John Harthorne, CEO of the MassChallenge start-up competition, tells me that this week a group of judges are working to winnow 300 teams of entrepreneurs to 100 finalists; they're hearing some company pitches in person; some via Skype from as far off as California, Spain and Argentina; and Harthorne says a Brazilian team even flew to Boston for some face time. Judges include folks like 170 Systems founder Karl Buttner, Raj Melville of nTag Interactive and BeFree, and Micah Rosenbloom from Brontes/3M.
The goal of the competition is to encourage start-ups to come to Boston — or stay here and grow. The hundred finalist companies (finalists will be announced later this month) will be offered several months of free office space at the One Marina Park high-rise on Fan Pier; Harthorne is expecting about 200 people to use the space, noting that each team has 2.7 members on average. (Some entrants already have office space elsewhere.) A few lucky winners will receive either $100,000 or $50,000 at the competition's conclusion this fall. The cash prizes will total $1 million, and all of the prize money, Harthorne explains, comes from private sponsors like Microsoft, Xerox, and the law firm Foley Hoag.
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Author: Scott Kirsner
