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Flickr CC: Helen K

No secret, it’s always better to be part of the change, not being disrupted by it, and my blog tagline does say “Disruptive is beautiful”. I doubt that there’s anyone to disagree with me on the structural changes in how new companies are being built today and how that’s echoing on the investment side of the table.

I’ve been around European tech hubs feeling in the vibe when meeting investors and helping startups, and to say the least, it’s buzzing. To get a good look what’s buzzing on the other side of the Atlantic, what better place to do that than in Boston next week. Angel Bootcamp and TechStars Boston Demo Day – two great events addressing and executing on the change.

Angel Bootcamp
Flickr CC: Miss Rogue

Angel Bootcamp in Boston the 14th is bringing together massive amount of talent to discuss and share advice on the changing landscape of angel investing. Just one look at the speaker list Jon Pierce of Betahouse in Boston has put together, and you know you should be there!

Fred Destin, who also will be sharing his learnings, has listed all the reasons to join Angel Bootcamp so I don’t have to.

  • It’s a Golden Age for angel investing. Low capital requirements, hyper scalability, global access should all be driving awesome angel returns.
  • Yet Angel Investing is being disrupted. You’ve all noticed, we live in a new age of velocity and transparency. Entrepreneurs now choose who they want to work with from a global roster of strongly branded Angels that they can access through tools like Angellist. Are you ready, can you cope ?
  • Companies are being built differently. Lean startups, fast iteration, data driven decision making. Do you know all you need to know about how entrepreneurs are leveraging the cloud and technology standards to do more faster ?
  • Investment themes are different. Opportunity sets are evolving faster than ever, and this time it’s global. Come learn about trends that will shape the Eastern Seaboard ecosystem in years to come.

Besides from that it’s going to be huge, I’d like to add three obvious reasons:

  • Learn from the best. 
  • Hang out with people smarter than you. 
  • Build bridges and relationships. We’re going global, baby!

TechStars Boston Demo Day

Techstars-logo-small

TechStars Boston Demo Day on the following day is about to release 11 teams out in the open, quoting Brad Feld:

“This feels to me like the strongest class we’ve had in Boston so far and might be the one of the strongest TechStars classes overall.”

I’m eager to see how this class is to disrupt the market, and especially excited about how GrabCad, that pulled off the hat trick of being accepted both into Seedcamp and TechStars simultaneously, has elevated its business since our last meeting at Mini Seedcamp London in January. Yes, they did get my vote. And yes, they’re from Estonia.

If that’s not excitement enough, TechStars is throwing an after party with Coolio as sugar on top!

To learn more about TechStars, I highly recommend to watch one of my favourite interviews with Brad Feld of Foundry Group on This Week in Startups by Jason Calacanis, about the importance of building startup ecosystem and the beginnings of TechStars. To get more insights and hear the other side of the story, watch Mark Suster interview David Cohen and David Tisch on This Week in Venture Capital.

You should also check out what’s going on TechStars network member Springboard in Cambridge, UK, and read my thoughts after my mentoring day.

Ps. I’m also going in all the way the startup way putting my dollars into a startup’s pocket. Be sure to hear more on my first Airbnb experience.

My special thanks to Fred Destin of Atlas Venture, Katie Rae, MD of TechStars Boston and Jon Pierce of Angel Bootcamp for kindly inviting me to visit Boston startup scene and share the latest from the Nordic, Baltic and European startup scene.

Boston, get ready to hook me up!

Paula is Digital Product Advisor and Top 100 Women in Tech in Europe, focusing on Product, Go-to-market, and Internationalization strategies. Rated as one of the very best startup mentors in Europe, she has to date mentored over 150 digital technology companies on product, marketing and growth. Pick My Brain! is her fixed price service tailored to early stage startups, gender wage gap adjusted for female founders. Contact Paula for digital strategy work or book her as keynote speaker about #Startups #WomenInTech #GenderEquality #Entrepreneurship. Read more about her work and connect @Twitter, @LinkedIn. “You never learn anything when you speak, only when you listen” – Roelof Botha / Douglas Leone, Sequoia Capital