[Editor’s note: To tap the wisdom of our distinguished group of Xconomists, we asked a few of them to answer this question heading into 2013: “What does your gut tell you will happen next year even though you don’t have data to prove it?”]
A dichotomy: At least two more of Boston’s startups make big exits to either public markets or M&A, and at the same time two well-known VCs will announce they are winding down (read: can’t raise another fund). We’re seeing a big shift in how the investment landscape is working, but it’s not slowing down the ability for the right startups to go big.
Author: Dave Balter
Dave Balter is a Co-founder and Partner at Flipside Crypto. Previously he founded and led BzzAgent (a dunnhumby company), Smarterer (acquired by Pluralsight), and Mylestone.
A co-founder and current executive council member of The Word of Mouth Marketing Association, Dave is an international speaker on the topic of word-of-mouth marketing. The author of two books on the subject, Grapevine: The New Art of Word-of-Mouth Marketing and The Word of Mouth Manual: Volume II, Dave has presented for corporations, associations and non-profit groups around the world.
Dubbed a "serial entrepreneur" by The Boston Globe, Dave built and sold two promotional agencies prior to forming BzzAgent. In 2008, he was recognized as a Future Legend by the AdClub and he was named to the "40 under 40" list by The Boston Business Journal and Advertising Specialty Institute.
His commitment to corporate transparency has resulted in five innovative blogs, which were profiled in Inc. Magazine and the Harvard Business Review and later earned an Award of Excellence from the Society of New Communications research. Dave earned a B.A. in Psychology from Skidmore College and aspires to build the world's largest rock garden.
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