Stephanie Roulic couldn't land a job after college, so she took one she found on Craigslist at a marketing agency. In August 2016 she and the agency's founder spun a software company out of it, and she found herself Googling and buying books to figure out how to build a company. She created Startup Boston Week because she wanted one event that answered every question she had as a first-time founder, and the first one drew more than 2,000 people on a $0 marketing budget.
About two years before this conversation, after joining her second startup as employee 11 and leaving at employee 160, she went all in on Startup Boston full time. In this episode of The PR Bunker Podcast, recorded as Startup Boston Week headed into its 10th year, Stephanie and Don talk about community, connection and growth, with some North Shore versus South Shore trash talk over roast beef and bar pizza.
A few takeaways from the conversation:
The first year had founders from DraftKings, HubSpot, Localytics and ezCater on stage, which pulled people in. What kept them coming back was content built from the mindset of an early-stage founder who needs a road map. A volunteer squad of about 18 founders, operators, investors and accelerator and university leaders now builds the programming around one question, which is what the community needs. Stephanie says sponsors and donors matter, but they show up because of the value you give your members.
Startup Boston rests on three pillars that haven't changed in a decade, which are to connect, celebrate and educate the startup community. Its mission isn't to compete with accelerators or networking groups but to gather what already exists so founders can find it, which is why it runs resource fairs like its meet the accelerators fair. Stephanie admits networking used to be an afterthought to the educational content, and she planned to add more intentional one-on-one connections for year 10.
Her advice to her younger self is to ask for help. She was stubborn and bad at spotting what she needed, so she now suggests founders write down what they're good at and what they're bad at, then make friends with the people who can cover the gaps. A couple of companies she met in the first year or two have since gone public, and a pair of co-founders who met at one of her matching events now have users and are fundraising.
Startup Boston Week is free and organized in tracks by department, from customer success, engineering and product to a founder track and a startup curious track. To get a ticket, apply to speak or join the volunteer team, visit startupbos.org. Stephanie is also on LinkedIn, though she warns it takes her a while to answer DMs.
Listen to the full episode above.
Reading is the hello. SBGA is where we get to yes.
What is Startup Boston Week?
It's a free, week-long conference for Boston's startup community that Stephanie Roulic launched in 2016 to answer the questions she had as a first-time founder. Sessions are organized into tracks by department so attendees can go from 101 to 401 content in a day.
How are Startup Boston Week speakers chosen?
A volunteer programming team of about 12 people designs the panels, workshops and presentations first, then reviews speaker applications to find the best fit for each planned topic.
What are Startup Boston's core principles?
Connect, celebrate and educate the startup community. Stephanie says those three pillars have held steady since the first year.
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