JonOShaughnessy.org

One of the first blog posts I read while transitioning into my new associate role at Dace Ventures last October was one by Rob Go, entitled “A To-Do List for Entrepreneurs Arriving in Boston.”

As an aside, I highly respect Rob and his work, and encourage you to go follow him on twitter (@robgo) and subscribe to his blog’s rss feed (www.robgo.org) as your first step of Boston-startup immersion.

I’ve been part of the Boston startup ecosystem for some time now so I’m not quite “arriving,” but I, like most entrepreneurs, have had periods where I’ve had to actively work at becoming immersed in the local community. Both because of the debt I feel I owe to resources that helped me, and because of my enjoyment of helping fellow entrepreneurs, I thought I would take Rob’s post and modify/expand upon it with additional resources I’ve found helpful.

Of course, <shameless self-promotion> I’d also love it if you could subscribe to this blog feed (www.jonoshaughnessy.org/rss) and follow me on twitter (@J_OShaughnessy). In addition, if you’re in the Boston startup environment and I don’t know you yet, I’d probably want to grab a cup of coffee anyway, so please feel free to reach out.

NOTE: This list is a starting point only and is as self-serving as it is informative. Socrates’ famous saying “I know that I know nothing,” is especially pertinent here – I know that there is a tremendous number of people that have web presences that I don’t know about and I very much want to be aware of them. I think it is going to shock me how many people I know well in real-life that have blogs/Twitter handles that I am unaware of. So, I quickly scanned the people I follow on Twitter & loosely categorized them here but look forward to learning about many, many more.

The real goal, and indeed my intent is for this post to be a dynamic, updated list – so please leave comments of anyone in the Boston startup scene I left off and I will keep adding them. The emphasis for this post is Boston-based though, so please keep that in mind.

Ways to become immersed in the Boston startup ecosystem:

Follow these people on Twitter

1. Boston-based VCs & investors
   1. Me (blog, @J_OShaughnessy)
   2. Larry Cheng (blog, @larryvc)
   3. Bijan Sabet (blog, @bijan)
   4. Lee Hower (blog, @leehower)
   5. Jeff Bussgang (blog, @bussgang)
   6. Chip Hazard (blog, @chazard)
   7. Matt Witheiler (@witheiler)
   8. David Beisel (blog, @davidbeisel)
   9. Claire Wadlington (@wadlington)
   10. Geraldine Alias (@frenchie_vc)
   11. Alex Taussig (@ataussig)
   12. Jeff Palfrey (blog, @jpalfrey)
   13. Ziad Sultan (blog, @ZSultan)
   14. David Skok (blog, @BostonVC)
   15. Dan O’Keefe (@okeefe)
   16. Dayna Grayson (blog, @daynagrayson)
   17. Mike Hirshland (blog, @VCMike)
   18. Peter Flint (blog, @pflint)
   19. Joe Medved (blog, @JoeVC)
   20. Todd Dagres (@ToddDOwl)
   21. Andrew Parker (blog, @andrewparker)
   22. Chris Sheehan (blog, @c_sheehan)
   23. Fred Destin (blog, @fdestin)
   24. Bilal Zuberi (blog, @bznotes)
   25. Graham Brooks (@GrahamBrooks)
   26. Bob Metcalfe (@BobMetcalfe)
   27. Dennis Miller (@dennismiller)
   28. Michael Gaiss (@MichaelGaiss)
   29. Stephen Marcus (@smarcus)
   30. Tim Rowe (@rowe)
   31. Thanasis Delistathis (@tdelistathis)
   32. Richard Dale (blog, @rdale)
   33. Maria Cirino (@MariaCirino)

1. Non-Boston VCs
   1. i.      Lots. Will update in a later post. Way too many to include here.

1. Boston-based Mentors & Organizers (& Entrepreneurs)
   1. Shawn Broderick (blog, @sbroderick)
   2. Nabeel Hyatt (blog, @nabeel)
   3. Andrew Mcafee (blog, @amcafee)
   4. Don Dodge (blog, @dondodge)
   5. Furqan Nazeeri (blog, @altgate)
   6. Jon Radoff (blog, @jradoff)
   7. Dharmesh Shah (blog, @dharmesh)
   8. David Cancel (blog , @Dcancel)
   9. Bill Warner (blog, @billwarner)
   10. Vinit Nijhawan (blog, @vinit44)
   11. Bobbie Carlton (blog, @BobbieC)
   12. Joe Caruso (@joecaruso2020)
   13. John Landry (@leaddog99)
   14. Jean Hammond (@jeanhammond)
   15. Katie Rae (@ktrae)
   16. Reed Sturtevant (@reedsturtevant)
   17. Mike Troiano (@miketrap)

1. Entrepreneurs (making into a list here)

(Need LOTS of help here)

