Boom or Bust? 11 Big Bets on the Future of Boston Tech

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Kayak
HQ: Norwalk, CT (technology center in Concord, MA)
Founded: 2004
CEO: Steve Hafner
Amount raised: $223M
Investors: General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, Oak Investment Partners.
What it represents: The future of online travel tech.
Why it wins: Name-brand recognition and ease of use; travel is a booming sector (watch for the IPO…soon?).
Why it loses: Too much competition in travel search (especially with Google); costly to acquire customers.
Photo courtesy of Kayak

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.