Championing The Entrepreneurial Economy
The New England Venture Capital Association thrives thanks to our member VC firms and our sponsors who invest time, energy, and money to support the region’s entrepreneurial community. The “collective will” of this extended group to maximize the environment for entrepreneurship embodies what’s great about our community: help-out, give back, celebrate success, and make change happen—all with the goal of maximizing the entrepreneurial economy in the region. Bridging communities is really what makes it work—investors with entrepreneurs, experience with enthusiasm, technology with industry.
Our Philosophy : VC dollars are only as powerful as the people, teams, community, political climate, and infrastructure into which they are invested. We serve our membership by championing the entrepreneurial ecosystem at large.
The NEVCA just published its 2016 Year in Review. Our region is home to some of the world’s most transformative tech and life sciences companies. NEVCA proudly works to strengthen the bonds between entrepreneurs and investors, retain top-tier talent, facilitate diversity initiatives. I love working with the dedicated, awesome team: Jody Rose, Sarah Case and Ari Glantz. 2017 marks my 3rd year working with the organization, my first year in a new role as Vice Chairman, and my 14th year supporting and investing in technology companies in this region.
2016 marked a breakout year for NEVCA with initiatives like TechGen, HackDiversity, and our continued work with the Massachusetts legislature to amend non-compete laws so the State’s employees can work in their fields of expertise and entrepreneurs can build great new companies here in this state.
TechGen, focused on retaining young talent in Boston through internships touched 4,200 Boston students in 2016, processed 11,000 internship applications, and supported 325 companies looking to find talent.
HackDiversity, launched by Jeff Bussgang and Melissa James, made a splash in its launch, and will start a wave in its implementation. The initiative has 20 inaugural interns supported by 5 leading companies—Carbonite, DataXu, Hubspot, Vertex, and The Boston Foundation, and received coverage from Bloomberg, Bostinno, WBUR, The Globe, and The BBJ.
NEVCA is an important force in driving regulatory change. In 2016 we made some noise and made some progress on Massachusetts laws regarding non-competes, pay equity (pay equity bill), immigration, transgender rights, supported Patent Troll legislation (introduced by Board member Eric Paley), and partnered with T4MA on transportation.
It is great to work with a strong cast of peer investors and entrepreneurs on the NEVCA board. Shit gets done because people take the time and make the effort to contribute, even with hectic and overloaded schedules. This is an amazing group of people who care about maximizing our climate for entrepreneurship.
