the list and see what you think.

He came up with the ideas that later became some of the big ideas of the web:

Napster: He created a network of individuals that shared media (books) The Junto was interested in a wide range of ideas, from economics to solving social woes to politics to science. But they could not turn to books to increase their knowledge or settle disputes, as between them they owned few tomes. But they recognized that via the Junto's combined purchasing power, books could be made available to all members.

Linkedin: Active in the community, [Franklin] founded a discussion group called the Junta (1727). "The Junta was like a modern day networking group founded by Franklin to create ties with serious business connections.

He was a prankster.

He liked puzzles.

He was an entrepreneur. He retired at age 42

He was a publisher and most assuredly would have been a blogger.

He was an open source inventor. "In a philanthropic gesture, Franklin never patented any of his inventions, saying, "I never made, nor proposed to make, the least profit by any of them." It was a matter of principle with him that, as he had benefited from past inventions and discoveries, present and future generations should be able to benefit freely from his inventions." http://www.historynet.com/

He used social engineering: Using myriad persona's such as Timothy Wagstaff, Franklin would write letters to various publications with the intent to change or form public opinion.

He had erratic sleep habits staying up into the dawn, and napping 20 minutes at a time anytime he became tired.

He was a musician.

Xconomy

Company Name: Xconomy

Company URL: http://www.xconomy.com/

Citation URL: http://www.93south.net/index.php/2007/08/09/who-says-east-coast-startups-cant-get-funding-tech-blog-lands-an-a-round/

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: Seed Round

Investors: Common Angles, private investors

Founders or Execs past companies: MIT TechnologyReview, Riga Ventures, Swapthing.om

Industry: Online Media

Offering Descripton: Xconomy is dedicated to providing business and technology leaders with timely, insightful, close-to-the-scene information about the local personalities, companies, and technological trends that best exemplify today’s high-tech economy.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

iScrybe

Company Name: iScrybe

Company URL: http://iscrybe.com/main/index.php

Citation URL: http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/02/iscrybecoms_pap.html

Formation Date: 2006

Funding Status: Series A

Investors: Strategic investors--Adobe Systems Inc. and LMKR

Founders or Execs past companies: Elixir Technologies, Pakistan

Industry: Consumer Web

Offering Descripton: Scrybe™ is a groundbreaking online organizer that caters to today's lifestyle in a cohesive and intuitive way.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

DimDim

Company Name: DimDim

Company URL: http://www.dimdim.com/

Citation URL: http://venturebeat.com/2007/02/02/the-new-video-players-kyte-dimdim/

Formation Date: July 2006

Funding Status: First Round

Investors: Draper Richards, along with Index Ventures and Nexus India Capital

Founders or Execs past companies: Advanced Internet

Industry: Consumer Web  

Offering Description: DimDim is the Open Source web conferencing company

Monday, August 6, 2007

MidProfile Corp.

Company Name: MIDPROFILE CORPORATION

Company URL: http://eb.midprofile.com

Citation URL:

Formation Date: 2006

Funding Status: Seed round

Investors: Founders

Founders or Execs past companies: Blackpearl Software, Rshtech

Industry: Mobile SOA applications

Offering Descripton: the software enables eBay users to create and submit live listings in all selling formats directly from mobile phones or PDAs.

Bandsintown

Company Name: Bandsintown


Company URL: http://www.bandsintown.com



Citation URL: http://mashable.com/2007/06/08/bandsintown/

Formation Date: Jan 07


Funding Status: Self Funded, Seeking Angels


Investors: Self Funded by Founders


Founders or Execs past companies: Dreamvex



Industry: Consumer Web


Offering Descripton: Bandsintown is a social network that connects more live music fans with more local live music, through friends, recommendations, and discovery.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Goloco

Company Name: Goloco

Company URL: http://goloco.org/greetings;guest

Citation URL: http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/103272/Everybody-Into-the-Carpool

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: Seed Round

Investors: Angels

Founders or Execs past companies: Zipcar

Industry: Consumer Web

Offering Descripton: GoLoco is a service that helps people quickly arrange to share rides between friends, neighbors, and colleagues. GoLoco also helps you share trip costs online.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

UpDown

Company Name: the UpDown

Company URL: http://www.theupdown.com/

Citation URL: http://www.thealarmclock.com/mt/archives/2007/07/bostons_updown.html

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: seed round

Investors: Swiss angel investor Joachim Schoss

Founders or Execs past companies: Boston Consulting Group, Experience.com, Harvard MBA's

Industry: consumer web financial

Offering Descripton: financial social networking Its strategy involves starting a hedge fund using community-based investment strategies derived from its web site member community.

