Are the Roads in Silicon Valley Paved with Gold?

Another week. Another story about a group of Boston-educated, young entrepreneurs finding success in Silicon Valley. It makes you think.  We all hear it: Silicon Valley is bigger. Silicon Valley is friendlier to young entrepreneurs. Silicon Valley investors take chances on greenhorns. Regardless of how greener the grass really is, these stories plant seeds of temptation for the youth in this city.

As a young entrepreneur in Boston, I’m trying to help make it better here. At the core, that’s what Greenhorn Connect is about.  It’s also why I think Cort and Jake started DartBoston. Somewhere, sometime in the past decade or so, Boston lost its way, but it’s starting to awaken now with all of the different efforts, which I’ve already written about.  But the question is: is it enough? Which efforts really help young entrepreneurs?

There are a number of new resources out there to help students: StayInMA and Innovation Open Houses are definitely the first to come to mind, but I also know that many local schools are developing new programs to help.  These are great, and certainly help, but what happens when you graduate?

I’ve been networking like crazy the past few and I’m concerned by how few young entrepreneurs seem to be out there either working for startups or on their own. Where are they?

The fact is, when you graduate in Boston, you’re on your own. Other than DartBoston and BYE, there aren’t any organizations that don’t discriminate based on your enrollment status.  Dart and BYE are great, and give hope, but they’re not a solution alone. There needs to be more changes.  I’d like to propose a few here:

1. Extend discounts to all Young Entrepreneurs:

Many organizations offer students a discount to attend their events.  When you graduate school, you’re still broke and now you have student loans to pay off too.  If you’re thinking at all about starting a company, you’re really watching every dollar you spend. I’ve specifically avoided a number of events because I can’t justify the expenditure. I’m not alone.  The UnConference had a great offer for their event, discounting the event from $300 to $90 for “sponsored entrepreneurs.” We need more of that.

2.  Lower the Barriers to Entry

Getting plugged into this community is not easy. Until Greenhorn Connect, there wasn’t even a way to tell what was out there.  It’s intimidating, expensive, and daunting. There are many subsets of the community to try to navigate and sometimes people aren’t particularly welcoming of newcomers.  There’s also the (false) assumption that everyone already in the community is all that’s out there.

Networking serves an important purpose and that time can often be precious in getting the connections you want, but a 5 minute diversion from your goals to talk to a young person who was willing to come out will make a big difference for them. Pay it forward with a connection, if appropriate.  Sometimes, you don’t even need to take time out to talk to them…just welcome them into your group’s conversation. Cort Johnson wrote a great piece for Mass High Tech related to this.

3. Increase Awareness of Opportunities:

There are many different ways you can get involved in entrepreneurship.  Some will want to be founders right away. Others are looking for early stage companies to work for.  Some look for later stage companies to join.  BC apparently has “Tech Treks” across Silicon Valley. How can we not have that here? Our best and brightest in Boston’s institutions should have the opportunity to join our startups doing cool things in their area of study.  This should be institution agnostic; there are smart, hard working, eager to learn students at all of the 30+ schools in the area.  Break down the institutional walls and open Boston to city-wide collaboration on this and other problems. Tap into the talent. We can do better than a 26% startup rate for Boston area graduates who start companies.

4.  Take chances on Greenhorns.

No, we don’t have 15 years of experience in your preferred industry. Nor do we all have impeccable credentials and come from your alma mater.  However, we are passionate, hard working, knowledgeable and dying for an opportunity to work and learn more.

Not everyone is looking for entry level positions at large firms to “pay their dues” and then end up pigeon-holed in the industry they entered only because that company was hiring at graduation. We’re cheaper than that perfect resume anyways, and we have a lot less responsibilities pulling us away from the job than that guy with a wife, kids and a mortgage. We can bring fresh ideas and plenty of hard work. Break from the norms and give a young person a chance.

5. Mentor

Everyone is busy. We understand there’s stresses and other commitments, but the thing we often need most is some of your time. I wrote a piece for Mass High Tech detailing this issue, but the simple fact is, a major key to our success is learning from those that came before us.  This is why incubator programs like TechStars exist and the office hours movement is so important to everyone.  We need to continue the office hours movement and build upon it.

I’d prefer not to leave Boston for Silicon Valley, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit the thought has crossed my mind many times over the past few months.  I’m one of the biggest fans of this city and this community and even I’m tempted. That 26% retention rate for entrepreneurs is not going to get better without continued change and improvement.

 What are your ideas for change? How can Boston stop the exodus?

Photo Credit: smolderlikefire on Flickr