Most people I know under 30 aren’t avoiding homeownership because they don’t want it. They’re blocked by it. Down payments. Credit. Student debt. Interest rates that make a 30-year mortgage feel like a trap instead of a ladder. For a generation, “rent forever” stopped being a punchline and became the default. I’m 23, from Vergennes, Vermont, and I co-founded Fluid Equity Holdings with Peter Stevens because we got tired of watching that default harden. Our bet is simple: if so

What if you could bring one of the problems keeping you up at night to someone who has already helped solve it? That's the idea behind Founder Office Hours at Startup Boston Week 2026. On Wednesday, September 16 from 11:30am–1:30pm, we're bringing experienced founders, operators, executives, investors, advisors, and subject-matter experts together at Boston University to help startup founders work through real challenges. Maybe you're struggling to turn founder-led sales into

September is officially conference season in Boston—and this year, the startup calendar is especially packed. Across Greater Boston and New England, founders, investors, operators, students, researchers, and ecosystem builders have nearly nonstop opportunities to learn, meet new people, and plug into the innovation community. From Startup Boston Week and Boston Fintech Week to Boston AI Week, Rhode Island Startup Week, investor summits, demo days, and industry-specific gather

Living a life in service has always been a goal for Matthew McCurdy. His career has taken him to various roles in public health, both in the private and public sectors. It led him to co-found BLKHLTH, whose mission is to advance health equity through education, advocacy, research, and programs for Black community members. Along with his work in BLKHLTH, Matthew is also pursuing a Doctorate in Public Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Matthew will be spea

Sometimes your startup needs senior-level expertise. It just doesn’t need (or isn’t ready for) that person to be a full-time employee. That’s exactly why we created the Fractional Fair for this year’s Startup Boston Week on Tuesday, September 15 at Boston University. The Fractional Fair is your chance to meet experienced fractional leaders and consultants across HR, finance, marketing, sales, operations, technology, product development, data, and more….all in one place. Wheth

What’s the one thing keeping you up at night as a founder? Maybe you’re struggling to find product-market fit. Maybe fundraising has stalled. Maybe you know you need a better sales process, but you’re not sure where to start. Or maybe the biggest challenge is simply figuring out what deserves your attention next. On Friday, September 18, during Startup Boston Week, we’re bringing founders together for Mentor Groups: small-group conversations designed to help you dig into the

“My long-term goal was always to build a mission-driven brand of my own. I trusted that when the right idea came along, I'd know it.” For Deanna DeFelice, that goal became Ovease, a company that provides wearable, discreet products for chronic period pain and menstrual relief. Discouraged by the lack of pain management solutions available, Deanna decided to turn her pain into purpose and build what she couldn’t find on the market. Deanna will be part of the panel, “Preserve,

The Podcast Stage is back at Startup Boston Week 2026 this September 14 - 18! From conversations about marketing, hiring, and founder reputation to the psychology of work and what it really takes to scale a company, eight podcasts will be recording episodes live from SBW2026. The Podcast Stage will be located inside the Expo Hall at Boston University and will only be running Monday, September 14 through Wednesday, September 16. That means you can explore the Expo Hall, meet

Strong beliefs and growing awareness can be the cornerstone and vision of a new company. Jose LaSalle, Alex Nichols, and Joe Hastry (all UMass Amherst alums) brought that passion and experience together to found florrent. The clean energy company is working on ways to improve electrical grid resilience through the next generation of high-energy density supercapacitors. Startup Boston caught up with Jose to discuss florrent’s beginnings, the value of being a founder, lesson

Yes, Startup Boston Week has 100+ sessions. Yes, there are 250+ speakers. And yes, you could absolutely spend September 14 - 18 bouncing from panel to workshop to fireside chat and leave with several pages of notes, a very full brain, and approximately 137 new LinkedIn connections. But Startup Boston Week is about a whole lot more than sitting in sessions. Some of the best parts of the week happen when you get out of your seat: testing a startup, asking a mentor for advice, d

