

Route 128 / Wanted: A new identity - rbc
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2009/02/19/wanted_a_new_identity/

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adammarkey
I live and work in the route 128 tech sector or the "Route 128 Technomafia" as
we like to call it.

The biggest problem is it's image - it's full of large stuffy software / tech
companies that cater to business and not the end consumer. These types of
businesses are not likely to attract young hackers that will truly innovate. I
get the feeling that (for the most part) route 128 is where good hackers go to
settle down and live a "normal" life.

Another reason 128 doesn't attract the hacker crowd is the availability of
public transportation. Its a pain in the ass to get to any of the major office
parks / buildings out there without catching multiple busses or trains. Most
young innovators don't have the desire or the money to pay for a car in Boston
which is necessary to make it to the area.

So - fix public transportation first, and maybe some startups will decide to
make a home out there. Hopefully that can slowly build the hacker brand east
coast style :)

~~~
tlb
The problem isn't image, it's the actual location. Building a technology
center along a ring road leads to a sterile and depressing office park
wasteland. (I lived there for 5 years.) Cambridge or Somerville or even
downtown Boston are good places to have tech companies, because you're part of
an intellectual community. In a Route 128 office park there's nowhere you can
walk to, so you never interact with people except in your building.

@robg: reconsider? Your life and work would be better if you were within
walking distance of a university and other startups. Yes, it's cheaper in
Lincoln, but you would be happier and more connected with half as much space
in Central Square.

~~~
nostrademons
> Building a technology center along a ring road leads to a sterile and
> depressing office park wasteland.

You mean like the Shoreline/Charleston/Rengstorff loop in Mountain View?

Silicon Valley has its share of sterile office parks. Actually, Silicon Valley
seems more like a suburban wasteland than the Route 128 belt - at least the
streets are crooked in Massachusetts, and most of the towns have walkable town
centers, and housing tends to follow old cowpaths instead of tract
subdivisions.

BTW, I think the Sun/MITRE/Middlesex Turnpike/Burlington Mall area has a lot
more going for it than the Google/Mozilla/Microsoft/Charleston area in
Mountain View, except for the companies themselves. You've got like 5
restaurants just across the creek from Sun in Burlington, and the mall is a
half mile away. The Mountain View office park has nothing but offices, movies,
and marsh trails.

~~~
tlb
I like the Shoreline/Charleston/Rengstorff loop. I live and work there so I
often walk in to work. I pass 3 coffee shops on the way all of which are
popular with startuppy people. I frequently bump into people I know. It's not
as good as Cambridge for intellectual stimulation, but I do end having a lot
of spontaneous meetings with relevant people.

Route 128 architecture reflects the Mercantilist view of companies. They all
build big self-contained campuses to try to discourage their employees from
fraternizing with other companies, lest information be exchanged. I think it's
far more productive to have companies interact & share.

I'll take marsh trails over malls any day. A ride on the trail makes a
wonderful mental break in the mid-afternoon. IMHO. YMMV.

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nostrademons
I worked for a couple startups in the Boston area, then moved out to Google in
Silicon Valley.

In my experience, the difference is culture. In Boston startups, the message
is "Pay your dues." In Google, the message - from the start - is "Change the
world." Which one is more appealing to a hacker fresh out of college?

It also doesn't help that Boston startups tend to focus on B2B areas with
predictable revenue streams. There's no brand consciousness about Boston
startups, because they generally don't sell to the public. So when you're out
with friends and they ask what you do, you have to answer "I work at some
startup you've probably never heard of" instead of "I work at Google."

~~~
timcederman
Rarely a month goes by that someone I know moves to a startup I've never
previously heard of.

I'm very surprised to hear that culture difference... are you sure it's not
just a per company thing?

~~~
nostrademons
It's possible, but I've heard it from several other people too. Several YC
founders I knew said that it's much harder to get VCs in Boston to take you
seriously if you don't have 15-20 years experience. And my former boss also
remarked on the cultural difference (his son goes to Stanford), but for him
that was a positive thing about Boston.

I think it's also telling that nearly all the company founders I know in
Boston are _at least_ in their 40s, sometimes up to their 70s, while most of
the company founders I know in the Bay Area are in their 20s. (Actually, most
of the latter group started out as Boston founders in their 20s and then
moved.)

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russell
From the article: "Some doubt the effectiveness of a marketing slogan, as
opposed to a name arising organically, the way Route 128 or Silicon Valley
seemed to do. And they question whether a campaign to come up with a catch
phrase that captures today's amorphous industry will distract from the more
important work of building new technology businesses."

Anyone remember "Silicon Gulch", or "Silicon Forest"?

Anyone really interested in why Silicon Valley triumphed over Route 128 should
read AnnaLee Saxenian's Regional Advantage. Hint: it was in great part due to
the differences in personalities and business philosophies of William Hewlett-
David Packard and Ken Olsen.

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speek
The comments on the article (on boston.com) are absolutely ridiculous.

I think that Massachusetts could rival California as a startup hub; there just
needs to be some better foreign corporation laws and less taxes.

~~~
tlb
Did any startup founders here consider Massachussett's foreign corporation
laws and tax structure when deciding where to start their startup?

Or was it more about the intellectual community, weather, coffee, social
scene, presence of other startups, availability of talent, venture or angel
capital, customers, partners, and potential acquirers?

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bpyne
Tech needs to expand beyond Rte.128. Rte's 95, 90, 495, and 146 make working
in tech more viable for those of us south of the pike. Having more tech
clustered in Boston around Back Bay and South Stations would be a huge boon
given the commuter lines.

128 has been where all the really good work is, relative to RI, but the 3 hour
per day average commute is unbearable.

~~~
robg
Perhaps the problem is that the mass transit and highways spread out in too
many directions? In Silicon Valley, it's not one line, but it is mainly north-
south and a bit east-west.

~~~
bpyne
Spreading further down Rte. 95 is desirable from my perspective as it connects
Providence, RI with Boston and 128.

The mass transit system is setup as a wagon wheel with everything south of
Boston going into Back Bay and South Stations. (I believe every line north
goes into North Station but I've never gone from that direction.) Frankly I
can't see a better approach for mass transit. The problem I think is that the
high tech jobs tend to be up in Cambridge or parts of Boston that require
transfers from the major commuter line stations.

Rte. 128 is an old highway that wasn't intended for the traffic on it and I'm
not sure if property lines and such prevent further expansion of it. From my
perspective, I wouldn't put a company there unless I was prepared to give the
employees 100% telecommuting. Having people lose 3 hours of their lives daily
to breathing in fumes and looking at other cars' bumpers is an almost criminal
waste of their time.

Sorry robg, I didn't mean to evade your question. I tried giving some
background that makes the answer more obvious.

