Branding is not a new topic for the Boston tech community. We all know Route 128 is no longer where the energy is, we’ve exhaustively debated the merits of ‘Boston’ vs. ‘Cambridge.’ And yet no single moniker that I know of has emerged to reflect the shifting urbanization of Greater Boston’s tech and startup communities.
Jay Batson, co-founder of Acquia among other things, had a great post on Friday about the need to reflect this shift in how we talk about the tech ecosystem. He writes:
This shift in the Boston tech scene is so significant that I think we (the Boston tech community) should name this new corridor, and using the name to bring attention to it. The mere act of doing so can accelerate the reality of it. Having this as part of our dialog can open opportunities across the board – not merely for office space, but for company cross-pollenation, capital, municipal cooperation, and general partying. I’m inviting your help to name it, and make it so.
The post goes on to nicely capture the history of Route 128 and the trends that have led to today’s more urban ecosystem. In his conclusion, he asks readers to suggest names to reflect that shift.
What about, simply, The Red Line?
If Kendall is the heart of Boston’s tech community, the Red Line is its major artery. The Red Line connects Boston and Cambridge, the two cities that together encompass the metro region’s innovation community. It handles the flow of entrepreneurs in and out of Kendall, and it connects that area to other burgeoning startup hubs including South Station and the Leather District. (While the Innovation District continues to grow, much of that activity is just across Fort Point Channel, not far from South Station.)
The Red Line is simple and catchy. It means something for residents of the city but could come to signify, beyond our borders, a community and a culture, the way Silicon Valley currently exists in public discourse.
What is The Red Line about? Ideas
Notably, the Red Line runs past both Harvard and MIT, the city’s top universities, which play a disproportionately large role in its tech scene. This brings me to a point I’ve made regularly in conversation and occasionally in posts, with regard to how Boston tech should be branded, beyond the name. The right approach builds on Paul Graham’s excellent essay about Cambridge and the character of cities:
As of this writing, Cambridge seems to be the intellectual capital of the world. I realize that seems a preposterous claim. What makes it true is that it’s more preposterous to claim about anywhere else. American universities currently seem to be the best, judging from the flow of ambitious students. And what US city has a stronger claim? New York? A fair number of smart people, but diluted by a much larger number of neanderthals in suits. The Bay Area has a lot of smart people too, but again, diluted; there are two great universities, but they’re far apart. Harvard and MIT are practically adjacent by West Coast standards, and they’re surrounded by about 20 other colleges and universities. [1]
Cambridge as a result feels like a town whose main industry is ideas, while New York’s is finance and Silicon Valley’s is startups.
This is what makes The Red Line special. There is likely no other place on the planet brimming with so much intellectual curiosity in so little space. The Red Line connects those ideas to action, through startups, investors, incubators and the rest.
That, in a nutshell, is how I vote we talk about the Boston tech scene. Or should I say, The Red Line.
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