TechCrunch Live took a virtual tour of Boston this week at a special City Spotlight: Boston event. The exclusive event featured speakers from influential Boston founders and investors, including Marc Raibert, founder of Boston Robotics, and Kate Broome, CEO of MassChallenge. The event kicked off with a panel discussion with Greg Dracon of .406 Ventures and Matt Caulfield, founder and CEO of Oort, around Boston-based cybersecurity companies.
Caulfield Oort launched in 2018 and to date has raised $18.05 million to fund the company, including Draco at .406 Ventures.
But why Boston, I asked in the video posted here.
Caulfield added, “I live in wishful thinking,” laughing, “In town, there’s a Commonwealth fusion prototype fusion reactor out of MIT, and you won’t find that anywhere in the country.” He said.
Both Caulfield and Dracon made Boston their home and started companies in the area. For them, the region’s rich and deep tech history explains why high-tech startups, from biotech to cybersecurity companies, have found success in the region.
And the Boston area is booming. As discussed in this TechCrunch article on Boston, success breeds success. In the year By 2022, the area was the fourth most active business capital market in the United States, following California’s Bay Area, New York City, and Los Angeles.
Greg points to the flywheel effect to explain the scene: “We [Boston] They have companies that come out at great rates and spit out entrepreneurs. We were an early investor in Carbon Black, and we’ve backed a couple of companies that have come out of Carbon Black… there’s probably five or six companies that have come out of Carbon Black alone. He points to big Boston companies like HubSpot, Wayfair and Klaviyo, where people feel success together is important to a region and projects turn into startups.
The Boston area needs a certain entrepreneur, the two say. “You have to network in the tech community and have a little bit of an internal and external combination,” Dracon said. “We’ve found good founders who are fairly introverted, often with a technical background, but can shine when they have to get out there, network and sell.”
“If you’re solving a tough technical problem, I can’t think of a better place to do it than Boston,” Caulfield said.
