When people hear “tech,” they often think of AI, software, or robotics. Food rarely makes the list. But at Startup Boston Week, a panel of founders, scientists, and sustainability experts made it clear: the future of food may be one of the most important technological frontiers of our time. From cultivated meat and regenerative agriculture to pest monitoring and sustainable supply chains, the conversation with Oliver Sanchez  (Extrasense), Nicky Roberts  (Sustainability Consu

Performance management rarely makes the “top reasons I started a company” list. Yet at Startup Boston Week, a packed room of founders, operators, and people leaders stayed late for a candid conversation about one of the most overlooked levers of startup success: how teams give feedback, set expectations, and help people grow. Moderated by former Chief People Officer Christina Luconi  (People Innovations), the panel featured talent and HR leaders Tania Philipp  (Vor Bio), Laur

Last week, Startup Boston teamed up with the City of Boston to host Meet Boston’s Startup Networking Groups , bringing together founders, operators, students and ecosystem builders for one simple purpose: helping people find their place in the startup community. The room filled quickly with over 200 attendees connecting directly with communities that make Boston’s startup ecosystem feel accessible, welcoming and collaborative. Because here’s the truth: Boston’s startup scene

Midway through Startup Boston Week, a room full of founders, operators, and go-to-market leaders gathered at Suffolk University for a timely reality check: AI may be changing how startups sell, but it isn’t changing why  sales works. The session “AI in Sales: The New Playbook for Startups” was moderated by Vanessa Ferranto , CEO and co-founder of Dalbero. She was joined by Jason Ingargiola , Partner at And1 Advisors, and Joss Poulton , CEO and co-founder of ClearSync. Rather

In a packed room at Startup Boston Week, founders, students, operators, and ecosystem leaders gathered for a conversation that went far beyond loyalty points and receipts. Moderated by Suffolk’s Center for Entrepreneurship Director Chaim Letwin , the fireside chat featured Wes Schroll , the founder and CEO of Fetch Rewards. What unfolded was a candid, tactical look at what it actually takes to identify a durable pain point, survive years without product-market fit, scale a co

Every few months, the same take pops up: “The Boston tech scene is slipping.” Respectfully…we disagree. What is changing is how the ecosystem shows up. Boston and New England aren’t powered by hype cycles alone; they’re powered by people doing the real, often unglamorous work of building companies, investing early, creating platforms, supporting founders and knitting the community together across industries, identities and generations. This Black History Month, we’re excited

February is kicking off strong in Boston’s startup ecosystem, with a packed calendar of events designed to bring founders, operators, investors, students, and ecosystem builders together. From intimate founder dinners and mentorship sessions to high-energy networking mixers, demo showcases, and campus-wide innovation meetups, this month is all about connection, learning, and momentum. Startup Boston is anchoring the month with eight community-powered experiences, here are fou

Product-market fit is one of the most talked-about milestones in startup life and one of the least agreed-upon. Is it a feeling? A metric? A moment when growth suddenly feels easier? At Startup Boston Week, a candid panel of founders, operators, and investors pulled back the curtain on what it actually looks like to move from early traction to first real customers  and why the journey is messier than most pitch decks suggest. Moderated by Shawn Harris , CEO and co-founder of

Churn rarely announces itself. It doesn’t show up with a dramatic exit or a clear warning sign, it creeps in quietly, hidden behind “healthy” dashboards, polite check-in calls, and customers who seem fine right up until they’re gone. At Startup Boston Week, that uncomfortable reality set the tone for The Crystal Ball: Mastering Health Scores to Predict (and Prevent) Churn , a session that challenged founders and operators to rethink how well they actually understand their cus

Equity decisions made in a startup’s earliest days can echo for years, often in ways founders don’t fully see until it’s too late. That reality was front and center at The Founder’s Guide to Equity Clarity: SAFEs, Term Sheets, and the Road to a Clean Cap Table , a packed session at Startup Boston Week presented by the team at Peak Corporate Counsel, including Bob Baker and Matt Shrimpton . The full event video is embedded below if you’d like to watch the conversation start-to

