In brief: CareerVillage finds fans; startups speak up on Innovation District rents
Posted by: Kyle Alspach and Daniel Kobialka at Boston Business Journal | July 2012 | Read Original Article
Jared Chung launched Cambridge nonprofit startup CareerVillage last December to give high schoolers a hand as they mull their future opportunities.
The site lets students ask career questions and receive direct responses from professionals, and according to Chung, the idea has gotten some early interest.
Seven schools or after-school programs, 13 teachers and 340 students in Boston, Connecticut and New York took part in the pilot of the CareerVillage site, and 85 percent of participants said they would recommend the tool after the pilot's completion last month, he said.
Chung said the company is self-funded to date but has applied for several grants, and is also looking to approach several foundations in coming months.
Ultimately, Chung's goal is to develop the largest active mentorship community in the country, which could allow CareerVillage to serve millions of students and professionals each year.
Startups speak up on rising Innovation District rents
Matthew Bellows, co-founder and CEO of startup Yesware, said a new $4 million round for the company hasn't made it any less keen on finding inexpensive office space.
Yesware is among the local startups that have recently toured spaces in the Innovation District as it looked to scale up to a larger office, but opted for a less expensive lease elsewhere in Boston (for Yesware, it was on Kingston Street near Downtown Crossing).
"I don't think that giving $40 per square foot to landlords is a good use for investor dollars," Bellows said.
Meanwhile, for device startup Temperature@lert, months of searching for a brick-and-beam space in the Innovation District also didn't produce any affordable options, said founder and CEO Harry Schechter. The company ultimately settled on an office on Lincoln Street in the Leather District.
