Do you know where the apps on your smartphone come from?
For the everyday Bostonian, the answer is likely a big ol' "No."
Tom O'Keefe, the man behind the Twitter handle @BostonTweet, was surprised when a fellow Tweeter told him that although she loves RunKeeper, she had no idea the fitness app was born in Boston. Her comment begged the question, "How many companies built in our own backyard are residents unaware of?"
With that in mind, O'Keefe launched #DownloadBoston, a website featuring nearly a dozen startups hailing from the Hub city-goers can integrate into their everyday lives. As O'Keefe explained, "People that aren't part of the everyday startup community, they don't know what's local."
Those who haven't popped popcorn and popped in The Social Network might not realize Facebook got its start here — a start so strong Founder Mark Zuckerberg has admitted, "If I were starting [Facebook] now, I would have stayed in Boston." No surprise why the social networking giant now has a Boston engineering office.
Beyond the big-name brands like Facebook, however, several other everyday apps are being built in Boston that you should be downloading over another non-local alternative. After all, the more we support our startups, the more financing they will receive. And the more financing they receive, the more employees startups can hire. So, why not help fuel that economic growth?
To help bolster Boston, check out the 14 startups below. Perhaps you won't use every one of their apps every single day, but you're bound to find an alternative to the services currently taking up space on your phone's home screen.
