EducationalValue I was amazed that not a single word in “Is College Still Worth It?” mentioned the value of what is actually learned (April 14). I received a liberal arts education at a private university in the mid-1960s. For me, what made college worthwhile was not just the money I later made from having a degree but the learning experience I had while I was there. It opened my eyes to a wider worldview and exposed me to people and ideasInever would have discovered. My education helped me to become a more thoughtful person than I might have been had I not attended. Nearly every life experience I’ve had since was enhanced by the education I received as an undergraduate. Sam Kafrissen Arlington This story asked the wrong question.Amore relevant and insightful question would have been “At what cost is college worth it?” The responses could be much different for an annual cost of $30,000 versus $90,000. Another way to approach this issue is to ask at what level of accumulated student debt a college education could be justified on the basis of economic return. Leaving college with a loan balance of, say, $15,000 is much different than $150,000 or more in terms of monthly loan payments and the impact on one’s discretionary spending and ability to build savings. Daniel Levenson Canton As a retired educational and vocational counselor, I would advise anyone decidCOMMENTS Puzzles onS H A Z A M S P A D E L A T E R B R O C A L I C O L I N U X E V A P E R O N O Y S T E R B O N N E T S E M I N O L E R D A S P E W E L E C T R I C O I L S N E C K H E C K S N L S L I P S N E A D P L E D T E R E S A E N O R O W A F R O F O R U M D S T F O I L T H E P I N C H P R E O P E M O S O B R O T A T E T E A M O T A D S M O D O D I S T B R A V A C H I C K P O I S E J O I N J A C K E T H A N O I K E I T H N U I H E R B N E R D S T R A I L S T L C I D A E N I A C S P I L L S T H E T O Y I C U A L T O S S L O E S I X N A S P O M P O M A S T O T A M E R A R T S T A I H A L O M O D E S O I L T H E D O Y L E L A R A J I G T U N A H E R O T H E B O Y S N O I S E I S O T O N I C A A R O N O N E T O N R E V E R S E S G N O T E N O D O N T THE GLOBE PUZZLE SOLUTION ing whether or not to go to college to rely on facts, not opinions. The survey done by the Globe and Emerson College is interesting, but it should not weigh too heavily on that decision. Every individual is different; what is right for one is probably wrong for another. Seek good counseling. There are aptitude tests that can give a good indication of whether one will be successful in various occupations, and interest inventories that can compare your interests to successful people in various occupations. Tim Parker Marblehead There is no consideration of potential job satisfaction, with the focus being exclusively on college cost, loans, and potential earnings. How many of the surveyed cohort might have found a rewarding career in a field unconnected with higher education? I speak as a college dropout; in my junior year, over 50 years ago, I abandoned a scholarship in favor of working. I am now long retired from a successful and lucrative 40-year career as a carpenter,tractor, and reator, and in retrnot have chosesatisfying way living. Perhaps on a college deleading to highis driven by the barrage of marhas convincedtheir satisfactioachieved only bmore and costlWesTo WhatDegOverlooked in article are the the building antion trades (“Htant Is a CollegToday’s Job Ma14). Compensaefits are excelljobs are readilthose who appselves in publiand vocationalIn my half-cenmercial bank lmajority of my and specialty cclients entered trade directly oschool. (All thiparents of otheI LLUSTR AT I O N F ROM ADO B E STOCK
M a y 12, 2 0 2 4 3 CONTACT US Write to [email protected] or The Boston Globe Magazine/ Comments, 1 Exchange Place, Suite 201, Boston, MA 02109-2132. Comments are subject to editing. n Page 34 4 1 8 7 5 2 6 3 9 7 2 6 1 3 9 4 8 5 3 5 9 8 6 4 7 1 2 1 7 5 2 4 3 8 9 6 8 4 2 6 9 1 5 7 3 9 6 3 5 8 7 1 2 4 5 8 1 3 2 6 9 4 7 2 9 7 4 1 5 3 6 8 6 3 4 9 7 8 2 5 1 SUDOKU SOLUTION building conal estate invesrospect, could enamore to earn a sthe emphasis egree usually her income erelentless rketing that people that on with life is by acquiring lier stuff. Steven Artigas sterly, Rhode Island gree this brief many jobs in nd construcHow Imporge Degree in arket?” April ation and benent, and these ly available to plied themic technical l high schools. ntury of comlending, a