NewCo Boston| Presentations at Host Companies Demonstrate the Diversity of Boston’s Biz Ecosystem

I attended five sessions of NewCo Boston hosted by MassTLC (for the 3rd time) as an active listener and learner with the intent of expanding my knowledge of interesting companies and I was truly impressed once again.   In most cases, I had to tear myself away and wanted to learn more.  My visits were across the geography and market spectrum – kicking off the day at Workhuman (Framingham), followed by Shell TechWorks (Cambridge), Insight| Digital Innovation (Watertown), PatientPing (downtown Boston), and finally Pega (Cambridge).   Overall the sessions were smaller than the past, but the enthusiasm of the hosts was not impacted.

Workhuman (formerly GloboForce ) is dedicated to providing tools and services that help companies get the very best from their teams.  The secret sauce is aligning the individual and team goals (and motivations) with the company’s culture, values, and business goals.  In and of itself, celebrating the “whole person” is an ambitious and honorable way to run a business, but being able to quantify the positive impact is what makes the business of Workhuman a success.   The session began with networking over breakfast with various team members (Christina Spadaro, followed by a tour of the facility (with Jess), and ended with a presentation in one of the training rooms.   The “tour” highlighted the most thoughtfully designed space that unites their teams all over the world with visual imagery and the comforts of home.  If you are communicating with the team in France you can sit in a well-appointed space surrounded by exquisite photos of Paris!  The attention to detail and human emotion is truly inspired.

Communication, collaboration, gratitude, and recognition are the vocabulary words that drive this company.  How they do it is fascinating – first by building the framework of services that drive this behavior and then creating the technology infrastructure (via the Workhuman Cloud for teams) that tracks nearly all employee interactions to measure the causes and effects of positive and/or negative stimuli – as such it is called “a technology augmented human connection.

The outcome of the work results allow an employer to understand turnover risk, diversity awareness, unconscious bias, and on the flip side – uncover hidden talents.  Many thanks to the team that made the presentations – they definitely are living out the company values with their positive attitude and enthusiasm.  Check out the nifty space in this photo journey too.

Shell TechWorks presented a highly informative overview of the new energy initiatives covering Wind, Hydro, Fuel Cells and other exciting pursuits that demonstrate its commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and that of its customers while meeting the ever-increasing demand for power.  More  can be seen here.   Presenters included the head of Corporate Ventures, Carl Stjernfeld,  internal “VC” arm led by Brian Panoff, and Danielle Jenson, leading the Mayflower Wind project, and the head of the hydro areas which will require building collaborations to power its success.   Shell’s  presence in Cambridge (Boston area) is a true testament to the diversity of technologies bubbling up to support clean energy and renewable energy businesses.  Overall Shell is taking the bull by the horns and proactively creating an active portfolio of potential new product and service areas as well as leading collaborative efforts in the energy ecosystem.  The presenters were highly informative and laid out fascinating industry statistics that are driving their business goals.  Many thanks for a frank and educational discussion.

Insights| Digital Innovation had a fabulous contingent of experts to provide a tour, lunch, and a truly fun demo of how their work makes a tangible impact on businesses.    Presenters included: Matt Jackson, Co-founder, VP Services for Digital Innovation; Jay Consiglio, New England Branch Sales Leader; and Kim Knickle, Industry Storyteller.   Insights roots were as a VAR that started in 1988 and started a business around hard drives.

Fast forward after many acquisitions including the merger with Blue Metal data architects, the company grew from 120 people to 5000 customer accounts around the world.   It’s a trajectory that’s hard to comprehend as is the range of industries and projects under management.  At the heart of the business is using data to solve problems.  The tour included a use case on what happens to salmon populations in Norway if they are covered with too many lice.  The IoT application tracks the “lice” on the salmon via a device in the water and then determines how to kill off a percentage using other devices.  The data is transmitted, tracked, and studied to understand fish populations.  Data from this use case and others will likely feed into a larger AI initiative to help solve other problems in other industries.

On the tour, we were exposed to the “strategy” room where all major problems are teed up by the big thinkers on the team.  This is a company of gray matter that prides itself on “making the impossible possible!”   What was immensely refreshing was the “demo” we watched during lunch.  The fundamental application was for a waste management company.  In this use case, the company asked the user to fill out an online form that would direct the waste into the correct pipeline for treatment.   The demonstration showed what happened when someone filled the form out incorrectly – i.e. when disaster strikes!

The new INSIGHTS algorithm combined with QR codes on the various waste receptacles shows the streamlined and safe way to assure that the right waste finds its way to the right final destination.   The team emphasized that it’s all about the desired outcomes!  Insights is also active in the community supporting a wonderful initiative called New England Give Camp!

The next session at Patient Ping was led by its founder, Jay Desai.  Jay’s presentation focused on how to build a company with the emphasis on “networking” to find the people, information, and processes needed to create and grow a business.  Jay moved to the area from his role at Medicare after securing an early Letter of Intent (his first business validation) to follow his instincts and build a product that connects patient “incidences” to their primary care providers.  The concept was focused and seemingly simple – to ping a PCP, real time at either admission or discharge from the hospital or anywhere they receive care.

Jay’s entrepreneurial networking journey helped him find a perfect co-founder and CTO, David Berkowicz – a physician turned technologist, turned company leader.  They met in a targeted “networking with a purpose” event – a class he volunteered to give to explain aspects of Medicare sponsored by Health Care Ventures.  This happened after many other types of engagements in the tech community including MassTLC “unpitch” events, the CIC, etc..  He used his business school network to understand term sheets and sift through the pitfalls of accepting them!  Via his network, he learned important lessons about how to build the company, form trusted relationships, and fund-raise – even when he didn’t intend to.  Jay made the journey look easy but clearly he made a commitment based on having “passion for the problem” but not being married to the solution – advice he gave freely.  He believes that the secret to success is demonstrating that you believe in your idea and surrounding yourself with people that share your passion and a desire to execute.   With 100M in venture capital money and business velocity, Jay and David are hiring.  If you are passionate about helping transform healthcare navigability – this is a good place to land!

The final session on my Sched was Pega.  I already had a bit of insight on this incredible technology success story so was interested to see what they would highlight in this type of session.  Clearly Pega is continuing to grow and looking to expand its technology team to meet its needs in the markets.  Two ace technology experts spoke about diametrically opposite parts of the business to provide background to potential job candidates.  The first presenter focused on the core CRM/SFM application itself and how it stacks up in terms of its customizability and scalability.   The second presenter, Salem Ghoweri focused on front end development and the UI driving a half dozen highly complex and graphic-intensive internal and external websites.  The overarching term is the “Design System” offering a library of visual style, components, and other concerns documented and released…as code and design tools.   A portion of this might be considered brand asset management in a more traditional branding context.  Managing the design set in today’s environment is a branch of technology that might attract a more creative but technically competent type of individual.  All quite interesting though it didn’t provide as much business insight as I would have hoped for this type of session.  Regardless, the presenters were most enthusiastic about their work and teams!

Many thanks to MassTLC for hosting NewCo Boston in 2019.  I missed its presence on the calendar in 2018 and also the original time slot in the spring.  Nonetheless, this is a powerful tool for both the companies and attendees to network, learn, and help strengthen the business and tech ecosystem in the Boston area.