Last night Mullen’s cafeteria hummed with near-frantic three-minute conversations between 20 somethings and CEOs, CMOs. The Start Something event hosted by TNGG for FutureM this year was essentially a speed dating event for young people and C level executives.
I had the good fortune to sit down with Dianne Hessen (Communispace), Lisa Hickey (Good Men Project), Rob Weisberg (Zipcar), Sean Belka (TEDx Boston), Jeff Janer (SpringPad), and Damien Smith (Yelp). Not to polish the apple, but even by the third round each and every one of them were attentive, interested and engaging.
The main questions I had for each of them were: (1) Is it possible to be too young to be an entrepreneur (that is, is their value in cutting your teeth in an industry before setting out on your own); (2) Is an MBA worth it/ necessary to do well? The answers to both of these questions were a near unanimous no and no. The latter was not shot down entirely, but those with and without were at best lukewarm on the value of an MBA.
Thanks to all the companies that came out to support the young people in Boston and TNGG, and thanks to TNGG’s Christine Peterson, Alex Pearlman, Celia Nissen and Edward Boches for organizing this event!
Photos via TNGG
