Thanks to Abroad 101 for producing this inside look at what it's like to be a MassChallenge Finalist!
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Blog
10981
9/1/2010
I am a US based Kenyan national, who personifies ‘The New Argonauts’ as described by UC Berkeley based author AnnaLee Saxenian. I harness my global experience and linkages with African academic institutions including Strathmore University, JKUAT, KCA University and Alliance High School to foster economic development. As a graduate student back in 2007, I set out to explore the Innovation and Financial Services clusters in Kenya – two key pillars of national competitiveness. My current role as co-founder and CEO of Nairobi Capital, Inc., a global mobile money financial intermediary that offers working capital solutions to qualified small businesses in Africa, is the realization of that goal.
Over the long term, we are trying to influence how the global capital markets and various institutions engage their sub-Saharan Africa counterparts. Masschallenge is helping my team to explore how Massachusetts based investors, the US based African Diaspora and various global research universities like MIT and Harvard can have an impact at the microeconomic level. These players provide an enabling environment for the African private sector to create wealth. We are very fortunate to be immersed at the heart of the historic Route 128 corridor – counterpart to Silicon Valley on the west coast.
This past Friday as Kenya ushered in a new constitution, I couldn’t help gazing in fascination past the lively Fan Pier and the busy Boston Harbor as planes arrived and took off at Logan airport. That is exactly where my journey in the US (and ultimately Asia) started sixteen years ago as an exchange student at Brooks School in North Andover. Who knows where the next sixteen will take me – I know the best is yet to come.
Martin Mbaya is the co-founder and CEO of Nairobi Capital, Inc. a global mobile money financial intermediary with operations in Kenya offering working capital solutions and business know how to small businesses and individuals in Africa. He serves as an advisor to MIT-AITI and is a member of the MOC Network at Harvard. Over the past decade and a half, Martin has worked in strategy, operations, technology consulting, higher education and finance primarily in Africa, America and Asia.
10977
8/31/2010
We are all storytellers.
To become part of this competition (MassChallenge), we’ve had to tell our story. Each of our companies reflect who we are – a past, a passion and a purpose that we found, something we wanted to build for our futures. We’ve all come to entrepreneurship in our own ways, learning what it takes to create something significant, sweating through our milestones, accepting our knowledge gaps with humility, and even more importantly, determination. Becoming a CEO is a confidence game –with every decision you make, you earn any certainty you feel.
With MassChallenge, we are building a community with deep roots, sharing these common experiences, fundamentals gained and hard knocks taken in our path to getting here. How many conversations have you had with other entrepreneurs where you nod knowingly and say, “Yeah … I made that mistake, too.” We’re developing relationships, asking for help, offering insight and taking it just as easily. There are many among us who are finally finding the team environment we’ve needed to take the next step in our trajectory. As any entrepreneur knows: It’s lonely out there. The Fan Pier office gives us purpose and renewed focus. This kind of support breeds success.
So as we build on this momentum, crystallize this new phase of our vision, sign new clients and pitch investors, I am going to try to acknowledge how far we’ve come. It has gotten easier, just being part of this process. This experience will become part of our company’s story forever. That’s something I think we all should celebrate.
Shelagh Braley, CIO, My Life List
Shelagh Braley is chief information officer for My Life List and brings nearly two decades of national communications experience to the team. She serves as chief spokesperson for the company, overseeing media relations, user engagement and analysis, as well as the development of My Life List as a lifestyle brand. Before assuming her current position, Shelagh ran her own successful management and media consultancy, assisting companies in significant growth phases in the midst of recession. Previously, Shelagh was an assistant managing editor at the Boston Herald. Shelagh holds a journalism degree from Northeastern University in Boston and is an eager life lister who has campaigned on behalf of a president, whitewater rafted a series of category 5 rapids and sung the Star-Spangled Banner in front of thousands of sports fans. She is learning to sail and lives in Swampscott, Massachusetts.
