A Dorm Room Entrepreneur's Guide to the Boston Startup Scene

This is the year. You're going to get your Zuckerberg on and start your own company in between classes. Boston, where the lines dividing city and school are blurred, is an ideal place to do it. And to help you, we've put together a guide with which you can navigate the local startup ecosystem like a champ.

While there's no shortage of startup resources within the confines of colleges, Boston has a ton to offer outside the campus bubble. Take it from some of the local entrepreneurs who have been there, innovated that in a dorm room.

"Boston's special sauce is being the birthplace of big, world-changing ideas," Neil Chheda, co-founder and general partner of Romulus Capital, told us. "We're lucky - our universities lead science and technology innovation across many areas. If you want to solve a problem, engage with our academic institutions - labs, people, ideas - and immerse yourself on what's the cutting edge in the field. A disproportionately high number of Boston's big wins come from our academic roots, which we do best."

Krishna Gupta, who co-founded Romulus with Chheda while he was an undergrad at MIT, said:

Boston sets itself apart because it has a long history of student entrepreneurs who have been successful. When starting a business, it's key for them to align with advisors and investors who are keen to help them build their ideas and companies (and give tough advice), rather than those who treat them as another bet. I've seen too many student entrepreneurs who end up wasting 5 years because they focused on taking the "cool" route rather than on aligning themselves with business-building partners who will give them unpopular advice. The universities have increased the resources available for student entrepreneurs as well.

As you peruse the resources and programs below, read these last words of wisdom: Make time. Tom Coburn, co-founder and CEO of Jebbit, explained, "My biggest piece of advice would be to focus on doing something every single day to move the business forward (whether you already have an idea you are working on or not). Too many students want to start a company but then get distracted my midterms and finals and other activities that they never get the company up and running."

Coburn said he and his co-founders would set four hours aside from their busy Boston College schedules every week to meet and discuss what they were doing to drive the business forward. "If you aren't willing to put the work in every day, those programs are useless," he added.

News Sites

Events

Companies to Watch

Investors Who Back College and Early-Stage Startups

Coworking Spaces

Accelerators & Incubators

Local Business Plan Competitions & Pitch-Offs

University Incubators & Accelerators

Featured image via Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0. 

This story has been updated.