ylarge general contractor da building out of high is while the er students were driving around “looking at colleges.”) Many of them eventually founded companies that grew impressively in clients and number of employees. Paul Ricchi Rumford,Rhode Island I feel that the writers are making the wrong comparison. One should comparea22-year-old college educated job applicant with a 22-year-old without a college education. Even a bright 18-year-old high school graduate is unlikely to get hired because of lack of maturity and life experience, whereas a 22-year-old may well be hired despite a lack of a degree. College confers not only four more years of maturity at a critical time in one’s life, but actual experiences (living away from home, making decisions about money and time management), not only advanced education. Ellen Penso WestNewton As a manager who often hires new employees, I always look at degrees and years completed, and make rough calculations in my mind, to note who completed their bachelor’s in four years and grad degrees in typical durations. In fact, just the achievement of finishing what one has started I always take asapositive. We know all the posturing, pressure, and challenges that confront young adults; if one hasatrack record of completing a goal, and by reason handling all the smaller tasks and social pressures to get there, I think the applicant in front of me has, to some degree, what it takes to do the job. Peter J.Atkinson Salem
4 T H E B O STO N G L O B E M A G AZIN E “I REALLY WISH I ASKED HIM WHAT HIS SKIN CARE REGIMEN WAS.” DINNERP ERSP ECTIV E As soon as the news about the South Dakota governor’s dead dog broke, I felt a knot in my stomach. That wasn’t just because of Governor Kristi Noem’s almost theatrical cruelty in bragging about the time she took her family’s 14-month-old wirehaired pointer, Cricket, out back and shot her dead, for the sin of being insufficiently responsive to commands. Of course, I would find the story revolting — I haveafunctioning heart. But what made that knot grow was that I knew it wouldn’t be longafter Mitt Romney, yet aghis dog on the roof of hisfamily road trip. And for little responsibility. It’s troubling to see pemedia immediately equatmilder dog incident (relaNoem’s dog-execution-at-good metaphor for underwithin the Republican Pathe last dozen years. Kristi Noem, Mitt Romney, and the GOP’s Dog Problem BY NEIL SWIDEY
P H OTOGRAPHS: D O G BY RO D IMOVPAVE L/ADO B E; N O EM BY KAMI L K RZ ACZY NS KI /A FP ; ROM NE Y BY A NN A MO N EYMA KE R/GE TT Y IMAGES; G LO BE STAF F I LLUSTR AT I O N R WITH CUPID, P. 13 INSIDE LOVE LETTERS: PRIZED PORTRAITS P. 7 COOKING: BOLD SAUCES FOR THE GRILL P. 10 MISS CONDUCT: GUEST LIMITS P. 12 before the media came gain, for having once put s station wagon during a that, I bear more than a ople in politics and the ting Senator Romney’s atively speaking!) with -dawn. It’s also a pretty rstanding how discourse arty has coarsened over A refresher: In 2007, during Romney’s first presidential campaign, I unearthed the story of Mitt and his mutt. I reported how, back in 1983, Romney had driven his wife and five sons in their station wagon from Massachusetts to Canada, all while their Irish setter, Seamus, rode al fresco in a carrier Romney strapped to the car roof. The story causedastir during that 2008 campaign, but a much bigger one after Romney became the 2012 Republican nominee for president: New York Times columnist Gail Collins made good on her promise to mention it as often as she could when writing about Romney. And President Obama’s campaign exploited the anecdote to claim that a President Romney would treat the American people the same way he had treated his poor dog. Over the years, I’ve heard from quite a few Democrats who credited the Seamus story with
