There's been ongoing discussion the past few weeks about what's working and what's not in our ecosystem as well as plenty of "Valley envy."  But for all the fuss, I think we forget about how far we've come in the last year and more importantly, the people that are making many of the greatest things in our community possible through their efforts.  Below, you'll find ten people/groups that you need to know because they're the people behind making things happen. {Please add anyone you think we missed in the comments.}

 

10 People Making Boston's Startup Ecosystem Stronger

Note: All green text is a link...get to know more about these people if you don't already!

1) Bill Warner, founder Avid Technology and Wildfire

If you missed the unConference last week, then you really missed out. This has become THE can't miss event in our community, bringing great entrepreneurs and investors together for an incredibly productive day of connections and discussion.  Bill is the driving force behind this and has worked tirelessly to make it the incredible event it was this year. 

Not to be outdone, Bill is an angel investor who has recently become very vocal about his investments, tweeting about his new commitments.  He was also instrumental in bringing TechStars to Boston and has been helping many startups find their passions with his "How to Build a Startup From the Heart" presentation.

We could use 10 more Bill Warners.

2) Dharmesh Shah, founder & CTO of HubSpot

Despite his modest proclamations at the start of all his presentations, Dharmesh really is a talented speaker.  He always has something new to share and finds great imagery for his slides.  He is incredibly generous with his time, with more speaking engagements in the startup community than I can count.  If you haven't seen him, his Startup Bootcamp presentation from 2009 is a great start. 

The key to Dharmesh is that despite being an integral part of a growing 200+ employee company in HubSpot, he is very giving of his time by speaking and an active angel investor.  

We need more veterans to give a little of their time to share their knowledge so that Boston can build more great startups.

3) Gus Weber and the Microsoft Team

I wrote about all Gus Weber, Abby Fichtner, Chris Bowen and Microsoft NERD do to help the startup ecosystem in June, but it bears repeating:  Without their support, our ecosystem would not be what it is today. Where would you hold your events? Who would lead sponsorships of key organizations and events? 

 

Microsoft and it's community employees are the glue that holds our ecosystem together.

4) Cort Johnson and Jake Cacciapaglia of DartBoston

Today, we have a vibrant young entrepreneur ecosystem that is filled with students and recent graduates working at startups and on their own projects.  Much of this is due to the community that Cort and Jake built with the DartBoston events, which are so different from most events in our ecosystem (hint: it's about making newcomers actually feel welcome).  

The energy level is different at them.  I always leave charged up, ready to get more done at my startup. And most importantly, some of my closest friendships were forged at these events. I felt welcome from the second I arrived and can't wait for each event each month.  

If you haven't been to a DartBoston event yet, regardless of your age, come check it out and meet the great young people in our ecosystem.  

5) Chase Garbarino and the BostInnovation Crew

A year ago, if you had an unfunded startup, it was next to impossible to get coverage.  If you missed a big event, there was little chance of reading a recap of anything important that was discussed. Chase Garbarino and the rest of the BostInnovation team decided to do something about this and launched the BostInnovation blog.  Since launch their message has spread like wildfire and they're on the precipice of all kinds of great stuff. 

Not to be outdone by their reporting, these guys have also thrown their hat into the event space with such notable past events like gdgt Live!, the Downtown Crossing Block Party, and a number of great informal drinkups at their offices.  This weekend, they're engaging the student population with Shutup and Startup Weekend.

Are you taking advantage of the best way to follow the startup ecosystem's news at BostInnovation?

6) Scott Kirsner of the Boston Globe

Scott's deeply involved in our startup community as both a writer for the Globe (which hosts his daily Innovation Economy blog) and putting together some of the biggest events in our community for executives through his events company, Future Forward Events. One of my favorite events of last year, the Momentum Summit was his creation. 

Scott's also done a lot individually for the community as he helped run the infamous "Turbocharging the Culture in MA" session from the 2009 unConference that led to Greenhorn's birth as well as organizing the Cultural Revolutionaries meeting in January.  

Scott shows how tech journalists can be much more than just writers.

7)  Bobbie Carlton of Mass Innovation Nights

Quick: Name the only consistent, major startup event not in Cambridge or Boston?  Answer: Mass Innovation Nights. The Boston entrepreneur ecosystem is so much more than the confines of city borders and Bobbie's monthly "launch party" makes the ecosystem feel a bit larger and brings a more diverse crowd than your average Kendall Square event thanks to the many creative themes (like food!) for the startups presenting each month.  It also gives those suburban-preneurs an opportunity to have an easier commute to a great event.

Even with all the success of this event, Bobbie didn't stop, adding Innovation Breakfasts as a weekly Friday morning event in Waltham.  She even has gotten local business leaders to make appearances, adding value for the startupers out there. 

Have you checked out a Mass Innovation event yet?

8) Joe Caruso, Angel and BREW Boston Co-organizer

Joe has been a long-standing angel in our community with an incredibly impressive portfolio of investments. On top of his investor and mentor prowess (and refreshing point of view) he created the BREW Boston concept to celebrate entrepreneurship in our region.  He's since built a team to help bring this to fruition and includes hundreds of awesome events all over the region. 

We could use 10 Joe Carusos as well.

 

 

9) Tim Rowe of the Cambridge Innovation Center

Tim runs the largest home for startups in all the Boston region at the Cambridge Innovation Center, which has over 175 companies currently there, and growing.  In addition to this, he helped push for the creation of the Venture Cafe, which is moving closer to a permanent home in the Kendall Square area. Finally, he's involved with the Kendall Square association, keeping an entrepreneurial perspective on the development of the area.

 

Have you checked out the CIC? Kill two birds with one stone and swing by the Venture Cafe Alpha on the 4th floor on Thursdays.

10) Jon Pierce of BetaHouse

BetaHouse, a long-standing, developer-centric coworking space may be on hiatus, but the spirit lives on.  Jon started the space from just a few people sharing rent costs and has built an amazing community around it.  This community has led to some great events as guests from other ecosystems have stopped by like members of Silicon Valley Angels and an afterparty for Startup Bootcamp.  He also is a co-founder of the fun organization, the Awesome Foundation, which awards a $1,000 prize, no strings attached to fund, "crazy, brilliant ideas."

Most importantly for the Boston ecosystem recently, Jon was the driving force behind Angel Bootcamp, which was an event to work to create more angels in our ecosystem to help support our growing base of early stage companies. The long tail effect of such an event will be felt for years to come.

Have you met Jon Pierce yet? Get to know a local leader and don't miss the next great event by BetaHouse.

 

So what can we learn from all this?  A few things:

1.  It takes a diverse crowd to make a great ecosystem.

These people are young and old, wealthy and bootstrapped and everything in between.  All these people have found ways to uniquely contribute to the ecosystem, often in multiple ways.

2. They need your help.

First of all, apologies I couldn't mention all the awesome people that are helping support these leaders in their initiatives like Christine Sierra at BREW Boston and Carrie Stalder over at the VentureCafe.  Without great support, these initiatives would never have succeeded.  If any of these, or any others in the community resonate with you, definitely consider getting involved! You'll likely find that the benefits vastly outweigh the costs of your participation.  

3. We need more of these leaders.

These are some of the busiest people I know.  They all push the envelope for what they can accomplish, but there's still so much to be done.  We have a good ecosystem here and it's easy to play the "Grass is always Greener" card, but that's not what this is all about.  This is business, and we're all here to win.  The stronger the ecosystem, the more great businesses we'll successfully build.  

So if you're thinking about all of this and if you should get involved, just think about this quote that is on Joe Caruso's investment site: 

 It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping  himself.  

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Photo Credit: onezilla on Flickr

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