For about 8 months from the end of 2015 and through the summer of 2016 I conducted an experiment where I held open office hours for anyone in the Boston tech community.

I reserved half of my meetings for women and people of color as a small way to help improve the diversity of our tech and startup community.  I met with more than 60 different people, learned about a bunch of interesting startups, chatting about different marketing and growth ideas, discussed fundraising strategies and gave some career advice too.  It was a fun and rewarding expeerience for me.  Now that I have a full time job I can't hold lots of 1-1 meetings like that anymore.  

But, I have gotten so much value from the tech community in Boston that I would like to find a way to keep giving back.  I think I can do this either online Q&A or maybe group meetings on a specific topic.  Stay tuned for a blog post or tweet for an update when I launch something.

For the curious, here is the original office hours page below.

 

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I've benefited a lot from the vibrant and generous startup community in Boston.  I want to pay it forward to others.  One way I do that is by hosting open office hours for anyone in the Boston tech community.  We can talk about whatever you like - career advice, raising capital, growing revenue, marketing, recruiting and hiring, or whiskey.

I'm also committed to increasing diversity in the Boston tech community.  To help promote more diversity, I am dedicating at least 50% of my office hours to meeting women and non-white men.  There are separate office hour sign up links - one for white men (you'll see 50% of my time slots) and one for everyone else (you'll see 100% of the spots available).  Use the correct link and you'll see the times available to you.  If you sign up for the non-white-guy time slots and want to bring a white guy with you to the meeting (i.e. a co-founder or someone you work with) that is fine, but I expect you (not the white guy) to lead the meeting and do most of the talking.

Ground Rules

  • Boston Only: I will only meet with founders and executives at companies who are headquartered in greater Boston.  I'll meet with any individuals who want to work in tech in greater Boston, even if they are currently employed by a company based elsewhere.
  • Pro Tips: Make sure you manage the time effectively - I can't commit to any follow-up or other work for you after the meeting.  My strengths lie in fundraising, product launches, SaaS metrics, hiring and managing teams, growth marketing / sales, so those are great topics to chat about.