by christianvialva | Sep 10, 2015 | Focus On Founders, General, Incubators, Innovation, Views
The Flaw in Silicon Valley’s Diversity Approach With its glass walls and windows overlooking the Boston harbor, the Venture Development Center (VDC), located at UMass Boston, can sometimes feel like a bubble. As you walk through the glass doors at the...
by christianvialva | Jul 16, 2015 | Focus On Founders, General, Innovation, News and Events
Activity trackers and the like have become commonplace in today’s tech news. It seems like every month or so, I read about the release of a new activity tracking device that will help me reach my fitness goals better and faster than without the device. This is all to...
by christianvialva | Jul 16, 2015 | Focus On Founders, Fundraising, General, Startups
by Brian O’Connell I’ve had something of a backwards career trajectory. I started out as an investor at a US venture capital fund before moving to the ‘other side of the table’, founding a company and raising venture financing. Whilst its been...
by christianvialva | Jul 2, 2015 | Focus On Founders, General, Innovation, Startups
by Bryan O’Connell Among non-business people, there is a common (and somewhat baffling) misconception that ideas drive startup success. The reality is that nothing could be further from the truth. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos most definitely did not come up with...
by christianvialva | Jun 25, 2015 | Focus On Founders, Fundraising, General, Innovation, News and Events, Startups
“This initial round of financing represents the first step in a journey that has the potential to provide a therapeutic dimension heretofore unobtainable.” SQZ Biotech (SQZ), the pioneering company whose CellSqueeze platform enables a variety of materials...
by christianvialva | Jun 18, 2015 | Focus On Founders, Fundraising, GEIR program, General
by Bryan O’Connell I’ll let you in on a secret about venture capital investing – often the decision to invest isn’t as complex as most VCs would have you believe. Despite all of the smoke and mirrors, the litany of meetings, the endless diligence – it...