While on the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem panel at the Sandbox Summit, Derek Weber from goBrandgo! in Missouri shared a story.  His story was about the creation of an “official” St. Louis entrepreneurial portal – with all entrepreneurial events, organizations and resources in one place.  Tens of thousands of dollars, an RFP and several months later, there is a beautiful site that no one uses.

Not long after, Derek visited Portland, Oregon for a series of meetings with entrepreneurial instigators there.  Separately, each one mentioned that they use Calagator, a unified events calendar for Portland.  Ugly but everyone uses it.  “It looked like something someone put up over a weekend, probably because they did.”  But everyone used it.

This is not something a government organization could have built – too ugly, too grassroots. Lesson learned — governments and big business have a reputation to uphold.  Ugly and built over a weekend doesn’t work for them.

In the Boston market there are quite a few websites that offer access to the resources available to entrepreneurs and innovators.  No single site offers everything so you might need to make the rounds to find what you need.  Here’s our January 2011 list of those sites and individual organizations.  Probably time for an update – we’ll work on that and post one sometime in the next few weeks.

I’m at the Sandbox Summit 2013 in Lowell and even in the welcomes, I take away ideas.  Desh Deshpande, co-founder of the Deshpande Foundation  is one of my favorite speakers among the entrepreneurial set – well-spoken, articulate and always some anecdote or concept to learn from. Even though I’ve seen him speak more than a dozen times, I’ve yet to catch him recycling anything other than a general sense of goodwill and entrepreneurial support.

This morning, he briefly touched upon the naysayers (not in name) but those who tell you your entrepreneurial idea won’t work.  These aren’t the people with constructive criticism and ideas (for me these are the people whose thoughts end up on my massive to do list) but those who dismiss the idea as a whole.  “They aren’t being mean,” says Deshpande.  “On the contrary, they don’t want you to fail but to be in a safe place.”  These are supporters but supporters who are a bit afraid for you.

So, look for cheerleaders but not just any cheerleader.  Look for cheerleaders who will encourage you to stick your neck out.  You need a team to rally around you and push you to do more.

Over the last four years, the Innovation Breakfast has evolved into a weekly drop-in for local innovators and entrepreneurs.  Bobbie Carlton, founder of Innovation Nights and Innovation Breakfast, meets weekly with entrepreneurs and innovators, and anyone who happens to be in the neighborhood.  Watch Twitter at @MassInno or @BobbieC for any (rare) cancellations or changes.  Yes, we’re still going.  The conversations have ranged wildly.  Here are just a few examples:

• The rise of mobile in marketing
• Winning names for new products
• Must attend events in the Boston area
• Funding a startup
• Social media dos and don’ts
• Startup resources
• The best way to get a new company off the ground
• Building a new website
• Lead generation
• Hiring new employees
• Managing offshore development teams
• And, much much more…

Feel free to join us.

The Boston area has an embarrassment of riches in its programmatic resources for local entrepreneurs and innovators — everything from casual get-togethers to formal conferences and programs.  

The pickings get slimmer once you get beyond Route 128 (or Route 95 if you are a Johnny-come-lately and call it that).  (Heck, they get slimmer once you get off the Red Line.)  Conference organizers, wary of the “empty room failure”, cluster their events and it becomes a never-ending cycle as companies and start-ups cluster even more.  (Sadly, one of the side-effects is sky-rocketing rent.)

Many experienced entrepreneurs live outside Boston and Cambridge and have to make regular treks in to do business and attend meetings and events.  On a good day, it could be a couple of lost hours sitting in traffic, tolls and parking costs (or commuter rail tickets.)  On a bad day, consider the day lost to doing any real work.

If you are part of the entrepreneurial set living and working beyond the Red Line, consider getting involved with the TechSandBox Initiative.  TechSandBox is a comprehensive innovation center and accelerator that supports sci-tech sector entrepreneurs located near I495 and I90.  The model is unique, combining co-working space, advising, community, and educational content all in one location.  The organization is hosting a series of breakfast meetings over the coming weeks, on Friday mornings.  So, if you considered coming to Innovation Breakfast from one of those MetroWest cities and towns, might we suggest you consider getting involved with TechSandBox instead?

Check it out!  While TechSandBox ramps up, committees are being organized to build out the details of the programs. See the website for a list of planned programs. Read the rest of the site to learn more about the overall mission.  RSVPs required.

TechsandBox Breakfast meetings
Friday, Dec. 7, 9-11 am
Friday, Dec. 14, 9-11 am
Friday, Dec. 21, 9-11 am
Friday, Dec. 28, 9-11 am

Mornings not your thing?  A couple of evening events are also planned:
Thursday, Dec. 20, 5:30-8:30 pm
Thursday, Jan 10th 5:30-8:30 pm

The Innovation Breakfast drop-in/meetups still happen weekly.  But sometimes we change things up.  On Friday November 9th, 2012 (8:30 to 10:00 am) we’ll head just down the street to Studio Crossings for Innovation Breakfast.  Seriously convenient, Studio Crossings is a dedicated co-working space, just three blocks from the Waltham commuter rail station and one block from Cafe on the Common. Our little change of scenery will come complete with coffee and bagels.  See you there! (And, if you are planning to attend, let us know so we can make sure we have enough coffee!)

