There are a couple of new companies started this year that are on our radar.

They have known founders and are embarking on a new venture in emerging markets. It should be interesting to watch as they lauch their products or services this year.

Akiba is based in Boston and the founders come from Nexaweb, Fundtech, Fortelligent and Bladelogic.

They are developing a database virtualization solution that enables effortless scalability of a database across nodes, both within the enterprise and in the cloud.

Nasuni is a Natick based company with founders hailing from Archivas and other executives from Leostream and BCG.

They will be providing enterprise-class features, while removing the existing obstacles to cloud storage adoption for companies of all sizes, with or without IT resources. We believe our offering will propel cloud storage into a segment of the market that is prime for the cloud, but not currently being served.

Performable is a virtual startup based in Cambridge. The founders come from Compete and Lookery.

Operating in stealth mode for now, the most they have said publicly is that Performable is a marketing platform for start-ups and online businesses. Without knowing exactly what they are doing,  a data point regarding the product’s viability was provided by Sean Ellis (Performable advisor) who said he could’t live without the product. That is enough to get our attention and is a good indication they are on to something.

Yottaa is another stealth mode startup based in Cambridge. The founders and executives are out of Nexaweb and Tazz Networks.

Their vague offering description says Yottaa is a cloud computing company building a new generation of cloud services revolutionizing what we know about the Internet. Ray Stata is involved with the company which is a fairly strong indication of strong underlying technology.

Of course this is a partial list of the cool technology companies coming out of the Boston area in 2009.  If there are any additions you would like to make, feel free to leave them in the comments.

If you like coffee and you like to network with interesting people in the tech, biotech, media, and the wider start-up world, go check out this weeks Coffee for No Reason.

Organized by Scott Kirsner and Jimmy Guterman , it is a chance to mingle with like minded enterpreneurs and possibly get the ear of two of the most respected technology and business journalists in Boston.

All you have to do is show up at the front room of the Kendall Square Cosi on Wednesday, December 23rd from 9 to 11 AM.

See Scott’s post about the event on boston.com.

By now you have heard it so many times you know it is true.  Silicon valley is the vortex drawing all web entrepreneurs and startups into that bright place where the best environment exists to nurture your fledgling company and become the next TwitFaceLinker. This fact is clear, it is the best place to get a web startup company funded.

Countless VCs, pundits, founder helpers, xfounder VCs and most anybody else involved in the Valley/SF startup scene will ask you “when are you moving out here?  This is where it is happening.”

“Step right up, come one come all.”  They want you, they need you, and they will own your butt.

Because what they don’t tell you is that you will have nothing else to occupy your attention and keep you from working 80 hours a week cranking code with your nose in a computer screen. Why, because there are no women to distract you from your tasks.

You are wanted in Silicon Valley to put to use making startups, where there is less life to divert your attention from your purpose of creating value.

Women, can’t live with them can’t live without them, can’t even find them.

So what if the people extolling the virtues of the Valley startup lifestyle and encouraging you to make the move, are already married. It’s a numbers game baby.  Gotta have more pork to make the sausages for the porkfolio.

I know what you are thinking. The Valley has a higher percentage of wealthy men, on the mean, than men from any other major metropolitan area and therefore, that makes it a great place for single women.  Sounds good to me, women will be drawn to you like asyyriaks to a wookiee child.

But a study shows an interesting thing happens when the ratio skews too much in favor of women. The amount of socioeconomic status a guy needs to get a girl increases way more than the math would predict. Specifically when the ratio is tilted in favor of women by 10%, low status men became not 1.1 times less likely to get a girl but 2.3 times less likely and high status men 1.3 times less likely.

So the good news is that if you are one of the few to get rich, you have a shot, but the bad news is that if you don’t, you have even less of a shot.

Skeptical?

Check out some of the choice comments below, from the people living the life, on a Ycombinator News Discussion of the subject.

Companies and their ratio:

Facebook:

Median Age 27 years Gender Male 68% Female 32%

City of San Francisco:

Median Age 32 years Gender Male 62% Female 38%

“The Lower Peninsula is relatively devoid of Women.”

And my favorite

“Negative proof by counterexample. I met a girl in SF last month. Therefore, “there are no girls in San Francisco” is false. QED.”

The are discussing a post on the web site Why There are No Girls in San Francisco which contained the study information.

A singles map of the United States of America

Which cities have a surplus of single men (or women) – and what that means for the country

But all this is not about you because you are kicking ass and going to the moon despite the odds.

startup failure rate

You are “going to make it to the top where the air is fresh and clean.” to quote Tom Waits.  So what if you miss a few nights on the couch eating Thai food with your lady watching Spiderman.

It’s not like you can’t control biological urges and yearning for companionship that have stirred in your blood since Australopithecus first spied his missus slurping termites off of her fishing stick.

Now that you succeeded to the point where you have the wife and kids and nice place (not FU money but not bad). You have another problem. Where are the great schools to send your kids?

At least they will have nice weather to come home to when they come back from Exeter or Phillips Andover Academy. Oh yeah, and since the odds aren’t against them, your sons might bring some lady friends home to meet their parents.

*My apologies to the female startup founder for gender generalizations, to whom this does not apply.

*Thanks to Andrew Chen for pointing out the Why There are No Girls in San Francisco blog, but I can’t seem to find his post linking to it.

Genotrope Record: Qponus

Funding Status: Seed, Self Funded

Founders Backgrounds: Shoebuy.com, Beacon Hill Athletic Club, Community Magazines

Investors: ?

Industry: Consumer Web, eCommerce

Offering Description: qponus offers a fabulous deal everyday. It’s a great way to save money and to try out new things.

