Dog Patch Labs Is Just the Latest in a Rash of New Initiatives to Help Boston Entrepreneurs—And It All Seemed to Start When Y Combinator Left Town

Robert Buderi9/10/09Comments (5)Follow @bbuderi

[Updated October 5, 2009---see below] Today was a good day for Boston area entrepreneurs, as Polaris Venture Partners announced the opening of a new startup incubation and geek hangout space, Dog Patch Labs Cambridge, which will open next week on Third Street not far from Kendall Square.

Dog Patch Cambridge, which I wrote about earlier today, helps fill a real hole in the Boston innovation landscape. But Polaris it isn’t the only group filling this hole. In fact, the Dog Patch announcement is only the latest in what can be called a mini-explosion of interesting new incubation spaces and programs for entrepreneurs, all of which have sprung up since January, when Y Combinator announced it would no longer spend the summers in Cambridge and would instead stay year round in Mountain View, CA. I’m not saying they all got going because Paul Graham’s famous incubator left town—they definitely didn’t—but Y Combinator’s departure surely influenced some thinking and left a hole that, in the true spirit of innovation, several players likely rushed to fill.

Here’s my chronological tally of new programs, incubators, and investment funds for early-stage entrepreneurs that have opened in and around Boston since Y Combinator announced it was pulling up its Cambridge roots:

—January 2009— Y Combo pulls out.

—February: TechStars announces that it will bring its brand of entrepreneurial boot camp, providing seed funding and mentorship for early-stage technology companies, to Boston. The operation has since set up shop in Central Square in Cambridge, and is having its first Boston investor event tonight.

—April: Mass Medical Angels, a new angel group, forms to invest specifically in life sciences and medical startups.

—April-May: Xconomist Tim Rowe, president of the Cambridge Innovation Center, begins firming up plans for the Venture Café, which according to its Facebook page will be … Next Page »

Bob is Xconomy's founder and editor in chief. You can e-mail him at bbuderi@xconomy.com, call him at 617.500.5926, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bbuderi.