There’s a Globe article on the founders of Paragon Lake (who just raised $5.8m series A) and Highland’s Summer@Highland Program: Incubator Polishes Gem of an Idea. It’s great to see these kinds of programs. I’ve always felt that the East Coast is a great community for entrepreneurs who are somewhat established, but it can be hard to get into for people who are fresh out of school with no ties to the industry. This this means many of the great entrepreneurs that come out of MIT, Harvard, and other schools end up going West; Facebook being a recent, very visible example (and Microsoft being a much older one).
In a somewhat outdated study looking at the semiconductor industry by BankBoston (that alone places it in the three year span post-Baybank and pre-Fleet), the authors found that most MIT-based founders created their firms elsewhere:
More than 50% of the MIT-related companies are located outside the Northeast. These companies have a major presence in the San Francisco Bay Area (Silicon Valley). The five states benefiting most from MIT-related jobs are California (162,000), Massachusetts (125,000), Texas (84,000), New Jersey (34,000), and Pennsylvania (21,000).
It does seem like the community has been changing and the stodgy attitude is starting to change and become more inclusive. There’s more and more completely open forums and meetups (WebInno et al) which are being embraced and a more open community, in general of entrepreneurs.
Posted by rightcoasttech