Flipkey

Company Name: Flipkey

Company URL: http://www.flipkey.com/

Citation URL:

Formation Date: mid 2007

Funding Status: Stealth

Investors: ?

Founders or Execs past companies: Compete.com

Industry: Consumer Web

Offering Descripton: We started FlipKey to help expand the vacation rental market by providing a platform to highlight professional reputation and trust. There are 6.5 million vacation homes in the U.S. and less than 10% are rented to travelers looking for a great place to stay.

Conduit Labs

Company Name: Conduit Labs, Harmonix Music Systems

Company URL: http://www.conduitlabs.com/

Citation URL: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/08/21/conduit-labs-closes-55-million-series-a-funding/

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/07/22/will_boston_ever_catch_up/?page=2

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: First Round $5.5 M

Investors: Prism Venture Partners, Charles River Partners

Founders or Execs past companies: Ambient Devices

Industry: Online Gaming

Offering Descripton: We're building cool social entertainment destinations for you and your friends. We are bored of the same old social networks, virtual worlds, and MMOs.

GuildCafe

Company Name: GuildCafe

Company URL: http://www.guildcafe.com

Citation URL: page 2 http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/07/22/will_boston_ever_catch_up/

Formation Date: 2006

Funding Status: First Round

Investors: IDG Ventures

Founders or Execs past companies: Eprise

Industry: Consumer Web, Gaming

Offering Descripton: GuildCafe was founded to give online gamers a space where the content is created for them, by them. It is GuildCafe’s mission to be a premiere online community, uniting all members of the multiplayer universe on a Web 2.0 platform so they can express their gaming alter-egos and share information with one another. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, GuildCafe was formed by a team of highly experienced online media and computer games veterans.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Blurgl

Company Name: Blurgl

Company URL: www.blurgl.com      (no info)

Citation URL:

Formation Date:

Funding Status: ? Stealth

Investors: ?

Founders or Execs past companies: WTB Systems

Industry: Consumer Web

Offering Descripton: Boston-based startup focused on collaboration and sharing for small groups

Wherecast

Company Name: Wherecast

Company URL: parked

Citation URL:

Formation Date:

Funding Status: 2007 stealth mode

Investors: ?

Founders or Execs past companies: MIT, Harvard, UC Berkeley

Industry: Mobile Applications

Offering Descripton: Wherecast is a location-based services startup

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

HiveFire

Company Name: HiveFire

Company URL: http://www.hivefire.com/

Citation URL: http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2007/07/09/story3.html

Formation Date: 2007

Funding Status: Seed Round

Investors: ?

Founders or Execs past companies: Google, Microsoft

Industry: Consumer Web

Offering Descripton: online news

Thursday, July 12, 2007

SiteSpect

Company Name: SiteSpect

Company URL: http://www.sitespect.com/

Citation URL: http://www.dmnews.com/cms/dm-news/e-commerce/41629.html

Formation Date: 2004

Funding Status: SiteSpect is privately held and funded.

Investors: ?

Founders or Execs past companies: Worldmachine

Industry: Web Analytics

Offering Descripton: SiteSpect is a web site optimization solution that enables marketers to increase conversion rates through A/B split and multivariate testing.

Bzzster

Company Name: Bzzster

Company URL: http://bzzster.com/

Citation URL: http://www.somewhatfrank.com/2007/03/bzzster_for_sim.html

Formation Date: 2H 2006

Funding Status: Seed

Investors: ?

Founders or Execs past companies: Compete.com

Industry: Consumer Web

Offering Descripton: Bzzster is a way to recommend videos, news, blog posts, etc to friends really quickly. Our goal is to make Bzzster! the best way to recommend links.