10929
8/19/2010
Two groups of students shared the same space, but that’s about all that they shared. One group was full of excited, eager students from high-income families. They had new textbooks and fresh school supplies. They had an attentive and confident teacher, and parents who involved themselves in the educational well-being of their children. These students went on great field trips and had amazing opportunities, as all kids should. In short, they were well supported in everything they needed.
The other group of students, too, was full of energetic, eager students, who happened to come from low-income families. They had tattered textbooks and hand-me-down school supplies. Their teacher may have been strong and confident as well, but struggled to educate her students well with the few resources available. Their parents did not have the time or ability to involve themselves in their children’s school lives. These students didn’t get to enjoy the experiences and opportunities of the kids next door.
Both groups of students did, however, share one other thing: assistant teachers, one of whom was my wife. Christine saw these discrepancies firsthand as she taught classes in both of these schools every day. It broke her heart, and when she came home to tell me about it in the evening, it broke mine, too. We had many impassioned discussions about how clearly unfair the situation was, as well as how widespread the problem really was. By no fault of their own, certain children simply did not have access to the same opportunities, resources, and support structures as their peers. The existence of the “education gap” was unmistakably clear.
The baseline requirements for both schools were identical. They shared the same building, had the same standard classroom hardware, and they paid the same utility bill for both water and electricity. All of those expenses stand for a significant and invariable portion of a schools’ educational budget. With my previous research in new energy technologies, it seemed ridiculous to me that the green innovations we have come up with could not help at all to solve such a pertinent and serious social issue as this education gap.
One morning, after a particularly emotional discussion of this issue the night before, I asked myself, “Why can’t schools spend more money on effective education and less money on electricity? And how can green energy, such as solar power help them do this?” That was the spark that lit the fire in my heart to build SolSolution.
SolSolution’s mission is to simultaneously generate clean, renewable electricity and increase the quality of education in underprivileged schools.
How do we do this? We install solar panels in low-income schools, and then reinvest what would normally be profits in the school’s educational budgets. SolSolution adapts a proven, for-profit business model as a high-impact, self-sustaining nonprofit. We also provide educational offerings for students that focus on science, technology, engineering, mathematics, as well as green entrepreneurship. For even greater impact, we provide professional redevelopment for teachers so that they are comfortable and confident teaching their students these subjects.
SolSolution brings funding and resources to low-income schools across the nation, and solar power to all schools across the nation. We want to inspire and train today’s students to solve the most pressing problems of tomorrow. Here in Massachusetts, through our programs and our example, we want to equip our students to become the next generation of MassChallenge Finalists.
How can you join SolSolution in achieving its mission today?
Through the end of August 2010, SolSolution is competing in the Pepsi Refresh Project, an online competition in which ideas, projects, and organizations from around the country compete for grant money from Pepsi. The winners are decided entirely by the number of online votes, and SolSolution would like to ask the help of our friends in the MassChallenge community to take us to the top of the leaderboard. We currently have two Massachusetts-based schools on board with us, and the grant money will go directly towards installing solar panels on our first school installation in Dorchester, MA.
All you need to do is visit our voting page for all of the options to vote. You can vote everyday in August using your email address and your phone. That’s two votes per day. Each time you vote, you can also enter our weekly raffle with a grand prize of a sleek Apple iPad to come at the end of the month. The more times you vote, the better chances you have of winning each week! All the information is right on our website.
Thank you for all of your support! We need to get resources to our students and power these schools with solar electricity. We can do that by winning this competition with all of you behind us!
Thank you for your support of SolSolution and clean energy for education.
Dr. Soren Harrison
CEO & Founder of SolSolution, Inc.
10855
8/16/2010
Rentabilities, along with over 100 other teams, recently moved into the MassChallenge offices in Boston!
Joseph F. Fallon graciously donated an entire floor of office space to MassChallenge. Imagine this – over 100 startups all working together on one floor, overlooking Boston Harbor and the City of Boston…
The stage is set for an innovative, fun, and never-before-seen culture here at MassChallenge. Here’s why.
Breathtaking Views of Boston
No explanation really needed here… how awesome is this view!?!
