VDC Partner Company, SQZ Biotech, Raises $5 Million in Series A Round Funding

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...

Solving the problem of finding bad fits for sales roles

by william.brah | Jun 16, 2015 | Focus On Founders, General, Hiring, Innovation, Internships, Marketing and Selling, Startups

For venture-backed SaaS companies in the Boston area, it seems that the only real limitation to their growth is the speed at which they can hire. Not just hire software engineers and the like, but entry-level business development reps. Without them, quarterly targets...

My Emergency Room Rant: Why MA Needs On-demand Healthcare

by edelfreitas | May 27, 2015 | General, Innovation, Startups

I have never really paid any attention to healthcare system issues and inefficiencies in the system, until I became a parent. It’s one thing to be in pain, but it is something totally different when it’s your child. The feeling of pain is somewhat magnified for you as...

X-Factor Films Have Their Eyes on the Billion Dollar Prize in Hollywood

by christianvialva | May 27, 2015 | Focus On Founders, General, Innovation, Reinventing

Although two-thirds of the startups we support are in life science, digital health and digital medicine, we pay attention to any talented team that can create positive change in the world in a huge market. Lauren Tracy and X-Factor Films, have a shot at doing just...

This Woman to Watch is Opening Doors to Innovate at UMass Boston

by edelfreitas | May 20, 2015 | Focus On Founders, General, Incubators, Innovation, Internships, Mentoring, News and Events, Startups, Tech transfer

As most incubators do, we always like to catch up with our graduates to see how they have been doing since they have “left the nest” of the Venture Development Center (VDC). I got a chance to see how Dr. Jill Macoska, director of the Center for...

The Emerging Companies Map Is a Gift Every Ambitious College Grad Will Love

by edelfreitas | May 13, 2015 | General, Hiring, Incubators, Innovation, Internships, Marketing and Selling, Startups

This is a map of 400+ venture-backed tech companies that have been funded in the past two years. (The map was updated on November 22, 2015.) These are companies working on the hottest areas and technologies in Massachusetts (one could say “in the world”)...