Mass High Tech put on a very elegant awards show tonight, and I was excited to be there and see three people that I know win well-deserved awards. Scott Kirsner won for his work in fostering the local entrepreneurial community. I can attest to that, since over the years, Scott has provided many avenues for meeting people and getting the word out. I've attended the Nantucket Conference many years, and also met people by being a member of the Advisory Board. Scott has held numerous informal networking events, and his articles in the Globe have been a major outlet for high tech innovations. Thanks, Scott, for all you do, and for this well-deserved award.
Being a video guy, I had to be impressed with the super-widescreen and the live feed. It looked beautiful. The A/V company, Cramer, is a sponsor of the event and provided the setup. It was really well done.
Dharmesh Shah won for his work in social media and through his company, Hubspot. I first met Dharmesh at a Scott Kirsner dinner event.
After the event, I was talking to @Dharmesh about his followers on Twitter. He has 13,000 followers, and there are another 22,000 following @Hubspot. It's amazing. When I started Avid in 1987, the only way to be a broadcaster was to be licensed by the FCC. Now everyone can have their own broadcast network through Twitter, blogs, YouTube, and other techniques. And it's all free.
Russ Wilcox is also someone I came to know through (you guessed it) Scott Kirsner. Probably at the Nantucket Conference, but now I can't remember. Russ started E-Ink, and later took back the role of CEO and turned it into a huge success as the underlying display technology of the Kindle and other book readers and cellular devices.
It's funny how far a little neworking goes. I got to know Russ, and then later when I got involved in the MIT-Gordon Engineering Leadership Program, Russ agreed to be a mentor to one of the MIT students in the program. And of course, I wouldn't have known Russ if it weren't for Scott Kirsner.
So there's a moral to the story. A little bit of networking can go a long way. And a LOT of networking can change a region. New England is doing a lot more networking, and doing a better job of it. It's making a big difference. Thanks to Mass High Tech for a great evening and a great event.