When Hubspot founders<\/span> Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah conceived of their inbound marketing startup in 2004, they were still graduate students at MIT, and inbound marketing<\/a> was not well understood. They were able to develop that idea into a successful company and eventually went public in 2014<\/a>. Today, the Boston-based company has a market cap of over $30 billion.<\/p>\n There were several elements that contributed to its favorable outcome. The founders met at one of the premiere universities in the world. They had an idea, but they were at a place that nurtured ideas, in a region with experienced venture investors who saw the potential of the company. That gave them the ability to raise capital, refine their plans and grow the company. All of that was possible because they were in the Boston area.<\/p>\n Every city needs a success story like Hubspot, but Boston has many others including iRobot, Wayfair, Acquia and Carbon Black, to name but a few. Just last year, Klaviyo\u00a0went public<\/a>, adding to the parade of startup success stories. Some were bought. Some went public. But they all showed what\u2019s possible for the many people who dream of building a successful business in the Boston area.<\/p>\n As these companies generate wealth for the founders, that in itself provides an angel funding system where founders flush with cash from their exits support a new generation of founders, and on it goes in this virtuous wealth-generating cycle. What\u2019s more, these companies also produce other entrepreneurs, who leave and start their own companies, often supported financially by their old bosses.<\/p>\n In the lead up to our Early Stage<\/a> event taking place in Boston on April 25, I spoke with some local Boston investors and advisers to help paint a picture of what makes the Boston startup ecosystem so successful.<\/p>\n Although there are many dimensions to a successful business ecosystem, we tend to look at the dollars invested to measure how well an area is doing. When we talk about Boston, the city is only part of it. It\u2019s really a regional or even statewide perspective, but however you look at it, PitchBook counts venture investment dollars and puts the Boston area in fourth place nationally in Q4 2023. For a small city in a small state, that is pretty impressive.<\/p>\n Join us at TechCrunch Early Stage<\/a> in Boston this month to hear Lily Lyman, Emily Knight, Rudina Seseri and other top founders and investors talk about essential startup skills. Register today!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Two of the other four are in California. San Francisco (to no one\u2019s surprise) leads the way, followed by New York City, Los Angeles and then Boston. In Q4 2023 Boston closed 208 deals, good for $3.5 billion in total investment in the region.<\/p>\n
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