Genuine VC: 

David Beisel’s Perspective on Digital Change

Boston Web Innovators Recap

Last night’s Boston Web Innovators meeting turned out to be a success. We had quite a turnout, and a good mix of people. First-time and serial entrepreneurs, VCs, long-time bloggers, techies, MIT PhD computer science students, and many others all joined the crowd. It was refreshing to see the enthusiasm to gather this many like-minded individuals with the same interests here in the Boston area. The centerpiece included three demo presentations from the founders of the early stage startups Blogniscient, reddit, and Kiko.
The event and discussion was not lost for healthy skepticism however. With all of the excitement for innovation happening in the digital media space, many of the conversations included questioning voices about the viability of some of the startups emerging from nice services to strong profitable businesses. Impromptu questions for the speakers included, “What is your business model?” and “How are you generating revenue?”
Peter Caputa, the founder of WhizSpark, commented on his blog,
“For the first time, I feel like I am a part of something happening in the web space in New England… there were some very smart people there last night, that are doing some very smart things. And I had no clue they existed.”
Peter also has a more detailed write-up of the event here. And Ray Deck shares his thoughts as well.
A few photos of the crowd and the presentations:
Boston_Web_Innovators_Crowd.jpg
Boston_Web_Innovators_Presentation.jpg
My plan is to organize another event similar to this one in the next month or two. I am open and welcoming of suggestions to the format and location which you think would improve it. Please comment below or e-mail me with your thoughts and reactions.
Finally, thanks to everyone who attended.

David Beisel
November 9, 2005 · 2  min.

Last night’s Boston Web Innovators meeting turned out to be a success. We had quite a turnout, and a good mix of people. First-time and serial entrepreneurs, VCs, long-time bloggers, techies, MIT PhD computer science students, and many others all joined the crowd. It was refreshing to see the enthusiasm to gather this many like-minded individuals with the same interests here in the Boston area. The centerpiece included three demo presentations from the founders of the early stage startups Blogniscient, reddit, and Kiko.

The event and discussion was not lost for healthy skepticism however. With all of the excitement for innovation happening in the digital media space, many of the conversations included questioning voices about the viability of some of the startups emerging from nice services to strong profitable businesses. Impromptu questions for the speakers included, “What is your business model?” and “How are you generating revenue?”

Peter Caputa, the founder of WhizSpark, commented on his blog,

“For the first time, I feel like I am a part of something happening in the web space in New England… there were some very smart people there last night, that are doing some very smart things. And I had no clue they existed.”

Peter also has a more detailed write-up of the event here. And Ray Deck shares his thoughts as well.

A few photos of the crowd and the presentations:

Boston_Web_Innovators_Crowd.jpg

Boston_Web_Innovators_Presentation.jpg

My plan is to organize another event similar to this one in the next month or two. I am open and welcoming of suggestions to the format and location which you think would improve it. Please comment below or e-mail me with your thoughts and reactions.

Finally, thanks to everyone who attended.


David Beisel
Partner
I am a cofounder and Partner at NextView Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital firm championing founders who redesign the Everyday Economy.