The World’s Biggest Continual Whiteboard… Ever.
That’s right! IdeaPaint and MassChallenge have teamed up to do something crazy. Last week IdeaPaint came to the 14th floor and applied their whiteboard technology to the entire inside wall of the 14th floor. Once the space above every door is connected, the Guiness Book of World Records will be visiting the offices to officially recognize the achivement as the biggest whiteboard ever created by mankind.
Check it out!
Ping-pong, Foosball, Pool Table, & (Sponsored!) Beer
Ping-pong is a favorite among the Rentabilities founders, so we were pretty excited to see a table in the offices. There’s also Foosball and a Pool Table… all of which we get to play while looking out onto the harbor and watching Codzilla speed by. For those of you wondering when the ping-pong will be ready… we stayed late on Friday and put it together!
Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) also is adding something important to the culture here at MassChallenge: beer. That’s right… beer for all of the events has been donated to us – all we have to do is pick at the building’s loading dock and carry it to the 14th floor!
MassChallenge FourSquare Challenge
I’ve been working with Conor from Localocracy to design what we’re calling the “MassChallenge Foursquare Challenge”. I’ll write another blog post on that later, but here’s the basics: whoever is the major of MassChallenge gets a free pizza from everyone in the office on Fridays. Whoever is second gets two slices from the Major. As of today I just overtook Conor’s majorship – looks like he better come in this weekend 
Rentabilities Community Renting Experiment
We’d like to promote and add to the culture here at MassChallenge… so we’ve created what we call a community renting experiment. It’s just for fun – it’s not the primary idea or goal of Rentabilities. The idea is to create a community (all MassChallenge teams, for example) and then share and rent stuff between each other. So we’ve brought ladderball, some frisbees, hand tools and more and everyone in the space is invited to “rent” this stuff for free. Check it out at http://rentabilities.com/masschallenge!
Happiness and great culture are part of what makes great companies, and MassChallenge has set the stage for serious innovation in Boston.
We’re really looking forward to getting to know the teams, mentors, sponsors, and supporters of MassChallenge.
-Alex Cook, a founder at Rentabilities - a company that makes renting easy. Finding and booking rental products is a time consuming process. Rentabilities has built a rental search engine that helps you find and book anything to rent - from kayaks to bounce castles - in just a few clicks.
The team has also been working on a full software package for rental stores which allows any store take rental reservations in real-time and has processed over $500k during its beta with two clients in the Boston area.
This post has been re-posted with the author's permission. To check out the Rentabilities blog, click here.
10480
8/9/2010
Slated for October 13-21, 2010 Boston Regional Entrepreneurship Week (BREW) is a little over two months away, but you can start participating now! BREW promises to be an energizing week of events and celebration for entrepreneurial activities in Greater Boston. Our ecosystem deserves this recognition because it offers robust resources for conceiving, launching and building great companies.
Joe Caruso, Angel-At-Large and organizer of BREW, plans to involve top thought leaders in entrepreneurship in the festivities, along with key organizations, including MassChallenge. Caruso, in collaboration with partners, aims to offer a diverse range of activities and events during BREW that will encourage players in the ecosystem to engage and “brew” new ideas for promoting entrepreneurship.
To become involved, join the linkedin group, and register on the website at www.brewboston.org. Additionally, follow Caruso in planning for BREW at @brewboston and #brewbos.
10469
8/5/2010
MassChallenge finalist TDC LLC has announced that it will provide all 111 finalist teams in the MassChallenge Global Startup Competition with 6 months of free access to its leading online project management and collaboration software TaskPoint. Launched in October 2009 under the name of PMP HQ, TaskPoint was named one of the best online project management and collaboration tools by ComputerWoche.de magazine.
"MassChallenge finalists will definitely benefit from this offering", - says Marina Brounova, CMO of TDC LLC. "One of the main challenges early stage startups are facing is bringing the team from the idea stage to the successful company, and that's where TaskPoint can provide tremendous help in getting things done on time and on budget. As innovators and entrepreneurs we are very proud to provide our contribution to Massachusetts innovative ecosystem by facilitating success of all MassChallenge finalists."
