On Thursday, innovators, investors and industry leaders will gather at the Westin Waterfront to discuss the future of our state’s top sectors, from sports and retail to tech and robotics. Those who snag seats in the crowd at the State of Innovation Forum will be privy to dynamic panel conversations, led by dozens of local influencers and established executives. To make the afternoon even sweeter, attendees will get to be a part of a fireside chat with none other than New England Patriots owner Jonathan Kraft, and witness a keynote delivered by AngelList Co-founder and CEO Naval Ravikant.
But enough with the “listening” portion of the event.
If you attended our State of Innovation Forum in 2013, you’re well aware that the panels make up just part of the event’s overall appeal. The lessons learned and wisdom imparted from this year’s lineup of visionary speakers will be thought-provoking, not to mention entertaining.
Perhaps even more valuable, however, is the opportunity to actually spark a conversation of your own with other entrepreneurial folk – including the stellar panel participants themselves. There will be magic happening in-between breakout sessions, over beers at the after party, and trust us – you’ll want to be a part of it.
Consider this: Put a bunch of big thinkers, risk-takers, seasoned entrepreneurs and investors in a room. After a few minutes of meeting and mingling, business ideas are bound to blossom.
Just take a look at some of these startups that could form below if some of our panelists teamed up on Thursday for their next venture.
KarmaBus
Introduce Matthew George, the founder of big data bussing startup Bridj, to street-style retailer Karmaloop's Greg Selkoe, and you might get KarmaBus, a fleet of swag-mobiles whose routes are crowdsourced to take you to the best bars Boston has to offer, in the shortest amount of time. Oh, and remember when Karmaloop got those strippers involved for Cyber Monday? Let’s just say they might be making a comeback when this new startup rolls out a beta.
Zoomba
Not to be confused with the trendy choreographed dance workout fad, Zoomba could be the brainchild of former Zipcar CEO and current General Catalyst XIR Scott Griffith and iRobot chief executive Colin Angle. We bet that this subscription-based self-driving car startup smashes Google’s gumdrop-shaped, self-driving vehicles to pieces.
QloBig
… or go home, people. It’s time that sportswear got a bit sleeker, and who better to usher in the dawn of a new athletic gear era than New England Patriots owner Jonathan Kraft and Japanese retailer Uniqlo CEO Larry Meyer? Get Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman and our favorite sporty Bostonian couple, Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen, in on the idea, and say “konnichiwa” to your marketing strategy … and “later” to lululemon.
George
Because simple is sometimes best when it comes to naming your company. How great – and kind of terrifying – would it be if George Forman III of The Club hatched a plan with Rethink Robotics CMO Jim Lawton to create a boxing version of Baxter, Rethink’s easily-trained, human-esque robot? Donning a pair of red boxing gloves, George would be the ideal training partner with athletes of all disciplines.
Watchrobe
Imagine a sleek wearable that could scan your outfit and let you know before you step out the door that those printed jeans just don’t quite compliment that striped top. Something of that sort just might become a reality if Susan Standiford, CTO of Rue La La, gets together with Brian Suthoff, co-founder and CSO of Localytics, on Thursday. The latter startup’s technology could be tweaked to provide analytics on how the pieces of your get-up have been perceived in the past, and then alert you if you’ve put together a “do” or a “don’t.” Bundle that into a stylish wearable line produced by designer e-commerce site Rue, and you’ll never run the risk of a fashion emergency again.
Think you can cook up some better startup ideas? Steal a ticket and see who you meet on Thursday.
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