Comments on: Blogging: A Cultural Difference Between Boston And Waltham VCs http://larrycheng.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/ Some thoughts on VC, some on tech, and some on other stuff. Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:50:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Twitter Trackbacks for Blogging: A Cultural Difference Between Boston And Waltham VCs « Thinking About Thinking [larrycheng.com] on Topsy.com http://larrycheng.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-883 Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:08:18 +0000 http://larrycheng.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-883 [...] Blogging: A Cultural Difference Between Boston And Waltham VCs « Thinking About Thinking larrycheng.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs – view page – cached Scott Kirsner, a Boston Globe writer and freelancer, wrote a provocative blog post a few weeks ago entitled “Why Waltham Doesn’t Matter”. Scott’s basic claim is that Waltham VC’s “don’t matter” as they are being displaced by the new aggressive and open culture of VCs emerging in Boston and Cambridge. While I disagreed with the title of his post and the implication, Scott’s point on cultural differences has real merit. Hence, I thought I’d put it to the test on one dimension after publishing the revised Global VC Blog Directory this past Monday. — From the page [...]

]]> By: Des Pieri http://larrycheng.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-882 Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:40:38 +0000 http://larrycheng.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-882 Larry, an amazing stat! And, yes, blogging is “one very narrow dimension.” But in this day and age, it’s a legitimate one, particularly along the lines that Scott mentions. At some point in time, deal flow will be critical again and the young people coming out of MIT, HBS, etc. with great ideas will naturally gravitate to the VCs that they “know” from their blog posts. Thanks for the analysis (and for the “Subscribe to all of these” link!)

Des

]]> By: bijan sabet http://larrycheng.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-880 Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:31:17 +0000 http://larrycheng.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-880 Related topic: here’s a directory of VCs on Twitter.

http://venturemaven.com/

]]> By: Rick Bodio http://larrycheng.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-877 Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:40:36 +0000 http://larrycheng.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-877 Scott,

This is very apt. Personally, as a second year MBA, a daily dose of VC blogs (irrespective of location) is a fantastic immersion into the practical side of the business. A number of us at UConn know who the Boston and NYC blogging VC’s are, and these are the VC avenues that would be approached first.

]]> By: larrycheng http://larrycheng.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-874 Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:58:12 +0000 http://larrycheng.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-874 Thanks Tom – done.

]]> By: larrycheng http://larrycheng.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-873 Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:57:55 +0000 http://larrycheng.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-873 Thanks Eric – I updated it. I’ll have to check out Black Coral.

]]> By: oneforty2 http://larrycheng.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-872 Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:49:20 +0000 http://larrycheng.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-872 I firmly corroborate what Scott said about first time entrepreneurs thinking first about working with the investors they’ve already been learning from. (By reading their blogs and Twitter). That is decidedly the case with oneforty.com, for both our previous and future raises.

Most of the investors in my professional network are on the west coast for the same reason — because I got to know them through social media and therefore turned to them first for advice on my startup.

TechStars Boston (http://techstars.org/) has also been a refreshing and awesome way to get to know the Boston VC community. I definitely credit it with bringing several local firms to the top of our “want to get to know” list, and doing so well in advance of our Series A raise. This stuff is important to fostering an innovation culture here.

On that note, I’d be very interested in the breakdown of Waltham v. Boston/Cambridge in terms of turnout at tonight’s TechStars investor showcase.

Warmly,
Laura Fitton, Founder
http://www.oneforty.com

]]> By: Tom Morris http://larrycheng.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-871 Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:52:55 +0000 http://larrycheng.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-871 You should annotate that list with the date of their last post. Some of your top 10 blogs were abandoned years ago (e.g. Maxwell, Beisel)

]]> By: Eric Navales http://larrycheng.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-870 Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:45:46 +0000 http://larrycheng.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-870 Nice analysis… one update to the data is Rob Day is now at Black Coral, based in downtown. So the skew towards Boston / Cambridge is even greater.

]]> By: Scott Kirsner http://larrycheng.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-869 Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:35:38 +0000 http://larrycheng.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/blogging-a-cultural-difference-between-boston-and-waltham-vcs/#comment-869 Great post, Larry.

This is very anecdotal, but one thing I have observed is that student and young entrepreneurs know who blogging VCs like you, Bijan, and Fred Wilson are — they are learning about the business of start-ups from you guys. Do we really believe that their first pitch on a new business idea will be to some VC they don’t know, haven’t learned from, and don’t have a sense of what his/her “sweet spots” are?

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