Ego Trapping The (Future) Boston Tech 30
Recently, Boston Magazine published it’s list of “The Boston Tech 30” for 2016. On the list are folks like Dharmesh Shah, David Cancel, Jennifer Lum, Diane Hessan, Jeff Bussgang, Wayne Chang, Maia Heymann, Bijan Sabet, Nicole Stata. And, yeah, davebalter (aka: me).
A list like this is practically designed for social media. If you’re on it, you’re likely to share it. And if you share it, you’re likely to tag others who were on the list with you. “Congratulations to all of us,” you exclaim, highlighting your list-mates, and thus extending the reach dramatically.
Of course, this is even further extended because of who isn’t on the list. The humblest and most collaborative move of all is to acknowledge those who should have made it. One pay-it-forward post begins: “It’s an honor, and there are a lot of people missing…”
The missing list includes the likes of Eric Paley, Brian Halligan, Sarah Hodges (editor bias alert: I date Sarah) and Michael Troiano plus many others. It’s true, they should have been on this list. These are all people who have “made it” in their own right.
“Making it” is a funny thing. There’s no refuting the fact that making the list represents countless hours of work and invaluable contribution to the community.
But it also includes a healthy dose of networking with the right people — and the luck of the draw. While everyone on the list is pretty awesome, perhaps you’re just top of mind when Kyle Alspach and @ BostonMagazine are thinking “who should be on this list?”
This particular list draws attention to those who have one thing in common: They scrapped their way to success. They built. They created. They changed minds. In many cases they made a lot of people a lot of money.
With this list in hand, one might reflect on what this list might look like a decade from now. Who are the Boston heroes that are scrapping it out today; that are earlier in their careers, but are fighting their way to the top?
Here’s my short list:
- Vishal Sunak. He leads LinkSquares and, as one person put it, “is a growth marketing beast”.
- Giuseppe Stuto. He leads Smack High, and is as mature a leader as someone 20 years his senior.
- Rochelle Nemrow. She leads Family ID, knows how to drive revenue and give leadership advice like a champ.
- Eric Stone. Incredilicious Data Scientist <insert exploding brain>, driving immense value at Pluralsight.
- Nick Rellas. He leads Drizly, and they deliver booze. Enough said. Ok, truth be told he’s pretty awesome, too.
- Jessica Owen. Growth marketer Panorama Education. Quiet on the surface, delivers to no end.
- Tom Coburn. He leads Jebbit. The energizer bunny; he’s fearless and was born to run companies.
- Janet Comenos. She leads Spotted. She’s a machine on so many levels. Do. not. play. her. in. tennis. (unless you want to lose).
- Jim Myers. He runs engineering at Mylestoned. He is always on the cutting edge, codes and leads- plus his hair is pretty good.
- Jake Cacciapaglia. The dude was part of the Runkeeper team from day 1 through the sale to Asics. Knows how to scale.
- Justin Mares. He runs Kettle & Fire. Yep, that’s a Paleo Beef Bone Broth Brand. It’s very real. Ok, he’s not in Boston, but one can always hope.
I’m sure I missed tons of people. As an example, I’d definitely add Philip H. Beauregard to some list, somewhere.
People, if you were ego trapped on this post, or like someone who was, please ❤ below. Get it?