helping Obama get reelected. Losing petloving swing voters sure couldn’t have helped Romney. But I’ve also heard from Republicans who say the Seamus story helped pave the way for President Trump. If Romney had won in 2012, they contend, Trump would not have run in 2016, because he would have been facing an incumbent rather than a crowded open field. I’ve never bought into these claims from either camp. The idea that something as complex as a presidential election would turn on one long-ago pet incident seems too far-fetched. But what I didn’t realize back then is how much the “Romney dog incident” would preview the profound changes we would see in American politics — and American media. The Guardian wrote about Noem’s dog-slaying on April 26, quoting a passage from her forthcoming memoir. A HuffPost reporter later cornered Romney, and published an article under the headline, “ ‘I Didn’t Shoot My Dog’; Mitt Romney Resents Being Compared to Kristi Noem.” You can certainly question Romney’s judgment and sensitivity in putting his dog in a roof carrier for a 12-hour drive (even if he had nerdily fashioned a windshield for Seamus’ benefit). But how could that possibly compare with Noem bragging about shooting her dog — in front of a startled construction crew, no less— after Cricket attacked some chickens and she concluded the dog was untrainable? It’s not that many pet owners couldn’t relate to Noem’s frustration with a dog that seems impervious to training, and perhaps even dangerous. It’s that a shortlist contender to be Trump’s running mate could apparently think (incorrectly, it seems to be turning out) that bragging about playing backyard assassin with her dog would boost her favorability in MAGA Nation. What does that say about how uncouth political discourse has become? And what does it say about what politicians must think of their constituents? Compare that to the GOP discourse of 2012, when earnest, square, gee-willikers Mitt was the nominee. The biggest substantive criticism back then was that he was so desperate to become presthat he would contort any of his stances just to close the deal. Aswho spent lots of time with Romhis family back then, I came to sshape-shifting as a function of hground in business. He had becomously wealthy by being relentldriven. The Seamus story highliemotion-free operating system. (diarrhea? Hose him down and rto the roof.) I used to think the Seamus stmore play in 2012 than 2008 simcause Romney was the GOP nomsecond time. But I realize now thpart of the reason. The 2012 race was our first fuelection, dominated by smartphsocial media. Research increasinhow much we — amedia — have beeover the last decadtech’s algorithms,ward heat over ligmation over informImagine how Rhe enters his final in the Senate, feltforced to justify thhavior wasn’t as bSouth Dakota govwhat he thought seeing HuffPosan empty-calorie hot take with tity headline “I Didn’t Shoot My Dseeing a slew of other media outcluding the Globe) do some verssame story and headline. For all the legitimate criticism ney as a shapeshifting presidentdate, it’s worth noting how stiffbecame in the Senate. Rather thwhat so many of his colleagues driding Trump in private while obously refusing to hold him accouin public—Romney put the natiparty. As the sole Republican toconvict Trump at both of his imptrials, he’s had to withstand feroblowback. In the last few years, Romneymendously. It would be nice if thus could say the same. Neil Swidey is editor at large of Magazine. Email him at swideycom. How could Romney putting his dog in a roof carrier possibly compare with Noem bragging about shooting her dog?
M a y 12, 2 0 2 4 5 sident, spolitical s a reporter mney and see that his backome enorlessly logicghted his (Dog has return him tory got mply beminee the hat’s only ully digital hones and ngly shows and our en changed de by big which reght, affirmation. Romney, as lmonths being hat his bebad as the vernor’s. Or st publish the clickbaDog.” Or tlets (inion of that mof Romtial candi his spine han do did—debsequiuntable ion over vote to peachment ocious y grew trehe rest of the Globe @globe. selection value service CLOSEDTUESDAYS WWW.SEASONSFOUR.COM 1265 MASSACHUSETTS AVE. LEXINGTON, MA 02420 TEL 781.861.1200 THE OUTDOOR LIVING STORE • DESIGNERSWELCOME Mom’s Quiet Spot! Outdoor Projects Almost Complete? Don’t Delay!! outdoor furniture • home & garden decor umbrellas • tableware • firepits • sunbrella cushions • statuary pottery • fountains • perennials • trees & shrubs • annuals 2017 2021 2022 2023 We’ve Moved! 508-879-3290 1255 Worcester Rd • Framingham, MA Hours: Mon-Sat 11- 6 • Sunday 12-4 The Forgotten Foot “It’s Worth the Trip!” Sizes 6.5ww– 11ww, also 12m Women’s Fashion Shoes in hard to find sizes 6.5ww– 11ww, also 12m Boston • Framingham • Stoughton www.bostonbed.com Any Wall Bed $ or Cabinet Bed 100OFF ★★★★ ★ Consultation & Installation ★ ★ FREE IN THE GREATER BOSTON AREA SLEEP SOLUTIONS Expires 3/31/2024 FREE Consultation in the Greater Boston area Expires 6/30/24 Experience Globe.com Experience wanderlust. Experience Globe.com.
