When Hubspot founders Brian Harrigan and Dharmesh Shah conceived their inbound marketing startup in 2004, they were still graduate students at MIT and inbound marketing wasn't fully understood. They developed the idea into a successful company that eventually went public in 2014. Currently, the Boston-based company has a market capitalization of over $30 billion.
There were several factors that contributed to the favorable outcome. The founders met at one of the world's leading universities. They had an idea, but they were in a place where it could be nurtured, in an area with experienced venture investors who recognized the company's potential. This allowed us to raise capital, refine our plans, and grow our company. All of this was possible because they were in the Boston area.
Every city needs a success story like Hubspot, and Boston has many others, including iRobot, Wayfair, Acquia, and Carbon Black, just to name a few. Just last year, Klaviyo went public, joining the parade of startup success stories. Some were purchased. Some have been published. But they all showed what's possible for many people who dream of building successful businesses in the Boston area.
As these companies create wealth for their founders, they themselves provide an angel funding system, supporting a new generation of founders with the funds that the founders withdraw, and this wealth creation cycle continues. In addition, these companies also produce other entrepreneurs who leave their jobs and start their own companies, often receiving financial support from their old bosses.
Ahead of the early stage event in Boston on April 25th, I spoke with local investors and advisors in Boston to understand what makes Boston's startup ecosystem successful.
While there are many aspects to the success of a business ecosystem, we tend to look at investment amounts to measure how well an area is doing. When we talk about Boston, Boston is only part of the story. This is really a regional or even state-wide perspective, but no matter how you look at it, the Boston area ranks No. 4 nationally in Q4 2023 when PitchBook counts venture investments. Masu. For a small city in a small state, this is pretty impressive.
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Two of the remaining four are in California. (To no one's surprise) San Francisco leads the pack, followed by New York City, Los Angeles, and Boston. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Boston closed her 208 deals, bringing her total investment in the region to $3.5 billion.
How does Boston punch way above its weight when it comes to venture investing? Emily Knight is president of The Engine Accelerator, an MIT spin-off company, and is the president of MIT spinoff company The Engine Accelerator We work with founders who are looking to transform their ideas into startups known as “Toughtech”. She says this is a combination of factors, including her 35 colleges and universities in Boston alone. Expanding the map to include the Boston metropolitan area, which includes Cambridge, increases that number to 44 and adds Harvard University, MIT, and Tufts University to the list.
These universities are hotbeds of new ideas, she says. “A lot of research is coming out of these universities and a lot of early innovations are being introduced into companies,” she said.
Image credit: PitchBook
Lily Lyman, a partner at Boston-based investment firm Underscore VC, said the university system was a big reason her firm decided to launch in Boston. “This is a big piece of the puzzle, and honestly, this is a big reason why we're here in Boston and why we're bullish on Boston,” Lyman said. In fact, about one-third of Underscore's portfolio comes directly from the region's university systems, with an emphasis on Harvard, MIT, and Northeastern.
This leads to the second related factor: pure talent coming out of all these schools. Rudina Seseri, managing director at Glasswing Ventures, says talent acquisition is critical and there is a constant exodus of STEM students from these schools.
“If you just think about the raw talent and look at where the AI and ML talent is coming from, there's an incredible pool of talent, and that's going to help my company in enterprise and cybersecurity. It aligns well with investment and the region has done very, very, very well in that regard,” she said.
When you put all of this together, you have some of the key building blocks for a successful startup ecosystem, says Reiman. “The combination of technology, the research and development that is happening here, and the talent coming through here is unparalleled,” she said.
That said, Boston doesn't lack many of the amenities found in larger cities, especially for young founders. These limitations are well documented. Affordable housing is in short supply, public transportation is broken, traffic jams are terrible, and bars close at 2 a.m. And this city, with its Yankee-like humility, is not good at promoting itself.
Ceceli says Boston may have some restrictions, but every city has its own challenges. What's really important, she says, is giving startups a place to grow. “What we can influence is how entrepreneur-friendly and supportive we are. So from providing incubators and accelerators, free space for discovery, to providing customers with and providing access to platforms that can accelerate innovation,” she said.
Indeed, there are many incubator and accelerator programs that provide a place for early-stage ideas to grow, such as Mass Challenge, Greentown Labs, IDEA, and Roxbury Innovation Center.
And what Boston lacks in nightlife, it certainly makes up for in brains and a long history of startup success. As Cecely says, success begets success.
“I think we need to support more founders above all else. We need to support more successes. We need these successes to keep the wheels turning at a faster rate.” she said.