« One Year of Blogging | Main | Musing on Freemium and Ad-Supported »

March 30, 2006

"There's Something Going On" in Boston

Last night I attended the Geek Dinner organized by Pito Salas, Bela Labovitch, and Adam Green. It was an opportunity for “geeky-but-not-exclusively-geeks” people to “hang out, casually munch on cheap food and compare notes on stuff that people are working on.” There were probably about forty people there, and the energy-level was high. Various people made announcements about local startups which are hiring (always a positive note) and the large-group had a spontaneous informal-yet-spirited discussion (which ranged in topics from viability of web-based MS office-like apps to advertising-based business models).

There were a number of friends from and familiar faces which I’ve seen at the Web Innovators Group (WebInno), the group which I organize, a collection of people engaged in internet and mobile innovation in the Boston area. Last night’s crowd, true to its moniker, was definitely “geekier.”

Web Innovators Group WebInno Boston.jpgWe held the most recent WebInno event last week, and Brian Del Vechhio’s photo shows our successful 100+ person turnout. You can read two good summaries of the event on Adam Green’s and Ray Deck’s blogs.

There’s an inaugural session of Mobile Monday Boston this upcoming Monday night, which should be a great event as well. Shimon Rura’s Startup Meetup Group, though I haven’t been, sounds like it’s gathering some momentum, too.

All of this activity was summed up nicely in a conversation I had with Mark Withington today, who organizes the popular Boston PHP group. He said, contrasting to just a couple years - and even months - ago, “There’s something going on in Boston.” I couldn’t agree more. A year ago, I lamented about some of the cultural dynamics in town, but I am now seeing a resurgence of excitement and a trend towards change. All of the groups mentioned above each aim at partially distinct constituencies with differently formatted events addressing different needs, but they all promote the larger tech community in Boston. And I am happy to be a part of it.

Posted by David Beisel on March 30, 2006 5:26 PM | Permalink

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.genuinevc.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/184

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference "There's Something Going On" in Boston:

» Genuine VC on: "There's Something Going On" in Boston from Lifeblog
Just when I had given up, looks like things are waking up. David has a nice post (link below) on some recent happening. There's even a Mobile Monday Boston! I'd also like to point out that there have been some [Read More]

Tracked on April 10, 2006 8:07 AM

» Lose weight fast - Cheap phentermine online from Cheap phentermine online
I found your entry interesting so I have added a TrackBack to it on my weblog [Read More]

Tracked on April 12, 2006 8:48 AM

» p90x from p90x
Quick Question: Regarding the end date of the 24th, will we need to post our final weight on Christmas day? I should be in town, but I’ m just worried I may forget to get on and post it on the 25th. May help everyone what with all the excitement and di... [Read More]

Tracked on October 5, 2008 12:39 PM

» Adult FriendFinder from Adult FriendFinder
I really enjoyed your topic and plan to share your blog with my friends! thanks for taking the time out to write your blog! If you want to learn how to get 100% free access to Adult Friend Finder check out my blog! [Read More]

Tracked on November 30, 2008 8:08 PM

Comments (2)

john:

I am so glad you have said this: Just a couple of years ago, Boston seemed moribund in the web space, but it is definitely back: With a lot learned, and some good scar tissue.

Posted by john | March 31, 2006 12:04 PM

Posted on March 31, 2006 12:04

Nabeel Hyatt [TypeKey Profile Page]:

I feel it as well. Your little group helps to shine a light on it, and there is particularly an aweful lot of energy around the mobile sector. I saw a lot of familiar VC faces from Boston out at CTIA, and some of them I know were not there the year before.

With m-qube/verisign, everypoint, nellymoser, mobot, groove mobile, jumptap, m-qube, ulocate, oxysys, mobilelime..etc.. it's growing quite fast.

Posted by Nabeel Hyatt [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 18, 2006 6:42 PM

Posted on April 18, 2006 18:42

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)