6 THE BOSTON GLOBE MAGAZINE SHARE YOUR EVENT NEWS. Send information on Boston-area happenings at least three weeks in aTUESDAY Fire and Rain Experience The Carole King & James Taylor Story with a crisp glass of rosé in hand at City Winery. Musicians Phoebe Katis and Dan Clews bring the catalogs of King and Taylor back to life in renditions of hits including “I Feel the Earth Move,” “Sweet Baby James,” “A Natural Woman,” and more. Doors open at 5:30; performance at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $23. Wine and food available for purchase.citywinery.com THURSDAY DiscoQueen See 13-time Grammy-nominated artist Diana Ross perform during her Beautiful Love Performances: Legacy 2024 Tour at Wang Theatre. The “Endless Love” singer and former Supremes frontwoman will bring her greatest hits, along with hercaptivating stage presence.7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $74. bochcenter.org SATUSmLearScieTeen Scienvard studscienmixinages bers. YOUR WEEK AHEAD 5/ 13-5/ 19 Upfront
IMAG E F ROM ADOBE STOCK advance to [email protected]. URDAY mell the Roses n the cra of perfumery during The ence of Scents and Fragrances: nWorkshop at Harvard Museum of nce and Culture. Taught by Harscience and engineering graduate ent Kathy Liu, teens will learn the nce behind creating a fragrance while ng a scent sample to take home. For s12-18. $30 members, $35 nonmem.2 to 3:30 p.m. hmsc.harvard.edu SATURDAY AND SUNDAY GameOn Score fan-favorite memorabilia such ascollectible sportscards during the Fenway Card Show at Fenway Park. There were be more than 100 global vendors on hand, and attendeescan meet former Red Sox athletes such as pitcher Derek Lowe and infielder Orlando Cabrera, as well as former team manager Terry Francona and others during Saturday’s autograph-signing session. $40 weekend pass, $25 one day pass. Times vary. fenwaycardshow.com Show off your bicycle during the Somerville Bike Pageant 2024 in the courtyard of Aeronaut Brewery, hosted by bicycle repairco-op Somerville Bike Kitchen. Submission categoriesinclude tandem, vintage,commuter, andmore.Attendeeswill compete for various prizes.Bicycle pre-registration closesMay 18.Rain location is the Somerville Bike Kitchen.1 p.m.to 5 p.m. Free. somervillebikekitchen.org Wheel Appeal SUNDAY
A.Does he seem attracteda random Tuesday? EverDoes he want to kissjust be near you—after a day ofbrunette looks, and glasses? If so, don’t worry about any oRemember, the pictures are froccasions. Sure, he loves how yoin those moments, but he also lothe moments themselves. One isfantastic vacation where you feltfrom kids for the first time. Thefrom a significant birthday. Thobe nights to remember, right? Thframe-worthy. If he seems more distant on abasis, and you have concerns abtion and attraction, in general, tabout it. Figure out ways to makmore courtship. But really, the pictures seem pinnocuous. He might get super eabout highlights and big lashes, doesn’t mean he doesn’t like the your looks too. Also, I’m sure you think he locertain outfits, with specific faciwithout). This is one of the few letters wwish I’d been able to see photos, way. I’d loveabasis of comparisplease feel free to write back and tips on how you get that look togone night. READERS RESPOND Most people use the best pictures of on social media or for display. So he’he thinks is the best pic of you to shoisthat a negative? Itsoundslike you’re projecting your ority onto your husband. Be happy he has pictures of you andone else.Find the new season of the Love podcast at loveletters.show. Meredith Goldstein wants your letters! Send your relationship quandaries and questions to lovelettersColumns and responses are edited and reprinted from boston.com/loveletters. Picture-Perfect MY HUSBAND PREFERS PHOTOS WHERE I DON’T LOOK LIKE MY EVERYDAY SELF. LOV E L ETTERS Q.I’ve been noticing for some time that on my husband’s phone wallpapers, caller ID, and