Geezeo

Company Name: Geezeo

Company URL: https://www.geezeo.com/user/login

Citation URL: http://www.atlasventure.com/newsandevents/news.cfm?id=1734

Formation Date: 2H 2006

Funding Status: Seed Round

Investors: Angel

Founders or Execs past companies: Gainskeeper, Nerac

Industry: Consumer Web Financial

Offering Descripton: Geezeo is a social finance application that helps you make educated financial decisions.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

VC Link Love for Mark Andreessen's pmarca.com

If you read alot of the VC blogs, I don't have to tell you that there is universal link love for the new blogger and veteran Web start-up founder Mark Andreessen. The love may be because his posts are full of useful information and insight from an experienced entrepreneur. But the exuberance and quantity of the adulation may arise from a secondary motivation........

With sites trying to  rate VC's , level the playing field between entrepreneurs and VC's, alternative investment approaches , entrepreneurial minimalism , books like Founders at Work and many other stories of "Vulture Capitalists" showing the negative side of the VC world, the VC's were over joyed to have someone portray them in a positive light. An inspiration to the saintly toilers.......

matthew.jpg

"We should not only be thankful that we live in a world in which VCs exist, we should hope that VCs succeed and flourish for decades and centuries to come, because the companies they fund can do so much good in the world -- and as we have seen, a lot of the financial gains that result flow into the coffers of nonprofit institutions that themselves do huge good in the world."

Maybe they were starved for affection. In any case I imagine that the reality exists somewhere between gushing adulation and the experiences of this panel.

Avalere quietly acquired by Iron Mountain

Company URL: http://www.avalere.com/portal/

BLOG POST : Steve's IT Rants

Iron Mountain quietly bought the assets of start-up Avalere, who had some pretty big and interesting plans in the area of data categorization and classification.  Those ideas turned out to be much bigger than their funding source, however.

Friday, June 22, 2007

SpotScout

Company Name: SpotScout

Company URL: http://www.spotscout.com/

Citation URL: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/01/07/startup_eyes_online_marketplace_for_open_parking_spaces/?page

Formation Date:

Funding Status:  First Round

Investors: ?

Founders or Execs past companies: Navimedix, Aveksa

Industry: Consumer Web

Offering Descripton: At SpotScout we believe that, if given the right tools, individuals and communities can solve their own parking problems by creating virtual markets for parking information. Whether a parking garage, a private space, or a space on a street, our software enables space seekers to acquire timely information on space availability before arriving at their destinations.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Auraria Networks, Inc.

Genotrope Record: Auraria Networks, Inc.

Citation URL:

Formation Date:

Funding Status: First Round

Investors: Matrix Partners

Founders or Execs past companies: SpringTide Networks, Enterasys

Industry: Communications Equipment

Offering Descripton: Auraria Networks, Inc. is a company dedicated to providing unique solutions to problems that businesses and other organizations have with content; particularly in an on-line or continuously connected world. We will make products that allow one to realize the full potential of the content that exists in a networked world and profit from it in many ways.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Dreams

In an interview with Brewster Kale in ‘Founders at Work’ the Cambridge ex pat, X Thinking Machiner, and founder of WAIS and Alexa, he mentioned that one of the reasons he moved to the west coast was that there were more dreamers there. Boston had an environment that was too conservative and prone to thinking why things were not possible instead of anything is possible.

Got me to thinking that this was one of the great things Y-Combinator is doing for theHub area (Boston/Cambridge and environs).


Paul Graham is re-enforcing creativity, innovation and thinking outside of the (container of your choice), required for a thriving start up market place.


This is a good thing. Especially, if you look at the VCs from the area. The top tier, are very good, but very conservative and more comfortable with Communications and Enterprise Software. When it comes to web properties, one fund is heads above the rest, General Catalyst. The rest are lacking significant next generation Web offerings. You would think the angels might be taking up the slack but one look at the CommonAngels profolio, shows that their thing isn’t the WEB 2.0 type company. Old money, old thinking I guess.


More power to PG and anyone else that can help create a more vibrant environment for fostering start up companies in theHub.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Third Screen Media Inc., Acquired by AOL

Company Name: Third Screen Media Inc.
Company URL: http://www.thirdscreenmedia.com

Citation URL: http://www.bizreport.com/2007/03/third_screen_media_to_power_fox_news_mobile_ads.html
Formation Date: Q3 2005
Funding Status: Acquired for profit
Investors: TD Capital Ventures, Blue Chip Venture Company.

