Boston Tech 2017 — VCs must lead the way

I recently came across an Xconomy post from Dan Deac, cofounder of @PersonalVC, outlining what he would like to see from the Boston tech community moving forward. In addition to some great ideas — build a software research park, kill non-competes, expand EIR programs at colleges, increase startup tax incentives, attract foreign funding, etc — Dan is circling an important point that strong ecosystems need to be proactively built. They don’t just happen.

In 2011, when TechStars came to Boston, there was a groundswell of support for reviving Boston Tech. Angels poured their support into the program. VCs turned out for Demo Day. Accomplice (then Atlas), NextView, Founder Collective, Converge, Project 11 and others stepped in to fill the void Boston had long felt in early stage funding. A handful of us started BostInno (at the time BostInnovation) in order to try to fill one void our community had, which was story telling.

Since 2011, Boston Tech has undoubtedly grown, but it has also quieted down. Though the founding team has moved on, BostInno is still writing about Boston Tech, TechStars is still funding companies, and more early stage firms have popped up all with their own twist on being “value add” with communities of experienced entrepreneurs and execs to help their companies.

Despite all these things, I’ve spoken to many people in the community lately and it still feels like something is missing to help get Boston Tech to the next level. There are lots of tactical things — like those mention above, with lots of emphasis on killing noncompetes — but I think there is a much more fundamental change required in order to completely unleash the potential of our community, and it is the fact that when it comes to ecosystem building, it has to be lead by VCs.

Now, many VCs like to play the card of “entrepreneurs are the builders, we just support them” and that a strong community will be built on the backs of winning companies like Hubspot and DraftKings. While ultimately this is true, entrepreneurs cannot build local tech ecosystems. They need to focus on building their companies. They can certainly contribute back to the community, but inherently entrepreneurs are not taking a portfolio approach to their business like VCs. They need to be singularly focused on their product and customers.

VCs on the other hand are in the business of being networked and we need our VCs to be more proactive in building our ecosystem. Don’t get me wrong, a number of VCs in town are making efforts — Accomplice with BOSS Syndicate, GC with their Entrepreneurs Forum and other programs, Flybridge with their initiative to fund student startups, etc. But I think most everyone in the community would agree our VCs could be louder, more aggressive and more proactive in building the community. From an LP perspective, I personally would want to know which fund managers were doing this, because Venture Capital has often been considered a local business to some degree. And if the community is stronger, the rising tide lifts all startup and VC boats.