"MassChallenge is very grateful to TDC LLC for their generosity and is excited about the benefits this software can provide to our finalist teams.", said John Harthorne Founder and CEO of MassChallenge, Inc. "Our core mission is to help entrepreneurs win, and this is a wonderful example of collaboration increasing opportunities for everyone."
TaskPoint is SaaS offering providing integrated project management features, issue tracking, and support for multiple version control options. Currently TaskPoint provides user interface in more then 30 languages including English, German, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and many others. With simple pricing model without "per user" or "per project" charges, TaskPoint is an affordable and attractive alternative to costly in-house deployments.
About TaskPoint and TDC LLC
TDC LLC, the creator of TaskPoint, The Project Cloud. TaskPoint Online Project Management Software provides small and medium size businesses with an innovative new way for online project management and collaboration by combining a comprehensive project management suite with an arsenal of collaboration tools including wiki, file sharing, version control integration and much more. A privately held company, TDC LLC is headquartered in Brookline, MA.
For more information about TaskPoint please visit http://www.taskpoint.com
For online demo please visit: http://www.taskpoint.com/demo/
10378
8/4/2010
Greetings from the East Coast! For (at least) the next three months, Rentcycle will be a bicoastal startup. We're still based in San Francisco, but now we have a physical presence in both The Bay Area and the city of Boston -- the best of both worlds! Who do we have to thank for this good fortune? Along with the state of Massachusetts, the city of Boston and several key sponsors, a budding organization called MassChallenge is shaking things up in Bean Town.
The easiest way to describe MassChallenge is a startup that helps other startups. In fact, the mission is to "help early-stage entrepreneurs win." Founded by John Harthorne, David Constantine and Akhil Nigam, the goal of MassChallenge is to connect entrepreneurs with the resources they need to launch and succeed immediately. In doing so, they've launched the world's largest global startup competition. Part competition, part accelerator, MassChallenge pools positive elements from the best startup programs into a whole new model. 440 teams from 26 countries competed to make the final round in Boston. Along with 110 other teams, Rentcycle was named a finalist (score!) so we quickly booked a flight from SFO to Logan International. For the next three months, we'll enjoy access to a slew of phenomenal FREE (yes, free) resources. From world class office space overlooking the Boston Harbor and skyline (see below photo for the view from my desk), to professional legal advice and access to the Northeast's brightest entrepreneurs, MassChallenge is a bootstrapped startup's dream! After three months of seminars and workshops preparing teams to pitch and grow their businesses, finalists will compete for $1M, distributed as grants to top performing companies. If this isn't enough, do you want to hear the best part of all? There are absolutely no strings attached! As an independent not-for-profit, MassChallenge is solely motivated to support and strengthen entrepreneurs. By investing in innovation and entrepreneurship, MassChallenge is defining the next generation of economic growth engines, which is one of the reasons the program has been backed by both Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. The hope is that this program will attract new, innovative companies to the Boston area. Well, I've gotta say it's working!
Yesterday's orientation kicked off the program with a bang. After enthusiastic presentations by the program's founders, finalist teams got a chance to meet each other and get acquainted with our new home. Set on the 14th floor of the beautiful Fan Pier building, the space is a massive 22,000 sqft layout of cubicles, conference rooms and the world's longest continuous whiteboard painted on the perimeter of all interior walls (joking aside, MassChallenge is actually applying to The Guiness Book to take this prize). There's even a gameroom, complete with pool, pingpong and foosball and a full kitchen stocked with free beer (courtesy of The Boston Beer Company) -- what more could a startup ask for?? The night capped off with the first of many networking events to take place in the Fan Pier building over the next few months. In attendence were some of Boston's premier entrepreneurs, investors, executives, media, lawyers -- a great chance to make new connections and learn from the best. A perfect way to kick things off!