What does an “unbiased interview” mean? What does it take to put one together? Jason Wu plans on tackling this topic during his panel, "Your Interviews Are Running on Vibes: Designing Unbiased Interviews," at the 10th Annual Startup Boston Week. Jason, who’s a people and operations leader, has hired across both startups and global organizations. Before making his third appearance at Startup Boston Week, Jason sat down with us to chat about his career path, advice for employ

Last year, we declared Startup Boston Week a Femininomenon. And, well, we have some news: it’s happening again. This September, hundreds of founders, investors, operators, technologists, startup leaders, and ecosystem builders will take the stage at Startup Boston Week. Among them is a pretty incredible lineup of women building companies, writing checks, developing new technology, scaling teams, challenging industries, and generally getting things done. There are also far too

There are plenty of reasons to come to Startup Boston Week for the content. There are 120+ sessions to choose from, 250+ speakers taking the stage, and five days of conversations covering just about every corner of building, growing, funding, and working at a startup. But if we’re being honest, some of the most valuable parts of Startup Boston Week happen when nobody is on a stage. They happen when you meet a founder working through the exact same problem you are. When someon

It’s no secret that the FDA regulatory process can slow down innovation in the medical device industry. New technology can be held up for years before reaching approval and the patients it was built to serve. Rose Huang spent her career helping medical device companies navigate the regulatory process and witnessed firsthand how slow, complex, and fragmented the development process could be. She also saw how much opportunity there was to streamline the process– an insight that

Let’s acknowledge the obvious: traveling to a conference is a commitment. There’s the train or flight. The hotel. The strategically packed carry-on. The realization that Boston hotel prices apparently have their own fundraising round. So if you don’t live in Boston, it’s perfectly reasonable to ask whether Startup Boston Week is worth making the trip for. Our answer? Yes. And not simply because we’d really like to see you there. Every September, Startup Boston Week brings tho

For years, burnout was treated as an inevitable part of building a startup. Long hours, endless Slack messages, back-to-back meetings, and the expectation that everyone should "wear multiple hats" became badges of honor rather than warning signs. But as startup leaders face increasing pressure to grow efficiently while navigating tighter capital markets, one question has become impossible to ignore: can startups continue to perform at a high level if the people building them

Cara Hogan has always been passionate about science, the outdoors, and storytelling - a combination that’s shaped her career. The avid rock climber and surfer found her calling in climate tech. Cara started out as a journalist for The Boston Globe, eventually transitioning into marketing roles for various tech companies. After a career inflection point, Cara moved into the role of fractional CMO in the climate tech space. Cara is speaking on a panel titled “Positioning, Mes

August marks the unofficial kickoff to Boston's fall startup season, and the calendar is filling up fast. Before conference season officially begins, founders, investors, operators, engineers, and ecosystem builders have plenty of opportunities to meet new people, sharpen their skills, and strengthen connections across Greater Boston's innovation community. This month's lineup features everything from AI workshops and product leadership summits to founder networking events, r

Every company says culture matters, but the real test happens during the hiring process. Over the past two years, I’ve been building this leadership team, and hiring into it, first as COO, then as President, and now as CEO. In that time we’ve more than doubled our revenue and our customer base, moved into a new office in Boston, and gone from a small team to something that actually looks like a company. If there’s one thing I’d tell any founder or operator who’s about to sc

One of the biggest mistakes early-stage founders make isn't hiring marketing too late - it's hiring without knowing what they're actually hiring for. During last year’s Startup Boston Week Gabrielle Dalvet, MK Getler-Porizkova, Rachel Decker and Alon Rivel explored one of the most common questions founders face: When is the right time to hire marketing, and what should that first hire actually look like? While there wasn't unanimous agreement on every answer, there was overwh

After coaching 500 founders, one question tells me who's going to make it, I can usually spot it within about ten minutes of meeting a founder now. They're a couple years in. Growth has stalled. When I ask what's going on, the reasons come fast, and every one of them points outward: the market moved, the last two hires didn't pan out, sales can't close, the investors don't get it. Some of that might even be true. But watch where none of it lands. On the person doing the talki