As the $1.1 million MassChallenge competition heads into the home stretch to tomorrow's awards ceremony, all eyes are on the 26 finalists culled from a field of 1,237 applicants. But behind the scenes are dozens of mentors who have spent the past four months grooming their proteges for this moment.
They are a mix of senior executives, lawyers, marketing consultants and successful entrepreneurs — some who want to help a new generation of startups avoid the pitfalls they encountered, others who want a piece of the Next Big Thing, most who fall somewhere in between.
"The advice they give is incredibly important to our entrepreneurs," said Karl Buttner, chief mentorship officer for MassChallenge, which has seen the number of mentors more than double in its three years to about 350, who worked with 125 semifinalists.
Jay Batson spent an average of an hour a week with each of three startups, all of whom are among the 26 finalists.
"Call me power mentor," said Batson, who has started three companies, including Acquia, which was named No. 1 software company and No. 8 overall in Inc. magazine's ranking of America's 500 fastest-growing privately held companies. "I've learned a lot in those companies: Make sure your co-founders are as passionate as you are; keep iterating until you get it right; know that you can have the greatest product in the world, but unless you can sell it, nobody will ever know. And I found myself wanting to pass along those lessons in a Boston tech startup community that is more active than anything I've seen in 25 years."
Chris Mills, founder and CEO of HelmetHub, said Batson pushed him and his team with characteristic frankness from the moment Mills made the mistake of being late for their first meeting.
"I said, 'Thanks for being here ... I'm sorry I was late.' He said, 'Yeah, thanks. Be on time next time,' " Mills recalled. "His point was: If you say you're going to do something, do it."
John Sallay, who has been an entrepreneur, a venture capitalist and chief growth officer at Avery Dennison Corp., worked with finalist Strong Arm Technologies, which makes a vest that eases lifting. And in the process, he learned a lesson of his own.
"It made me realize there are more good ideas than you could possibly imagine out there," Sallay said, "and even as older folks retire, there are waves and waves of young people with bright new ideas to make our lives better."
Innovation Week sampler
Modeled after Austin's South-by-Southwest festival, Innovation Week kicks off today, bringing together several Boston-area conferences to promote Massachusetts' growing entrepreneurial economy. Here, a few highlights:
Today: FutureM's opening night, a celebration of marketing innovation, 6 to 9 p.m., Space 57 at the Revere Hotel.
Tomorrow: MassChallenge 2012 Awards Ceremony, where $1.1 million will be awarded to startups, 6 to 9 p.m., Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
Wednesday: Day 2 of the US-EU eHealth Conference, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Massachusetts State House.
Thursday: Boston Angel Investor Shark Tank, where Boston tech entrepreneurs will pitch their startups to a panel of local investors, 4 to 6 p.m., Microsoft New England Research and Development Center, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
For more events, go to awesomeboston.org/innovationweek/events-2/
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