Name the industry, and Boston has a success story to point to. Whether in robotics or e-commerce, a local leader has paved a path competitors can't contend with.
To help highlight that, BostInno is putting a handful of those victories on display at the second annual State of Innovation Forum, an afternoon full of big-name main stage speakers, panel discussions, breakout sessions and networking.
At 4:45 p.m. on June 12 at the Westin Boston Waterfront, a panel called The Billion Dollar Mark will be kicking off, featuring companies that have reached the billion dollar market cap, all while strengthening Boston's tech community in the process. Executives behind iRobot, Wayfair, Akamai and more will be in attendance, sharing insight on what it takes to grow that behemoth of a brand.
More than 1,000 people will be flocking to the Seaport for State of Innovation, including Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and AngelList Co-founder Naval Ravikant. To ensure you're among them, go snag your seat in the room.
Here's a look at the panelists behind The Billion Dollar Mark.
Mike Troiano, CMO at Actifio
Moderating the Billion Dollar Mark will be Mike Troiano, chief marketing officer of Actifio, a hyper-growth enterprise technology company targeted at changing the way customers around the world manage their data. Prior to Actifio, Troiano served as the founding CEO of Ogilvy & Mather, and was later on the executive team of mobile content pioneer m-Qube, recognized as one of the largest Boston-based venture capital exits of 2006. In March, Actifio raised a $100 million round on a valuation of $1 billion.
Jit Saxena, Chairman at Netezza and Founder of Applix
Jit Saxena is the founder of Applix Inc., a leading provider of analytical CRM software, which he took public in 1994. He continued to run the company until 2000, when he became chairman. Saxena then co-founded data warehousing firm Netezza, which went public in 2007 and was acquired by IBM for $1.7 billion in 2010.
Colin Angle, Co-founder and CEO at iRobot
Colin Angle is co-founder and CEO of iRobot, a global leader delivering robots that make a difference. Under his leadership, more than 10 million home robots have been sold worldwide, revolutionizing the way people clean. Another 5,000-plus military robots have been delivered to defense forces, performing thousands of dangerous missions, thereby keeping troops out of harm's way. With more than two decades of experience, Angle has become one of the world's leading authorities on mobile robots.
Barbara Messing, CMO at TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor's Barbara Messing leads the global marketing efforts for the world's largest travel site. Prior to joining TripAdvisor, Messing served in a variety of leadership positions at Hotwire, and was most recently vice president and general manager of TravelTicker. TripAdvisor went public in December 2011, its market cap hovering above $3 billion the morning of.
Steve Conine, Co-founder and CTO of Wayfair
Steve Conine co-founded Wayfair in 2002, and currently leads development of the architecting and software systems that give Wayfair its competitive edge. In March, the e-commerce giant raised $157 million in equity financing to power its path toward an IPO. Wayfair selected four banks for its IPO in mid-February, and, in 2013, had an annual revenue of $915 million, with a revenue growth rate of 55 percent and order intake exceeding $1 billion.
Brad Rinklin, SVP and CMO at Akamai
Brad Rinklin joined leading Web services provider Akamai in 2000 as a member of Global Sales, before becoming vice president of marketing in 2006. In the years to follow, he solidified and grew partner relationships with big-name brands such as IBM, Verizon and HP, soon becoming Akamai's SVP and CMO. Akamai went public on October 29, 1999, at $26 per share.