I've been beyond impressed by what Boston has to offer startups -- a powerful ecosystem of universities, a network of strong companies, a pool of young/educated talent and a vibrant city backdrop. An ideal hub for innovation, MassChallenge is catalyzing positive change and putting Boston on the entrepreneurial map. As one of only a few teams from California, many people asked me how Boston compares to Silicon Valley as a hub for innovation. For me, innovation is more about the people than the place. Although I will have a better sense for this three months from now, of the people I met, Boston is right up there in terms of hungry, innovative, intellectually curious minds. I'm looking forward to immersing myself further in both communities and will try to have a clearer answer in 3 months.
Until then, it's time to build 111 successful businesses. Look out for big things to come from MassChallenge!
This post was reposted with permission from the author. For the original post check out Tim's blog.
About Tim Hyer: Tim Hyer is the founder of Rentcycle, a startup based in San Francisco. Rentcycle helps local rental businesses get discovered and lets consumers compare options and book reservations online. The mission is to waste less, share more.
10377
8/3/2010
At MassChallenge we are taking a huge collective breath between second round judging and launching our Accelerator Program for Finalists. It’s a great time to look back at what we have accomplished so far.
The MassChallenge Competition launched successfully, attracting 440 Entries, from 21 different U.S. States and 21 different countries. Further breaking down the entries by region, 79% of entries originated from our own MA ecosystem, 13% came from other states, and 8% revealed international origins. Team entries spanned across a variety of industries, with teams self-identifying as 41% high tech, 11% social impact, 16% general, 18% healthcare, and 14% clean tech. We found that the overwhelming majority (82%) of entrants were men, so it has become a goal to encourage more women to submit their ideas next year.
After over 150 judges evaluated the entrant teams’ pitches, 310 Semifinalist Teams competed in the second round of judging. The Semifinalist Teams continued to hail from a range of states and countries, with 76% from MA, 14% from other U.S. states, and 10% from other countries. The SemiFinalists also worked in different areas of industry, including 12% from Energy and Clean Tech, 56% in High Tech, 21% in Life Sciences/Healthcare, 17% in Social Impact, and 10% in General.
Over 150 expert judges divided into panels of approximately 3-5 judges evaluated the SemiFinalists in a Pitch and Q&A session in the second round of judging. From the 310 SemiFinalist Teams, 110 emerged to develop their businesses in the Accelerator Phase. U.S. teams prevailed in the second round, as all teams but one from Israel and one from Russia come from the U.S. It will be another goal next year to recruit even more international teams that will be able to continue into the Accelerator Phase. 78% teams hail from MA, and other teams will travel from CA, AZ, WI, PA, NC, LA, NJ, NY, VT, MD, and AR to participate in the accelerator. Industry representation played out as follows: Energy & Clean Tech: 14%; High Tech: 46%; Life Sciences/Healthcare: 19%; Social Impact: 8%; General: 12%.
As we look back at these months of MassChallenge accomplishments, what stands out the most is the number of great ideas and capable entrants. All Entrants and SemiFinalists should know that the judge’s acknowledged how tough the competition and that there were too many quality teams. Thus, the judges’ decisions should not stand as any indictment against your idea or your business. If your idea is your passion and your goal, you should continue to pursue your startup! Hopefully you will be able to use the feedback you received to develop your idea and to execute, and MassChallenge remains interested in supporting you to the best of our capacity.
Waxing a bit philosophically, we, as entrepreneurs, are all faced with challenging circumstances. Indeed, we are defined by challenges. It is our responsibility to rise above those circumstances to shape our own destiny. Successful entrepreneurs remain consistently "at cause", refusing to be defined by any circumstance. Instead, they insist on defining their own circumstance despite obstacles in their path.
Thus, adversity is a given. "Failure" happens only when you quit before you declare success. We have not and will not declare any of our entrants to be out for the count, and we fully expect many of our teams to continue with their endeavors and to create hugely successful businesses. If you persist and follow your passion, we expect you to succeed!
