Most entrepreneurs are so busy building businesses that they don’t have time to collaborate with local government. Jeff Bussgang is not most entrepreneurs. Listed in Boston Magazine as one of Boston’s 50 most powerful people in 2015, Bussgang has dedicated much of his work to ensuring Boston is a city where entrepreneurs can thrive and new businesses can find the support they need. Interested in promoting policies that give Boston a distinct competitive edge, Bussgang has worked with the state government to push forward business positive initiatives, such as the Global Entrepreneur in Residence program, which encourages international entrepreneurs to launch their start up ideas here instead of abroad. 

At our upcoming dinner, Bussgang will discuss the programs and public policies he thinks are necessary to make Boston the best place to start a new business. A venture capitalist, entrepreneur, Harvard Business School professor, and author of Entering StartUpLand, Bussgang will also offer advice for those working in the startup world, or for those who are interested in that career path.

Complimentary copies of Entering StartUpLand will be available for dinner attendees. 

About the Speaker

Jeff Bussgang is a General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners. His investment interests and entrepreneurial experience are in consumer, machine learning, artificial intelligence, education, financial, marketplace, mobile and SaaS start-ups. Jeff founded the The Graduate Syndicate, a micro-seed fund that invests in startups co-founded by recent Harvard graduates, for the firm. He also serves as a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School and teaches a class on entrepreneurship and lean start-ups called Launching Technology Ventures.  In this capacity, he has co-authored twenty HBS cases and notes regarding startup management and entrepreneurship.

Prior to joining Flybridge in January 2003, Jeff co-founded and served as President, Chief Operating Officer and Board Director at Upromise, a loyalty marketing and financial services firm that was acquired by Sallie Mae. He also served as Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and Business Development, Vice President of Worldwide Professional Services and head of Product Management at Open Market, an Internet commerce software leader that went public in 1996. Prior to Open Market, Jeff was with the strategy consulting firm, The Boston Consulting Group.

In 2017, Jeff authored a book for startup joiners, Entering StartUpLand:  An Essential Guide to Finding the Right Job. In 2010, Jeff authored a book on venture capital and entrepreneurship, Mastering the VC Game, to provide entrepreneurs an insider’s guide to financing and company-building. The book has been hailed by the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, TechCrunch and The Financial Times as an essential guide for entrepreneurs.  The first chapter of Mastering the VC Game can be downloaded here.

Jeff is an active community member, serving as co-chairman of the board of educational non-profit, Facing History and Ourselves, co-founder of a private-public partnership designed to tackle the underrepresentation of highly-skilled minority employees in Boston’s innovation ecosystem, Hack. Diversity, co-founder and co-chair of an immigration reform non-profit, the Global EIR Coalition, and co-founder and chair of the progressive policy organization, The Alliance for Business Leadership. Jeff also serves on the board of the New England Venture Capital Association and EdX, the massively open online course provider created through a joint venture between Harvard and MIT.

Jeff holds a BA in Computer Science from Harvard University where he graduated magna cum laude and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar and a Ford Scholar.