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.