“The inability to recruit enough bright software developers is definitely a governor on growth,’’ says Brian Halligan, chief executive of the Internet marketing firm HubSpot, which has 280 employees.
“It’s a constraint in Boston, and it’s a huge constraint in Silicon Valley,’’ he said. “Right now, the alternative to working for a company like ours is to go out and start your own.’’
According to a recent report from the investment tracking firm CB Insights, about $30 billion could be invested by venture capitalists this year - the biggest yearly figure in a decade. A growing chunk of that money is dedicated to seed-stage funding, which goes to tiny companies developing their first products. And in Boston, at least three new firms specializing in seed funding have sprung up in the last year. There’s also free office space available to selected entrepreneurs at places like Dogpatch Labs in Cambridge.
All that is good news for entrepreneurs, who are perennially convinced they’ve spotted an opportunity that no one else can see.
But whenever I talk to companies that have the potential to become new pillars in our state’s economy - employing thousands of people and perhaps becoming a publicly traded entity - they’re spending a huge amount of energy on hiring. And complaining about how difficult it is.
“A lot of the most talented people are going out and getting funded to start their own company,’’ says Matt Lauzon, chief executive of Gemvara, an online jewelry retailer that has 80 employees. “I was at the Starbucks in our building the other day, and the three tables around me were full of guys talking about the start-ups they were working on.’’
Lauzon acknowledges that sounds self-serving, especially since he and a Babson classmate started Gemvara right out of college. But he says graduating students ought to be more aware of the benefits of gaining a few years of experience at a small- or medium-sized company before going off to start their own.