Founders or Execs past companies: M-Qube, Britemoon, Fast Channel, CollegeLink.com

Industry: Mobile Advertising
Offering Descripton: TSM|Network, the world’s largest, single-source mobile ad network and MADX, the only web-based, mobile ad management and delivery platform that connects agencies, publishers and carriers.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Care.com

Company Name: Care.com

Company URL: http://www.care.com/

Citation URL: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/05/05/local_net_firm_aims_to_match_families_with_tutors_sitters/

Formation Date: 2006

Funding Status: Series A

Investors: Matrix Partners

Founders or Execs past companies: Upromise, theladders.com

Industry: Consumer Internet

Offering Descripton: We understand the difficulties and struggles you face when trying to find the right care and services for your families, yourself, and your home.

Friday, May 4, 2007

Quattro Wireless

Company Name: Quattro Wireless

Company URL: http://www.quattrowireless.com/

Citation URL: http://www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070503/FREE/70503009/1012

Formation Date: Late 2006

Funding Status: Series A $ 6 M

Investors: Highland Capital

Founders or Execs past companies: M-Qube

Industry: Mobile Application Advertising

Offering Descripton: hopes to help publishers create mobile Web sites that offer compelling content as well as interactive advertisements.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

StartupAddict.com

Company Name: StartupAddict.com

Company URL: http://www.startupaddict.com/

Citation URL:

Formation Date: 2-2007

Funding Status: Bootstrap

Investors:

Founders or Execs past companies: Scout Productions

Industry: Micro Finance,  Start Up Marketplace

Offering Descripton: Social Networking Platform for Startups, Post your Idea and get funding, buy and sell start up companies

Monday, April 30, 2007

Back to the Bubble....... Not..............Quite

This is mostly old news, but it makes sense to point out some of the relatively quick liquidity events that have happened in 2006 - 2007.

Most recently Tabblo an on-line photo sharing and printing company was acquired by HP.

In 2006 Onfolio was acquired my Microsoft. Don't quote me but I think it was less than a year old with less than 10 employees.

In april of 2006 SiteAdvisor was acquired by Mcafee. SiteAdvisor was founded in April 2005

So it is obvious that we are entering a bubble again right! Not really. The difference is that all three companies had proven teams and founders that had previous experience.

Tabblo's Antonio Rodriguez had previously founded two other companies.

Onfolio was founded by J. J. Allaire of Allaire and Cold Fusion fame.

SiteAdvisor was founded by two past founders of Vividon and an X VC from Bessemer.

The point of this post is to show the difference between 2000 and 2007. Better ideas, better founders, better value propositions.

Wis.dm down but maybe not out

A few weeks ago, I was told by an x employee that Wis.dm was shutting down. Now it seems that they may try again with a skeleton crew and new changes. Stay tuned.

www.wis.dm.com

Thursday, April 26, 2007

I know Y Combinator and CRV Quickstart, you are no Y Combinator. (lower risk, more capital)

Even though this article compares the two, funding Michael Phillip's Mobeus, CRV Quickstart has demonstrated just how different they really are from Y Combinator. At the outset, CRV Quickstart was mentioned in the same breath with both TechStars and the prototype early stage venture fund YC. This may be a stretch to focus on the similarities, when the structures of the firms determine that different types of opportunities need to be considered.



Michael Phillips is a proven serial entrepreneur that took his last company Speechworks, all the way to an IPO. Not a bad investment at all, he is the prototype candidate for funding by the VC’s. But why put him through the Quickstart program? Well for CRV, it is not a bad idea to quickly tie up a deal with a bridge loan, knowing that there is a high probability that Mobeus will get funded, therefore locking in at least a 50% of the series A investment with a proven CEO. But it doesn't look at all like a YC deal. Maybe they will mix in some higher risk founders as they go along. It must be fun and informative to be able to see all the ideas from hundreds maybe thousands of decks coming across the transom.



The Mobeus investment does seem to validate the potential problems mentioned by Josh Kopelman and Fred Wilson concerning the ability of larger VC funds to manage the deal flow required of seed funding.