Just found out about a new blog,  For Entrepreneurs by David Skok from Matrix Partners.  If you are interested in getting started, getting funded, and building a successful company, you will want to add this blog to your feed reader.

David is a successful entrepreneur, founding his first company at age 22, four companies in total,  including two successful exits from his Boston companies, Watermark(bought by Filenet) and Silverstream (IPO then bought by Novell).

As a VC he has already had successful exits with JBoss(RedHat), AppIQ(HP) and Tabblo(HP). One of his most recent investments is HubSpot, which has probably had some  influence on his decision to start blogging.

For Entrepreneurs has a lot of content other than blog posts which are reference material for startup founders getting their companies off the ground. I particularly like the section on Building a Sales and Marketing Machine. It includes a lot of data and diagrams that walk you through detailed structure and methods for creating a customer acquisition process.

The most recent blog post on Viral Marketing is informative and introduces a new factor , the viral cycle time, which is a key determinant of rate of growth.

We can look forward to a lot more anecdotal advice and guidance that should save aspiring founders much time and effort.

If memory serves me correctly, I seem to remember Silverstream’s product launch was from a party on the deck of an Aircraft Carrier, so maybe at some point we will get to hear about that and how things have changed in this era of continuous deployment, product market fit and soft launch.

Genotrope Record:  Micronotes

Funding Status:  Seed Round

Founders Backgrounds:  Okena (Cisco), Entegra, Akamai

Investors: ?

Industry:  Mobile, Consumer Finance, B2C Marketing

Offering Description: Micronotes interactive direct marketing system enables consumer brands to mass-produce face-to-face sales interviews to deliver highly relevant offers to a target audience driving sales at lower cost than existing platforms.

*Note that I didn’t post this prior to Don’s most recent news. But the point is still valid, and maybe more so.

By now the dust has settled and the pundits have weighed in about what a huge mistake Microsoft made letting Don Dodge go.

You can see the some of the commentary here:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/04/microsoft-loses-don-dodge-this-is-a-huge-mistake/

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/09/don-dodge-microsoft-exit-interview/

http://andrewhy.de/who-will-hire-don-dodge/

But those issues may just be the tip of the iceberg. I think the real problem is just now manifesting itself.

If you read Don’s most recent blog post it is clear that the collateral damage may overshadow the initial blow.

Sure, losing his services as the face of Microsoft to the start up community is huge, as  Michael Arrington of TechCrunch pointed out.

But that is dwarfed in my opinion by the fact that one of your biggest proponents of  ’all that is Microsoft’  has so quickly “seen the light” regarding the value and utility of the competing products now available to him.

Outlook has been replaced by Gmail with glowing praise “I can already see why people have been raving about it” .

Windows mobile  is out and an Android phone to take it’s place. “Windows Mobile is OK, but not great”

I don’t think he is the kind of person to do this for spite.  My take is, I sense a great relief to have removed the corporate blinders and the burden of legacy products and preserving cash cows.

*Note: I didn’t post this soon enough, and Don’s most recent post underscores my points.

He has announced his move to Google and once you have read it, you will understand that losing Don’s service was bad, but gaining his adversarial punch will prove to be much worse.

For example from his recent post:

Thanks Microsoft Outlook, but I’m going to Gmail.

Thanks Microsoft Office Office 2007, but I’m going to Google Docs.

Thanks Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5, but I’m going to Google Android.

Thanks Microsoft Internet Explorer, but I’m moving to Google Chrome

Most could have seen this coming from a mile away.  Certainly Arrington did as you see from his Exit interview.  Seems like a problem to me.

We are all set for a great event coming on the 19th. Thanks to our sponsors, we are pleased to be able to present this talk free to all attendees.  By underwriting this event, these sponsors have demonstrated their commitment to the web startup community in the Boston/Cambridge area. Without their help this event would not be possible.

We have some good news. The people that signed up on the overflow list, now have a reserved seat at the event. All ticket holders will receive a confirmation email prior to the event.

Also, there are 12 slots remaining.  If you aren’t able to reserve one of the remaining seats, stay tuned. There will be various promotions giving away some tickets by local tech blogs, web groups around town and on twitter.

Sign UP Here

A quick review of the startup market here reveals a good number of nascent web startups seeking a technical founder CTO.

Socialtality

Revenue Architects

Kill Your Cube

Dating Site Startup

Recently a first time founder of a Boston startup came to us seeking a CTO for their web app. There was no great technical problem to solve, no dream team and no technical IP to create a barrier to entry. In short, nothing that would interest an experienced CTO. It was certainly a great opportunity for the right person, but that right person was a veteran developer with a track record of shipping reliable code.  Mostly the issues were scalability, time to launch and usability.

Rather than waste effort convincing the type “A” founder that they didn’t want a CTO, we focused on showing them lead developers that had shipped significant products and lead teams. Other sources provided many interviews with CTOs and experienced VPs of engineering, at a considerable waste of precious time, but none could be attracted to the deal. Eventually the start-up ended up hiring three good developers and had a very successful product launch.

If you are a non-technical founder with a Web App idea, just get something built. It is all about the Minimum Viable Product. Get something in user’s hands, gather feedback and iterate until you have something they love and will pay for.

Build some traction and revenue, traction is good, revenue is king. If you take off, chances are you are probably going to throw out all your original code anyway. Once you have traction and revenue,  you will be more attractive to the CTO you thought you wanted when you started out.

Genotrope Record:  Serendeputy

Funding Status: Bootstrapped

Founders Backgrounds: Boston.com, Abuzz

Investors: founders

Industry: Consumer web, New

Offering Description: Serendeputy is your personal news assistant, a little robot who learns what you like and pulls together a page of news articles tailored to your specific interests.