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Print Edition StoriesFriday, April 30, 2010
Mass. VCs, CEOs form “12x12” entrepreneur initiative
By Mass High Tech staff
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Massachusetts has an answer to the question, “How can we generate more technology entrepreneurship activity, and hence more startups and more jobs, in the commonwealth?”
The “12x12” initiative, announced today at The Nantucket Conference, matches 12 leading CEOs in Massachusetts with 12 leading venture capitalists in the state to create 12 new startups in the next year.
The initiative was co-founded by Michael Greeley, founder and general partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, and Andy Ory, founder and CEO of Acme Packet Inc, following discussions with digital technology leaders at the Tech Hub Collaborative. The two co-founders brought a few notables into the “12x12” organizing committee, including Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande, chairman of the Sparta Group; Jonathan Kraft, president of The Kraft Group; Paul Sagan, CEO of Akamai Technologies Inc.; and Steve Vinter, site director of Google Inc.
The “12x12” organizing committee came up with the list of 12 technology CEOs to participate: Colin Angle, CEO of iRobot Corp.; Jim Baum, CEO of Netezza; Jeff Bennett, COO of NameMedia; Joe Chung, CEO of Allurent; Helen Grenier, CEO of CyPhy Works; Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot; Tim Healy, CEO of EnerNOC; Diane Hessan, CEO of Communispace; Scott Savitz, CEO of ShoeBuy.com, Brian Shin, CEO of Visible Measures; Ram Sudireddy, CEO of CHiL Semiconductor; and Michael Weintraub, CEO of Humedica.
The “12x12” VCs participating in the initiative include: Jon Auerbach, general partner of Charles River Ventures; Liam Donohue, general partner of .406 Ventures; Scott Friend, managing director of Bain Capital Ventures; Jamie Goldstein, general partner of North Bridge Venture Partners; Felda Hardymon, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners; Matt Harris, managing general parter at Village Ventures; Mike Hhirshland, general partner at Polaris Venture Partners; Eric Hjerpe, partner at Kepha Partners; Bob Hower, general partner at Advanced Technology Ventures; Paul Maeder, general partner at Highland Capital Partners; Eric Paley, managing partner at Founder Collective; and Carl Stjernfeldt, general partner at Castile Ventures.
The “12x12” initiative group first met in January. Its first startup, LighterLiving, was funded by Flybridge Capital Partners with $3 million in first round funding.
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