It reminds me of the Comcast phone commercial where the guy with all-over tiger tattoos is re-calling the tattoo parlor to get his tattoos removed , hoping that his new phone service will produce a new answer. It doesn’t and you hear the tattoo artist tell the guy “ you a tiger now”.


Well at this point, naming a new program and vetting some emails does not make you a YC (that link is hilarious BTW) , and it looks like it may not be so easy to lose your stripes. For now CRV is still a tiger. I am hoping to see some deals come out of Quickstart that look more like YouTube or Reddit, but betting on proven winners can't really be faulted, it is just not that similar to YC.



And what is with the Entrepreneur Idol contest. What is next a Vett - T-Shirt contest judged by Seth Godin?

Friday, April 20, 2007

80108 MEDIA

Company Name: 80108 MEDIA

Company URL: http://www.80108.com/

Citation URL: http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/current/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003568645

Formation Date: H2 2006

Funding Status: First Round

Investors: General Catalyst Partners, IDG Ventures Boston, Khosla Ventures

Founders or Execs past companies: CCBN, NetGenesis Corp, Comet Systems, Bolt, Inc

Industry: Wireless

Offering Descripton: We're a mobile media company that creates and distributes timely, bite-sized local mobile content. We’re building a unique social media network of independent mobile correspondents, knowledgeable folks who are on-the-ground, in-the-know, and ready to share their secrets and selections.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

I'm in!

Company Name: I'm in!  (GroupGo, LLC)

Company URL: http://www.imin.com/imin/hybrid.jsp

Citation URL: http://www.boston.com/yourlife/articles/2007/02/27/fly_a_mig_swim_with_sharks_theyre_in/

Formation Date: 2006

Funding Status: First Round

Investors: Annex Ventures

Founders or Execs past companies: Starwood Hotels, UPromise, National Leisure Group, Netspoke, SkillSoft

Industry: Travel Website clearing house

Offering Descripton: I’m in! is a new kind of website that helps groups organize trips and events. We enhance existing friendships and create lasting traditions through a fun and interactive online experience.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Visible Measures Corp.

Company Name: Visible Measures Corp.

Company URL: http://www.visiblemeasures.com/

Citation URL: http://www.visiblemeasures.com/media_venturebeat.htm

Formation Date: mid 2006

Funding Status: First Round

Investors: General Catalyst

Founders or Execs past companies: Infraweb-Creative Aspects, WiseUncle, Priceline - Toys R Us, SavaJe - Sonic Software, Aptegrity,

Industry: Web Infrastructure Video

Offering Descripton: Breakthrough Internet Video Measurement Solutions

TechStars Jumps on the Y Combinator bandwagon

As mentioned in an earlier post Paul Graham is "Selling our Children" there is a subtle beauty in this strategy. It seems the brilliance of the YC "recruitment" model has spawned similar programs. TechStars in Boulder Co is using the incubator model to fund 10 "flat broke" (M. Arrington's words not mine), entrepeneurs with a seed idea. It seems a good deal for both sides. The companies get exposure to a network of contacts and mentors not available otherwise and the investors receive valuable engineering assets that can be deployed into their other properties if the original idea doesn't pan out. Couple this with the hiring methods and world wide scope of Google and you have an interesting time for young emerging technologists.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

ScanScout Inc.

Company Name: Scanscout Inc.
Company URL: http://www.scanscout.com/
Citation URL: http://masshightech.bizjournals.com/masshightech/stories/2007/04/02/story4.html
Formation Date: 2006?
Funding Status: First Round
Investors: Angels, First Round Capital, General Catalyst

Founders or Execs past companies: Jupiter/Media Metrix, Scientific Atlanta, Groove Mobile, eBay,

Industry: Video Advertising
Offering Descripton: seach engine for online video content.

