Intelligent.ly, a local leadership development program popular among the Boston tech crowd, is shutting down this year, but it may have a future in a different form.
In a blog post published Wednesday morning, co-founder Sarah Hodges said she and Dave Balter decided to close Intelligent.ly because they could no longer give it the attention it deserves while the two focus on full-time endeavors. Hodges is a partner at local venture capital firm Pillar while Balter runs a cryptocurrency investment service called Flipside Crypto.
Hodges said two current sessions, one started in November and another this month, will continue as planned and will be run by Casandra Varao, Intelligent.ly's events and marketing coordinator. She added that Gabriela McManus, the program's executive director, has found a new people ops leadership role at a local startup.
Hodges said 1,950 people from more than 120 companies have gone through Intelligent.ly's leadership programs. Several big names in the Boston startup community and beyond have served as speakers, including DraftKings CEO Jason Robins, angel investor David Chang, C Space Chairman Diane Hessan and author Seth Godin.
"It changed my whole outlook on work."
Janet Comenos, founder and CEO of adtech startup Spotted, told BostInno that the program had a "tremendous impact" on her while she was transitioning into a manager role at her previous employer, Promoboxx. She said one of the things the program taught her was how to resolve conflict in a mature manner with her boss.
"It basically helped me transition from a situation that was challenging to a much healthier relationship," Comenos said. "It changed my whole outlook on work."
Comenos said Intelligent.ly also helped open up her network, allowing her to meet people like Jennifer Lum, who is now co-founder and COO at Forge.AI.
"I'm definitely bummed to see it go," she said.
While Hodges said Intelligent.ly is closing in its current format, she and Balter are confident that the program will live on in another format. She said more details on Intelligent.ly's second life will be shared sometime in the future.
"Building Intelligent.ly has been one of the most gratifying experiences of our careers, and we certainly didn’t do it alone," Hodges said.