framed pictures in his office at work, the pictures he chooses of us (or me) are from the rarest of special occasions where I’m almost unrecognizable from my day-to-day self. The photo that comes up on his phone when I call is a picture of me from a couples trip we made pre-COVID to Florida, which was our first big vacation without kids. I was spray-tanned with a crazy amount of blond highlights, I did big false lashes with the other girls, and wore a dressIwould never wear at home. For his office picture of us, it’s the same look from one of his milestone birthdays. I did the big blond look again because he said how much he liked it. I don’t mind it for special occasions, but I just get the feeling that my regular brunette self—with no makeup and sometimes glasses—doesn’t do it for him ...like the blond version of me is what he really wants. In all fairness, we went to college in the South; it’s where we met and dated, and blond and dolled up was THE uniform. But that was 20 years ago, before careers and two kids. Should I even bother approaching him? Or should I feel flattered? – Getting Worried in Westborough
M a y 12, 2 0 2 4 7 to you on r? you—or chores, of this. from big ou looked oves from a t freedom second is se would hey are a daily bout affectalk to him ke time for pretty excited but it erest of ooks best in ial hair (or where I ,by the on. Also, dshare gether in – Meredith fthemselves ’s using one ow off. How -ALFAown insecuPENSEUSE d notsome JSMUS Letters [email protected]. In Season 9 of Love Letters, we paytribute to the friends, relatives, therapists, and others who play a key role in relationships. Listen now at loveletters.show or whereveryou getyour podcasts. A PODCAST FROM
8 THE BOSTON GLOBE MAGAZINE STYLE WATCH The Wallflowers A STYLIZED FLORAL WALLCOVERING WITH LAYERS OF DENSE FOLIAGE AND EXUBERANT BLOOMS INJECTS FINNISH FLAVOR AND FUN INTO AN ARLINGTON KITCHEN. BY MARNI ELYSE KATZ Almost 20 years after moving into this two-family home in Arlington, the owners were ready to make sense of the mishmash of a kitchen that hadn’t been touched for over half a century. “There was no built-in cabinetry, just various pieces of standalone furniture,” says Resa Gray, the Honeycomb Design + Build partner who led the rejuvenation. Gray worked with the owners to ensure that the look and feel meshed with the home’s 1920 roots and reflected the family’s desire for whimsy and warmth. “We incorporated elements of Finnish style, a connection to nature, and cheery colors for a modern feel,” Gray says. 1 To increase the volume of the kitchen without expanding its footprint, the team cut down the partition wall that shields the rear stairs, then added a large window to pull in light. 2 The energetic floral wallpaper by Milton&King is a welcoming focal point that hints at the garden outside, and runs down to the first floor. “As we reviewed patterns, we kept going back to less traditional ones,” Gray shares. “Being surrounded by vibrantcolor brings joy to the family. ” 3 Unable to accommodate an island in the space, Gray designed a breakfast counter that faces the new window. Orange Eames stools areafun pop thatcomplement the blue cabinets. 4 Naturalcherry shelves accent cabinets painted blue with a hint of green— Sherwin-Williams’s Marea Baja. “Thatcorner is hard to reach so we used it as an opportunity for personal mementos and cookbooks,” the designer points out. 5 Gray opted for narrow tiles from Nemo Tile for the herringbone backsplash so that the composition reads as a texture more than a competing pattern. 6 The team uncovered fir floorboards under peeling checkerboard tiles, which they refinished then patched with boards salvaged from another project. “There are some blemishes, but the clients like the character,” Gray says. “It honors the age of the home.” Upfront 1
PHO T O G R APH B Y J E S S ICA DELANE Y 2 3 4 5 6