Wis.dm Shutters doors (now has been revived)

Wis.dm.com the folksonomy oriented social networking site closed its doors the week of March 17th 2007. lack of user uptake was heard to be the cause.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Paul Graham is "Selling" the Children

Ray Deck of Element55 writes an interesting blog called 52Bicycles. One of his posts talks about his view of the negative effects of the Y Combinator approach to funding teams and not paying that much attention to the product or business. Paul Graham is hurting the Children There may be another reason why the business model or product is not that important to Y-Combinator

YC doesn't care about the product or the business, the value is in the individuals themselves. The PG strategy is a beautiful and subtle plan to skim the cream of the best developers out of the labs of Stanford and MIT etc.. It has been said that on average the acqusition price of developers is $1-2 million apiece. Now consider what Mr. Graham has said about the best ones...

"Economically, this is a fact of the greatest importance, because it means you don't have to pay great hackers anything like what they're worth. A great programmer might be ten or a hundred times as productive as an ordinary one, but he'll consider himself lucky to get paid three times as much. As I'll explain later, this is partly because great hackers don't know how good they are. But it's also because money is not the main thing they want."

So if Y Combinator sees 200-300 company applications a year, with 2 founders each, he is developing a relationship with 600 of the brightest most ambitious young technologist every year. Some are 10x and one may be the 100x code monster. So YC is building up a "farm team" worth $600+ million every year. Obviously, this a concept and all that talent cannot be monetized, but you get the idea. With a $ 5k per employee investment YC is getting $ 3 million of raw talent for $ 15 grand, plus 6-10% of the company. A no brainer investment.

Someone else has realized how beautiful a recruiting strategy this is for the YC portfolio, as I see at least one other start up trying to take advantage of the "overflow". Why not all Great Hackers get picked by Y Combinator

So the next time you see a 40ish looking guy strolling the campus and attempting eye contact, don't be surprised to find he is trolling for "Googlebait"

Disclaimer: This is not a critique of the YC business model. I believe that it is a good thing overall and serves a vital role in fostering the entrepreneurial spirit. We're just making a point and having a little fun doing it.

Mobeus

Company Name: Mobeus

Company URL: http://www.mobeus.com/ place holder

Citation URL: http://www.sigmapartners.com/portfolio_wcon.php

Formation Date: June 2006

Funding Status: first round

Founders or Execs past companies: Speechworks, Groove Mobile

Industry: wireless

Offering Descripton: voice activated wireless application

Mobil Oriented Start ups 8th Ring, Mobicious, Inc.

Company Name: 8th Ring

Company URL: http://www.8thring.com/

Citation URL: http://simeons.wordpress.com/?s=8th+ring&searchbutton=go%21

Formation Date: may 2005

Funding Status: Seed Round

Founders or Execs past companies: Maven via ATG via Lotus, Action Engine via Boingo via Openwave

Industry: Wireless

Offering Descripton: stealth?
Company Name: Mobicious, Inc.

Company URL: http://beta.mobicious.com/

Citation URL: MassHighTech

Formation Date: Jan 2007

Funding Status: Seed Round

Founders or Execs past companies: Savaje, m-Qube

Industry: Wireless

Offering Descripton: an easy way for people to discover the best content, services, and applications available for their mobile phones.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Dropbox

Dropbox Incept: Jan 2007

Industry: Online Backup, Syncronization and Sharing

Founders Past Companies: Accolade, Bit9,

Funding Stage: Y-Combinator Funding

Whats up with Buzz Boston

The purpose here is to provide a source for information regarding start up companies in the Boston area. The intent is not to analyse or comment on product and business model, there are many people far more qualified for that. The idea is to give visibility to the amount and quality of new companies coming to life whether funded, bootstrapped or pre-funded, Of course with life comes death so it makes sense to also take note of the demise of a company as well.

The hope is also, to receive information about companies from readers and the many people in the Boston area interested in the start-up market place. The format for the information will be minimal. Company name, funding status, incept date, where the founders are from...past companies etc.. the industry , and general product information. The idea is to promote , acknowledge wish well, the many companies springing up in the Boston area.

This blog has been incubating as an idea for a while, but after meeting one of the founders of Magnetk recently, their story finally tipped the balance into action.

This relates to a couple of posts by Dharmesh at Onstartups regarding the merits of Silicon Valley/Frisco versus the Boston area. It turns out the three founders of Magnetk are Stanford graduates that moved to Boston to start their company. So using their reverse migration as an example that the Boston startup scene is viable and can attract top talent away from the "frothy" west coast market, Buzz Boston is born.