Looking forward, chin up, we are all excited at what the next months hold. The Finalists move into our space at ONE Marina Park Drive, and we at MassChallenge continue to develop a curriculum that will move the businesses forward. We can’t wait to watch these young businesses succeed, and to see the impact they will have. With passion, persistence and access to valuable resources, we can achieve significant impact. By way of example, we are hoping to promote intercultural understanding and global citizenship, make greener energy cost-competitive with fossil fuels, improve drug discovery for cancer, provide low-cost diagnosis for all, motivate teachers by tracking student academic growth, revolutionize the food value chain, purify water at lower cost, make access to music easier, fit women with better bras, help people achieve life goals, promote healthy living and healthy eating, improve consumers’ experience in renting anything, make nurses (and thus hospitals and patients) happier, provide the developing world with lab equipment, redefine the fashion industry, and create jobs in high growth areas.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s get to work!
10353
7/28/2010
Resources for Women Entrepreneurs
There are a slew of resources out there to help women entrepreneurs. By no means do I suggest that women entrepreneurs restrict themselves to ONLY looking to women friendly resources, but they are certainly worth a look. Here are a few.
Women Friendly Investors
• Golden Seeds an angel investor group based in Connecticut, and locations in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco that invests exclusively in women-led firms.
• Illuminate Ventures VC firm founded by Cynthia Padnos focused on early-stage, high-tech investing, with a special interest in supporting women in business.
• Sophia Angel Fund Women-led angel investment group based in MN that is focused on companies that are owned, led, or operated by women and businesses with products or services benefiting women.
• Women’s Angels LLC Based in Miami, Florida (with sister chapters around the United States). Comprised of a group of qualified women investors who invest only in majority women-owned companies.
• Fund Isabella VC firm that focuses on early stage, women-led companies or those operating in the women's market.
Boston Networking Groups
• SheEOs Boston networking group for women founders and CEOs of growth oriented companies of any stage. Organized by Bettina Hein of Pixability, the SheEOs meet the last Wednesday of every month. As a regular at these meetings, I can personally attest to how incredibly valuable and supportive this amazing group of women are. Great mix of repeat entrepreneurs and newbies including Jules Pieri of DailyGrommet and Robin Chase of ZipCar. Women interested in joining the group can email here: info@SheEOs.org
• Ladies Who Launch Online and offline social network that provides opportunities for women to move their businesses and personal goals forward and whose mission is to make entrepreneurship accessible to every woman. I’ve heard they are a great resource.
• Boston WomenPreneur Recently launched blog that spotlights women in Boston and Cambridge who are making things happen. I just came across this blog the other day and am already a fan.
• Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE) Non-profit organization dedicated to helping women start and grow their own businesses. Provides training and resources for new and established entrepreneurs. I’ve only been to one event of theirs (Coffee and Capital event with Golden Seeds sometime back), but I found it very helpful.
• Downtown Women’s Club Online social network and in-person community designed for smart and sophisticated businesswomen on the go. Their mission is to empower women through access to information and opportunities for collaboration. I’ve heard great things about this group of women.
• The Commonwealth Institute Non-profit organizion developed to help women entrepreneurs, CEOs and senior corporate executives build successful businesses. I’m not a member but my mentor has invited me to a few of their events and they were quite interesting.
• Center for Women's Leadership at Babson (CWL) Dedicated to the advancement of women in business. Through education, outreach activities, and research CWL enables the professional accomplishment of women and the success of organizations seeking to leverage their talent and market. Hosts an annual Women's Leadership Conference. Lots of interesting research on how women bring value on their site.
What do you think? What can we do to attract more women entrepreneurs to MassChallenge next year? What other resources are out there that support women leaders in Massachusetts? Add your ideas and links to the comments below.
About Monika Desai
Monika the co-founder and CEO of Open Runway, a social commerce platform that empowers shoppers and emerging designers to create and shop for women’s fashion (starting with shoes) through customization and community-voted design contests. Monika is a MassChallenge finalist in the 2010 competition. Monika is always looking to meet like-minded entrepreneurs. You can tweet her @monikaadesai or email her at monika@openrunway.com.
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