Startup Boston Week 2023

#SBW2023

For five days in September, Suffolk University and the Sawyer Business School were the center of the entrepreneurial universe during the seventh annual Startup Boston Week (SBW). For the first time, Suffolk hosted the entire event, which is organized by Startup Boston, an energetic nonprofit that connects and empowers entrepreneurs, startup employees, investors, and mentors.

Boasting more than 100 sessions, close to 300 speakers, and a live podcast stage, SBW was a who’s who of innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, and influencers. Panelists explored the ins and outs of funding, the legal challenges of being an entrepreneur, the potential pitfalls of success, and the unexpected dividends of failure. There was also a career fair, multiple networking events, and the first-ever “Startup Crawl,” with scores of attendees streaming out into Boston to visit three “startup-friendly” worksites within walking distance of the Suffolk campus.

One of the first sessions of the week explored the importance of having a company handbook--even in the smallest of startups. Sexy? No. Important? Absolutely. That's because everyone needs to be on the same page whether it's things like PTO and expense reimbursements but also compliance and even company culture.

"The Vendor Dilemma" panel explored the importance of a startup’s relationship with its vendors. Panelists emphasized how the relationship between startup and vendor should be anything but transactional. Indeed, the vendor should really be a vendor-partner, someone who takes the time to understand your business and wants to help you move it forward as much as you do.

Then after lunch Monday, one of the panels explored the importance of a startup’s relationship with its vendors and how the relationship should be anything but transactional. Indeed, your vendor should really be a vendor-partner, someone who takes the time to understand your business and wants to help you move it forward as much as you do.

In another session, Ben Hron from Brown Rudnick talked about how having a good lawyer is one of the most important relationships for an entrepreneur. He outlined how to pick a lawyer, how billing works, and gave this sage advice: "Lawyers advise on risk, they don't make business decisions."

Monday ended with an incredible welcome party sponsored by Netcapital and Fidelity. Food, music, drinks, and more chances for networking! 

Advice, Anecdotes, and More

One maxim for a startup when it comes to customers? If you build it they will come...if you listen to them, they will stay. But where to start? One of the first panels this morning took a deep dive into the importance of metrics and measuring customer satisfaction. Panelists drew on their own experience in startups as small as two people as well as enterprise companies with millions of customers. While what you look at might be different, the goal of comprehensive metrics is the same: to ensure that the customer journey is a positive one and that you're able to grow your loyal users/buyers/subscribers. Manali Shinde, CEO at Gratinsta said the key is to "be customer obsessive" and not just "get the sale" but to entrench that customer community.

Another panel got to the heart of what everyone at Startup Boston Week 2023 is worrying about: How to acquire customers/users and how to keep them. The panel of experts talked about how retention of customers really begins at onboarding. They also outlined how the moment of retaining a customer is more than just signing 'em up for another cycle--it's a chance to learn (again) why they like what you're selling.

Yet another great session explored how customer feedback can catalyze business growth. Moderated by Amory Wakefield from Aquabyte along with panelists Priyanka Pande of Hosta AI and Neil B.hammar at BusRight, the panel gave attendees essential knowledge on utilizing customer feedback for product development, performance enhancement, and client relations. Pande emphasized the importance of gathering feedback on your product or service. "You will understand what to prioritize and what really matters to your customer,” she said. Pande encouraged use of both qualitative and quantitive methods to develop an “understanding of who is the feedback coming from… and what their real paint points are” as key elements of success.

Wednesday night was the well-attended Career Fair, a chance for attendees to connect directly with companies eager for talent.

How do you build a brand identity that people will remember? A panel of experts explored that conundrum during a Thursday session. They all agreed that being consistent in delivering your message through genuine storytelling is one key component that will resonate with your customers and keep your brand fresh in their minds.

Special Wednesday Session: Exploring Femtech

What do heart disease, cancer and most other medical conditions have in common? The way they’re treated was most likely developed primarily in male patients.