At the 9th Annual Startup Boston Week, a packed room of founders and operators gathered for a candid conversation about one of the most underestimated growth levers in early-stage companies: customer success.  The session, Building Your CS Dream Team: Hiring and Growing for Early-Stage Success , featured a deeply experienced panel moderated by Erica Ayotte Favorito  (Founder, Slice Advisory), alongside Mary Migiano  (Head of CX, Compt), Nehal Patel  (Fractional Chief Customer

For the first time in a long time, the tech industry has no clear path forward. AI is already cooling off as we head into 2026. The low-hanging fruit has been picked, the economic realities are catching up, and the hype cycle is running out of oxygen. But what happens next? Honestly, nobody knows. In the late ’90s and early 2000s, Microsoft dominated the direction of the tech world. By the mid-2000s, they had clearly run out of ideas. As Microsoft entered its full malaise era

Building hardware is hard. Building software is fast. Building both (together) can feel like trying to align two entirely different universes. That challenge took center stage during No Meltdowns Required: Mastering Hardware–Software Integration , a Startup Boston Week session moderated by Luis Alvear Tesouro  (Founder, AINovva), which brought together operators with deep, hands-on experience building complex, integrated products: Monica Gauba , Founder and CEO of SureRev AI,

Scaling is where things get real. The scrappy hacks that got you to product-market fit start to crack, your calendar explodes, and suddenly everything feels important. Growth is exciting, but without the right systems, people, and leadership in place, it can get messy fast. The Road To: Scaling Smarter is your no-fluff guide to growing without breaking what you’ve built. Pulled from Startup Boston Week sessions, this series dives into the real questions founders face at scale

When early-stage founders rush to hire, sign customers, or collaborate with partners, legal paperwork rarely feels urgent. But according to startup attorneys Alicia Dorner  and Beth Lamontagne  of Foley & Lardner , those early decisions can quietly shape (or jeopardize) the long-term survival of a young company. In a conversation with Startup Boston, both attorneys pointed to a recurring pattern: founders don’t intentionally skip legal steps. They just underestimate how much

At the 9th Annual Startup Boston Week, one question quietly threaded its way through a packed room of founders, operators, and customer leaders: If your customers like your product, why do they still churn? Diane Gordon , a longtime SaaS executive and founder of Customer Growth Consulting, came with a direct answer - and a warning. Liking a product isn’t the same as understanding its value. And when renewal time arrives, that gap can cost companies everything. With more than

At Startup Boston Week, one panel challenged a piece of startup folklore that refuses to die: that the best startups are simple ones. Moderated by Suvojit Ghosh , Founder and CEO of FYELABS, Inventing the Future: Building Startups with Technically Complex Products  brought together founders who are building far beyond apps, dashboards, and lightweight software tools. Instead, they’re tackling problems rooted in healthcare, human dignity, animal health, and behavioral science

If you’re building a Seed or Series A SaaS company, your board doesn’t want a wall of numbers. They want five crisp signals that show your growth engine, your path to profitability, and your runway to keep going. The trick is not to collect more data points. It’s to ruthlessly pick the right few, define them once, and manage them every single week (at least every month). And in periods when you fall short of any of your key target thresholds, gather the data to understand why

January in Boston doesn’t ease you into the year - it hits the ground running. From deep tech and AI to founder support, community building, and capital connection, the first month of the year is packed with events worth putting on your radar if you’re building, backing, or supporting startups in Greater Boston. Startup Boston is anchoring the month with four community-powered experiences: Mentor Matching for Early-Stage Founders (Jan 12)  - An intimate, mentor-driven session

When a startup swims into enterprise waters, the rules change - and the current can turn fast.  That’s why at Startup Boston Week, we sat down with four leaders who have lived the highs and lows of working with corporate giants: Justine Jordan , Head of Strategy at Beefree; Evan Grossman , CPO at Affineon; Shankar Krishnan , Product Leader at AWS; and Melissa Appel , fractional head of product who moderated the discussion.  The full event video is embedded below if you’d like

When a startup survives nearly two decades, you pay attention to how.  That was the energy in the room during Startup Boston Week’s session Market-Proof Your Startup: Thriving Through Shifts and Trends .  The conversation paired David Chang , founding member of TBD Angels , with Chris Savage , co-founder and CEO of Wistia , a Boston-born company known for raising venture capital, and then purchasing the startup back from investors to scale independently. Savage and Chang unpa