1. Mok Oh (blog, @mok_oh)
2. Stephen Randall (blog, @stephenrandall)
3. Joe Gagnon – Exit41 – (@JoeAtExit41)
4. Josh Bob – Textaurant – (@JoshSamBob)
5. Graham Clarke – Dealicio – (@grahamclarke)
6. Danny Wong – Blank Label – (@dannywong1190)
7. Marsh Sutherland – SocialGrow – (@marshsutherland)
8. Jeremy Levine – Star Street Sports (@JerLevine)
9. Jason Evanish – GreenHorn Connect (@evanish)
10. Laura Fitton – oneforty (@pistachio)
11. Andy Payne – *Lots* – Should also be under investors (@payne92)
12. Jules Pieri – Daily Grommet (@julespieri)
13. Linda Natansohn – EONS (@LindaNatansohn)
14. Bettina Hein – Pixability (@pixability)
15. Beth Marcus – Playsmrt (@startupdoc)
16. Robin Chase – Zipcar (@rmchase)
17. Diane Hessan – Communispace (@CommunispaceCEO)
18. Helen Greiner – iRobot (@helengreiner)
19. Gail Goodman – Constant Contact (@Gail_Goodman)
20. Jeff Bennett – Swaptree (@jeffbennett)
21. Dan Bricklin – Software Garden (@danb)
22. Ji Kim – DijiPOP (@dijipop)
23. Thyaga V. – WizioTec (@thyaga)
24. Julie Sygiel – Eulie (@jsygiel)
25. Brad Harkavy – BPG Motors (@harkador / blog)
26. Wayne Chang – Boylston Technology Group (@waynechangcom)
27. ? … please suggest more

1. Entrepreneur Support / Service Providers

(Need *lots* of help here too )

1. Ben Hron & Mike Cohen – VC Ready Law –  (blog, @VCReady)
2. Heather Coull – Funding Post – (@CreativelyCoull)
3. Abbey Fichtner – Microsoft / Hacker Chick Blog (blog, @HackerChick)
4. Emily Dunn – Exemplar Law – (@emdunn)
5. Jonathan Hitter – Walther & Shuffain – (@jhitter)
6. Dave Fogel – Swifton CFO’s – (@swifton)
7. Jesika Babylon – Jesika Babylon Consulting – (@JBabylonInc)
8. Wyatt Greene – Ruby on Rails Developer – (@techiferous)
9. Others ?

1. Boston Tech News Sources & Boston Tech Journalists

1. News Sources:
   1. MassHighTech
   2. Boston Globe Business/Tech Section (Boston.com)
   3. Boston Business Journal
   4. Boston Herald Business/Tech Section
   5. Xconomy
   6. VentureFizz
   7. BostonInnovation

1. Boston Startup/Tech Journalists
   1. Scott Kirsner (Innovation Economy, Boston.com) (@ScottKirsner)
   2. Galen Moore (BBJ & MHT), (@GalenMoore)
   3. LOTS others – just two notable ones – again, please suggest so I can add.

3. Go to these Meetups/Events:

1. WebInno
2. Mobile Monday
3. OpenCoffee Meetup
4. Mass Inno
5. Tech Tuesday’s
6. Ultra Light Startups
7. NorthEastern’s Entretech
8. MITX Events
9. Revolve Meetups
10. TCN (The Capital Network) Events
11. Founder Dialogues
12. DART Boston
13. MIT Enterprise Forum
14. TiE Boston
15. Mass Tech Leadership Council
16. Social Media Breakfast Boston
17. The 128 Innovation Capital Group

Keep an eye out for these great but annual/semi-annual events:

1. Startup Weekend
2. MIT Venture Conference
3. XSITE
4. Mass TLC UnConference

Enter/become involved/hang out at these startup competitions/incubators:

1. MIT $100k Competition
2. Babson B-Plan Competition
3. MassChallenge
4. Harvard Bplan Competition
5. Summer at Highland

5. Hang out at these “hub spots”

1. PopSignal
2. Betahouse
3. DogPatchLabs
4. TechStars Boston
5. Design Annex
6. Cambridge Innovation Center
7. Workbar

Other resources:

1. GreenHornConnect (@greenhornboston)– Best Calendar in Boston for local/startup events.

Whew! That’s it for now. Again, there are many, many other amazing organizations/people/events in the Boston startup ecosystem. This is one attempt at trying to get a sampling of them on paper. If I didn’t include you on this iteration – it is because I don’t know you have a web presence. Please add anyone/anything else that you can in the comments below and I will update the list periodically.

PS. HUGE thanks to Claire Wadlington (@wadlington) of FA Technology Ventures for helping build out the list. She responded after it was posted with paragraphs full of suggestions which I immediately incorporated into the list. Please return the favor and be sure to follow her as well!