That’s because “researchers historically favored male interests and this led to consistent gender disparities in diagnostics, treatment and care,” says Brown Rudnick LLP's Sage Revell, in conversation with Alice Zheng from RH Capital at #swb2023. Both are focused on the future of #FemTech, a “blossoming” sector that’s emerged in the last decade to address those inequities and historic underinvestment in conditions that only (or disproportionately, or differently) impact women.

One barrier to funding? Revell says many women still find topics like menopause or endometriosis difficult to talk about, but that “being able to explain [those conditions] just in the same way they would explain any other investment…normalizing it is really the best way forward.”

Noting the high number of FemTech founders with a personal or family connection to their companies, Zheng stressed the importance of storytelling to bring everyone to the table: “You don’t have to have diabetes to invest in a diabetes company…You shouldn’t have to be a woman to empathize and see the value.”

Calling All Entrepreneurs

Eye-opener sessions on Tuesday included a really insightful peek behind the curtain of talent acquisition. The panelists agreed that, for companies of any size, a good talent partner doesn't just find you a great candidate--they also help educate you and understand what you and your business really needs from the role you're trying to fill. Another session talked about the importance of professional development--especially in tech companies of all sizes--to ensure long-term business productivity and profitability...and how there's no "one size fits all" solution when it comes to augmenting your employees' success.

Heading through Tuesday morning we shifted gears a bit and learned about the intricacies of product management and how writing the specs is just one small part of the process: you need to be able to tell the story about your company/goals/objectives and make sure it's clear what the product/device/widget needs to accomplish. The key? Communication across all the stakeholders. 

After that was a session that everyone dreams about: being acquired. The panelists shared some really great insights on that whole process: Structures. Timelines. How to communicate with employees. Best practices. How people leaders can support the process. It was really fascinating. (And makes us want to found a company and be acquired!)

And how about that "F" word: Failure. Wayne Miller, SVP Innovation Programs at ICBA says, "I got hired for a job once because I failed." The person who hired Miller told him he was hired because "You know what not to do" as a result of a previous failure. "The growth of learning that comes from failure is extraordinary," Miller told attendees of his panel. "You also have a set of data that says, 'This is what we did. It didn't work. Now we know what to do.' If you look at highly successful founders, serial entrepreneurs, most of them have significant failures that taught them what to do and not do...Think of failure as an asset. You can put it to work and go build a better business."

An overflow session explored Artificial Intelligence for startups. The panel explored best practices to utilize and pitfalls to avoid in developing AI products and solutions. Start ups should leverage their “huge advantage” in experimentation with AI, “they can do more experiments in a week than a big company can do in a year” said Greg Raiz from Raiz Capital. “Broad solutions are more difficult to defend…deep vertical expertise solutions in an industry are more defensible."

There was also a panel that featured insights from student founders and addressed various aspects of entrepreneurship:

• Mental Health and Support: Hannah U. (Founder at Boxy) stressed the importance of taking care of one's mental health, especially when facing failure in entrepreneurship. She also highlighted the value of surrounding oneself with like-minded individuals who can provide support and encouragement.
• Problem-Centric Approach: Thara Pillai (Director of Alumni Programs and Engagement at Harvard Innovation Labs) advised aspiring founders to "fall in love with the problem, but not the solution." She emphasized the availability of resources such as accelerators, meetups, and events for networking and learning.
• Embrace Failure as a Learning Opportunity: Isabella Mandis (Founder of Girls Who VC) encouraged students to see failure as an opportunity to learn and grow. She also noted that while being a student founder allows more freedom to fail and experiment, finding this balance can be tough.
• Continuous Customer Discovery: Rishab Nayak (Founder and CTO Joyn Chat) highlighted that customer discovery is an ongoing journey. He mentioned the advantages of being a student founder, including access to a supportive peer group. However, transitioning to full-time entrepreneurship can be challenging as a student.

Overall, the panel offered valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by student entrepreneurs. It highlighted the importance of resilience, a problem-centric mindset, and effective networking in the startup journey.

The week ended with the Send-Off Party on Friday.