I'm hoping to organize a Boston area meet-up for News.YC'ers and YC founders on May 6th, at 7:00PM. Espresso has some great coffee, a perfect atmosphere and is T-accessible. The idea was originally suggested in this thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=17711
Bring Friends, Co-Founders, whoever! Post with a little bit of information about yourself so we know who's coming!
I'm currently working on http://www.PhotoFlock.com - a fairly standard photo upload site which offers similar functionality to imageshack.us (with a few web 2.0 extras). This summer I will be aggressively expanding the operations of the site to create a UGC destination with some innovative premium services. I didn't apply to YC and will be bootstrapping development for the next few months.
For the last year, I was involved with http://www.SciLink.com where I was a co-founder and the principal designer. SciLink is a social network for life-science professionals which integrates journal article data. I recently left the company to focus on finishing school and also to explore the viability of my current project.
I think it is a good idea ! It would be a great opportunity for those who are looking for great hackers or great ideas. Why don't we form a "Boston/Cambridge Young Entrepreneurs Club"? We could have monthly meetings, reviews of our demo products and sharing knowledge/experiences. We could also discuss different successful start ups, fund raising issues...sort of our own small Start Up school - by Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs ! Those who are successful founders in the area can also tell their stories and share their experiences. We could extend this idea to the next level by having investors to give us talks if possible. Any suggestions/issues?
Yeah I like the idea of having an organized club to put on these events but I feel like every other month this exact idea is being proposed. And not only that but there are quite a few of these groups which exist already (google "site:ycombinator.com meet-up"). No point in creating an undifferentiated alternative. I think I prefer an ad-hoc group where YC'ers can just get together once in a while, drink coffee and hack. Sounds fun, doesn't it?
From this thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=8830 it looks like there are other things like this going on. Anybody go to either of these and can comment on the quality of the people or how things went?
I don't want to duplicate efforts, but I'm still game for some informal chill/hack time on Sunday at ERC.
I saw that thread when researching YC Meet-ups. I signed up for the Yahoo! group, which says it's targeted at "Founders and those interested in becoming founders of software and Internet businesses in and around Boston. No consultants please."
I was hoping to start something which would better cater to our age bracket and, if possible, involve the YC. I love the values and core ideas of PG's essays -- I think at its heart YC is more about hacking and discussing/developing interesting ideas than it is about VC networks and structured business plan presentations.
In essence I want to meet people who operate with a similar philosophy. The existing groups just don't provide that.
ed: you should give the Boston startup meetup a shot. We started it after YC's first Startup School (at Harvard in 2005) so initially it was entirely made up of this kind of crowd. The group has broadened quite a bit since then, and some of the early members have entered new ventures or moved to the SF bay area, but there's still a core of fairly young, hackery folks. You should drop by some time. (So far nobody has brandished a business plan, and AFAIK most of the group members' ventures are bootstrapped or angel-backed.)
On the other hand, there's something undeniably energizing about being able to engage everysingleotherperson at the table with you in a debate about filesystem performance (or whatever). A more focused group would probably do well. I want to be there (but might not be able to attend this one) and we should see if there's some way we can work together, because we both want the same thing: more happy smart people hacking on ambitious, interesting startups in Boston.
I will probably attend and bring a co-founder of mine or two.
Background:
Serial young entrepreneur and blogger based out of Babson College (about to graduate). Also started a venture development firm for young entrepreneurs to launch ventures cheaper and faster (Invenio Group), we are about four years old at this point and continue to grow and thrive.
I'm co-founder of a YCombinator startup that hasn't gone public yet. I'm also an MIT student that's living in Boston until at least the end of the summer.
Anyone who's interested in startups/hacking should come. I suggest bringing something to hack on or get feedback on (I'm probably going to be working in Espresso Royale that day).
Will be there. There is also the weekly OpenCoffee in Cambridge that does have free WiFi and a mix of VCs and entrepreneurs. ( http://boston.going.com/event-122245 )
If I recall correctly, their access rates are very low. Most of us should be able to get through the night spending less than $10 ($4 for a drink, $6 for internet).
FACTS:
What: Boston Meet-up for YC founders and contributors
When: May 6th, 7:00PM
Where: Espresso Royale Cafe on Commonwealth Ave in Boston ( http://espressoroyale.com/location.php?id=9 )
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DETAILS:
I'm hoping to organize a Boston area meet-up for News.YC'ers and YC founders on May 6th, at 7:00PM. Espresso has some great coffee, a perfect atmosphere and is T-accessible. The idea was originally suggested in this thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=17711
Bring Friends, Co-Founders, whoever! Post with a little bit of information about yourself so we know who's coming!
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