Ugly Talk: Building and Scaling Tech Companies in Boston #BOSTechWeek

Wednesday, May 27

6:00pm

ETET

Hosted by

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Boston does not get enough credit. When people talk about startup cities, it is always New York and San Francisco. Boston gets dismissed as a college town with great hospitals. That is lazy. Boston is quietly producing some of the most fundable and defensible startups in the country. The city has world-class research institutions, deep biotech and SaaS talent, and a cost structure that still gives founders a better shot at keeping equity instead of lighting it on fire. The ecosystem is tighter. The networks are more accessible. The builders care more about substance than hype. 🎯 Why You Should Attend -Hear why some founders chose Boston on purpose and why others moved there to build. -Get a clearer read on what the city actually does well for startup operators. -Understand where Boston gives founders an edge, and where it still falls short. -Meet builders who care more about real company building than looking important online. 🙋 Who's Getting In This Room -Boston founders and startup operators -SaaS, biotech, AI, and deep tech builders -Investors and ecosystem leaders active in the city -Founders deciding where to build their next chapter -People who want the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Boston startup scene 🎤 Who's on the Panel Steve Dow - Founder & CEO of Monit Steve Dow is a financial services veteran turned fintech founder and CEO. Prior to Monit, he served as Head of Corporate Strategy at Webster Bank and later helped lead their Business Banking group. Under Steve’s leadership, Webster became the #1 SBA lender in New England two years in a row. At Webster, Steve observed first-hand the difficulty that banks have serving business customers and likewise the issues SMBs have interfacing with their bank. Monit aims to solve both problems by partnering with banks to deploy its award-winning software, which gives business owners the financial optimization tools they need to prosper and, in turn, provides banks an analytics and targeting platform to serve their business customers more effectively and profitably. Steve also ran Webster’s corporate investment fund and sat on the Board of Payrailz (now a Jack Henry company). Mr. Dow has been a speaker at American Banker Small Business Banking Conference, CBA Live, ICBA Live, Janney Community Bank Summit, Startup Boston among other industry events. Meghan Houle - Founder & CEO of CONCÉ Meghan Houle is the Founder & CEO of CONCÉ, an AI-powered hiring intelligence platform leveraging AI with a human touch, redefining how companies engage talent through predictive matching and curated professional networks supporting the recruiting flow from job description, to job offer. With more than 20 years of experience in executive recruiting across luxury and consumer brands, Meghan has placed thousands of leaders and generated over $15M in placement revenue. She is recognized for her forward-thinking perspective on the future of work, hiring intelligence, and the evolving relationship between AI and human potential. Through CONCÉ, she is building the infrastructure behind a more intentional, intelligent, and aligned hiring ecosystem. Ahmed Rashad - Founder & Principal at RoleOS Ahmed Rashad is founder and principal of RoleOS, an AI workforce architecture consultancy that helps enterprises decide which roles to keep human, which to augment with AI, and how to sequence the transition. He is also a cofounder of Sunny Side Up Studio, and previously led product design at Wayfair and Fannie Mae. His take: AI transformation is not a tools problem, it is a workforce design problem. Tech, people enablement, and process reinvention have to compound together, or the rollout stalls. Moderator: Deveney Williams - Founder & CEO of Sunny Side Up Deveney Williams is the founder and CEO of Sunny Side Up, an embedded creative agency for growth-stage B2B SaaS founders. With 10+ years across brand strategy, creative operations, and visual storytelling for brands like Adobe, NPR, and Liberty Mutual, she now partners with founders to turn traction into a brand the market actually remembers. Curiosity is her operating principle, and clarity is the deliverable. Based in Boston, she splits her time between client work, building SSU's team, and finding the city's best cortado. 💬 What's On the Table -Why Boston keeps getting underestimated -What Boston gives founders that New York and San Francisco do not -What is working in the city right now for SaaS, biotech, AI, and deep tech founders -What is broken in the ecosystem and what still feels too closed, too slow, or too fragmented -Who should build in Boston, who should move there, and who probably should not -What nobody tells you about building in a city that does not care about your Twitter following 🤝 Who's Backing This Idea Space is a boutique office space in Boston's Back bay that provides entrepreneurs and small businesses with creative, shared workspace. Startup Boston is the front door to the Greater Boston and New England startup ecosystem. We make it easier for founders, startup operators, investors, and startup-curious individuals to find opportunities, build meaningful connections, and navigate the resources already available across the community. Creative Mornings is a free monthly breakfast lecture series designed for creative communities. Everyone is creative. Everyone is welcome. AIGA advances design as a professional craft, strategic advantage, and vital cultural force. GREY Journal - Media partner spotlighting modern entrepreneurs (featured on Apple News + Google News). This event is a part of #BOSTechWeek—a week of events hosted by VCs and startups to bring together the tech ecosystem. Learn more at www.tech-week.com.

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