From one Kendall Square institution to another—that’s my take on this news, which is reverberating throughout the local startup community. Gus Weber, the business development and community relations manager at Microsoft’s New England Research & Development Center (N.E.R.D.), is leaving Microsoft this week to join Dogpatch Labs in Cambridge (run by Polaris Venture Partners) as entrepreneur in residence.
Weber, a major figure in the Boston-area technology community over the past couple of years, will work with early-stage tech entrepreneurs as they develop business ideas and launch new startups. The move makes sense for Weber, who is looking to deepen his impact on enabling technology innovation and to extend his reach into the local startup community.
Reached by phone this afternoon, Weber said, “This is really exciting for me. I’ve been a big part of the community here in Boston, and for me this is just a chance to get deeply engaged, more so than I could at Microsoft.” He calls his new position a ”great opportunity for me to be additive to the ecosystem.”
Weber says his last day at Microsoft is this Friday, and he starts his new paying gig at Dogpatch on Monday. Nobody has been named to take over his role at Microsoft yet, but Weber had lots of great things to say about his colleagues there. “My blood, sweat, and tears are in N.E.R.D.,” he said. “I wouldn’t have left if I didn’t feel like N.E.R.D. was in a great spot. I was one leg of the chair.”
About his new post, Weber said, “Job number one is really going to be supporting the great companies that are in the Dogpatch community today.” He hopes eventually to pursue a company of his own, or perhaps learn about venture capital and go that route—but for now, he said, he doesn’t have a startup idea himself.
“It’s going to be an afterburner start on Monday,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Robert Buderi contributed reporting to this story.