Love it when I see (or hear about) the networking events we run working.  Really working.  People who didn’t know each other end up talking and making something happen.

Our next two Innovation Breakfast events — July 20 and 27 — let’s see what magic we can make happen.  Or, tell us about the serendipity you’ve experienced.

The regular weekly Innovation Breakfast events are usually open networking events — no RSVPs, buy your own coffee and breakfast, sit down, introduce yourself and start networking. Over the past several months, they have evolved into weekly office hours for Bobbie Carlton, one of the creators of Mass Innovation Nights.  Companies she is advising drop in with updates.  People considering Mass Innovation Nights come to ask questions.  Or, new to the area people stop by for guidance.  Like Innovation Nights, Innovation Breakfast was designed to support local innovation, connecting local innovators, entrepreneurs, business people and investors, etc.  But…

On Friday, May 18, join us for a special hosted Innovation Breakfast at Studio Crossings.  (Just down the street and around the corner from our usual location.)

Studio Crossings
14 Spring Street
Waltham, MA 02453

If you’ve stopped by an Innovation Breakfast in the past two years or if you just thought about it, this is the time to come.  PLEASE RSVP so we know how much coffee to buy!

• We’ll be treated to coffee and breakfast treats by the team at Studio Crossing.  (Special thanks to Tamar!)
• We’ll go around the room and introduce ourselves.
• We’ll be talking about where Innovation Breakfast is heading!

Come if you:

• Work with entrepreneurs and startups
• Are an entrepreneur or a startup
• Like entrepreneurs or startups
• Want to be an entrepreneur or startup
• Want to see what the fuss is all about

The regular weekly Innovation Breakfast events are usually open networking events — no RSVPs, buy your own coffee and breakfast, sit down, introduce yourself and start networking. Over the past several months, they have evolved (or should we say devolved) into weekly office hours for Bobbie. (Who committed to coming as long as people keep showing up — and has yet to have a week where she gets work done…)

But every once in a while, we try to do something a little different.  So, join us for a special hosted Innovation Breakfast at Studio Crossing.  (Just down the street and around the corner from our usual location.)  We’ll be treated to coffee and breakfast treats by the team at Studio Crossing.  (Special thanks to Tamar!)  We’ll be talking about where Innovation Breakfast is heading — RSVP please so we know how much coffee to procure!  Come if you:

• Work with entrepreneurs and startups
• Are an entrepreneur or a startup
• Like entrepreneurs or startups
• Want to be an entrepreneur or startup

One of the presenters at today’s TEDxSomerville event was Lenni Armstrong.  Her presentation: “Depaving the Way” detailed the damage done by an over-abundance of pavement in our urban areas.  Run-off can cause flooding.  Paved areas don’t allow soil to do its job as a filter to clean the water, removing impurities. 

Recently I sat on a panel where the definition of innovation was discussed.  One of the panelists was militant about defining innovation — “must provide business value” was part of her definition.  You know we’re pretty loose with our definition.  (Probably unique amongst the innovation bloggers and supporters in that sense.)  We believe that innovation can be anywhere.  It can be small, tiny even.  And we might not understand the value of a particular innovation immediately.  Because someday, you may be able to combine different innovations, mix them together and come up with a truly groundbreaking innovation.

And, speaking of groundbreaking — back to Lenni.  With her words and pictures, she told the story of a backyard depaving.  Parking in Somerville is precious and so many yards, both front and back in some cases, have been turned into parking.  A team of Somervillians dig up a backyard parking area and turned it into a garden. A garden that takes rain water and lets it percolate into the ground, cleaner than when it fell.  A rain garden has a beauty of purpose as well as the physical beauty of the flowers and plants.

But not all pavement in Somerville is in the back yards.  The streets are paved…obviously.  (Not a place where dirt roads are prevalent.)  And along those roads, we see hydrants.  Fire hydrants.  You don’t park in front of them so why is the pavement needed there?  In fact, it isn’t. Lenni’s presentation showed someone’s innovation, a fire hydrant rain garden.  Take the pavement in front of a hydrant, dig it up and plant some plants.  They can get crushed and spring back if a fire truck needs access.  Simple innovation.  See a problem.  See an opportunity. Solve a problem.

Today I’m hanging out in the Assembly Row Bloggers Lounge at TEDx Somerville — and in keeping with the TEDx theme of  “Ideas Worth Spreading” I’m planning to spread my blogging and tweeting (@BobbieC and @MassInno) around the different channels I have access to.  I’ll try to make them appropriate to the channels. 

If you don’t know TEDx, allow me to introduce you.  (I’m hoping you know TED because that makes it easier.  “TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading — through TED.com, our annual conferences, the annual TED Prize and local TEDx events”.)  TEDx is the version of TED that is locally produced.  A group of volunteers get together to organize the grassroots events.  And, wow, do they need a whole bunch of organizing!  These are as far from our messy grassroots Mass Innovation Nights events as you can possibly get.  TEDx is wonderfully produced and curated.

So, the house band is rocking, the first speaker is on (talking about questions) and we’re off.