If there is one thing Mass Innovation Nights is good at, it's diversity. Diversity of product (organic whoopie pies, underwater dog treadmills, iPhone apps, enterprise software, etc.); diversity of location (everywhere from Quincy to Westborough, Beverly to Boston, Cambridge to Newton); and diversity of people (all different ages, roles and more.) So "theme" events are a little different for us — not the norm. MIN67 was just such a departure. Working with the Babson Center for Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership, we lined up products from women-founded companies. (Sadly, we had a full slate and still several women founders in the queue, reflecting our continued focus on getting the widest variety of cool new products.)
What a wonderful night it was. Classy craft cocktails from Booze Epoque, one of our featured companies; upcycled fleece cases from Refleece; lots of overflowing love via WeGush (add your MIN gushing here!); gorgeous clothes from Brass; energy anywhere from Orora; anywhere shopping (#wewantretailtrucks) with Secret Ships Caravan; knowledge (books) from On The Dot; awesome pet food (samples for your pup) from Fedwell; and from our student startups: Meet Eugene Hedgehog food and Integrated Payment Solutions. And a crowd of super enthusiastic supporters. Check out the Twitter stream for a taste of the excitement. Visit our YouTube channel for the videos! Thanks In Tech Boston for the sweet preview and welcome to the extended family!
Special moments from #MIN67: moving furniture with the Workbar team to 'make room'; realizing it was the first Mass Innovation Nights with "Live Animals" (Eugene was the guest celebrity of the night and surely now qualifies as the world's most photographed hedgehog); visiting with the team from The Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship and seeing what their student startups are up to; a little takeover from the WeGush folks; hanging with our awesome partners from Babson CWEL, our preview of Innovation Women, and the realization that we could still see floor…albeit a sliver. Phew, didn't have to start a line outside the door.
Our presenters were: Orora, Booze Epoch, Secret Ships and WeGush. Our winners of American Airlines Business Extra points (Crowd Choice favorites) were: ReFleece, Booze Epoque, Secret Ships and grand prize winner, Orora Global.
Thanks as always to Tech Writer Janet for her masterful attempt to capture a MIN for the ages. She has an awesome overview and one of our favorite images of the night — a photographer jumping up from the crowd to get a CLOSE UP picture of our featured product presenters. We do tell the presenters that there is "no expectation of privacy" but I think several left at the end of the night with floaters still in their eyes from flashbulbs. In Tech Boston has also released their overview of the event. And, our old friend Perry Persoff weighed in with his three favorites. Ben from the Harvard Crimson evidently "ate the dogfood."
And…we're off again! Join us at our next event!