ON THE BLOCK Watertown Is Winning THE CITY, WHICH ONCE INCLUDED WHAT IS NOW WESTON AND WALTHAM, HAS PLENTY TO OFFER CLOSER TO BOSTON. $669,000 12 OLIVER ROAD #3 / WATERTOWN SQUARE FEET 1,321 CONDO FEE $225 a month BEDROOMS 3 BATHS 1 LAST SOLD FOR $585,000 in 2019 PROS Set on a private way near restaurants and bakeries, this top-floor unit in a 1910 building has high ceilings,central air, warm hardwood floors, dazzling light fixtures, and clever flourishes — like a wine fridge alcove with cork-and-glass shelves. Off the entry hall, find two bedrooms (one with stained glass transom window) and a family room with bay windows. Past a laundry room and a stylish bath at lef, the hall opens to a spacious great room, with a dining area by the bay windows and a built-in china cabinet. The updated granite-and-stainless kitchen has a breakfast bar plus a full pantry in the back hallway landing. There’s a third bedroom in back, and a shared porch off the living area. CONS Two tandem parking spaces are conditional use only. SARAH REDDICK SHIMOFF, COMPASS, 617-501-3015, [email protected] $985,000 136 WALNUT STREET / WATERTOWN SQUARE FEET 1,778 LOT SIZE 0.14 acre BEDROOMS 4 BATHS 1 full, 1 half LAST SOLD FOR $489,000 in 2009 PROS Perched on a hillsideamile from Watertown Square, this 1899 Queen Anne Victorian offers treetop views from its gracious front porch. Lef of the entry foyer, there’s a family room with a wood stove insert. French doors at right open to the living room and, beyond, a dining room with bay windows and built-in hutch. Past a half bath, the kitchen has solid surface counters and a mudroom that leads out to a professionally terraced backyard with stone walls, shed, and paver patio. On the second floor, a south-facing arched window bathes the landing nook in sunlight; four bedrooms share a bath. There’s a walkup attic, and a walkout basement with laundry. CONS Baths areabit dated, and it’sastair-studded hike up from the driveway. GENE HASHKES, WILLIAM RAVEIS, 617-270-9040, [email protected] — JON GOREY
M a y 12, 2 0 2 4 9 THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS The Next Generation of Tech Leadership Monday, May 13 2 p.m. ET Scan to sign up: VIRTUAL EVENT Or visit: Globe.com/techweek May 13–16 2024
1 0 THE BOSTON GLOBE MAGAZINE IN THE KITCHEN WITH CHRISTOPHER KIMBALL AND THE COOKS AT MILK STREET Upfront Getting Saucy TAKE YOUR GRILLING TO THE NEXT LEVEL WITH THESE BOLD SAUCES. BY CHRISTOPHER KIMBALL S ometimes, a good sauce can be the best way to up your grill game. We often use them to create punchy contrast that cuts through the savory richness of grilled meats and vegetables. First, a bright puree of cilantro, ginger, and lime serves double duty, enhancing the smoky notes of grilled snapper as both a basting sauce and a zingy condiment to serve alongside. Next, we balance the nutty, caramelized depth of grilled broccoli with harissa’s heat and sweet, acidic bites of pickled shallot. Finally, for our Thai-inspired grilled chicken—marinated in red curry paste and creamy coconut milk—we whip up a quick chili dipping sauce forabright, spicy-sweet counterpoint. Ginger-Lime Grilled Snapper With Herb Sauce MAKES 4 SERVINGS In this weeknight-friendly main, the fish is cooked on a stove-top grill pan. A zesty puree of cilantro, scallions, ginger, and lime comes together quickly in a blender and boosts flavor from start to finish. Some of it is rubbed on the fillets before cooking to season them and help the flesh caramelize as it browns. The rest of the sauce is served alongside, providing a bright contrast to the smoky fish. Choose a firm-fleshed fish, such as snapper, mahi mahi, or mackerel, that will hold up well during grilling. Coconut or turmeric rice is an especially good side. 1 cups lightly packed fresh cilantro 1 bunch scallions, roughly chopped 3 tablespoons nmore forthe g2 tablespoons rfresh ginger 1 tablespoon gplus 3 tablespplus lime wedKosher salt and grpepper Four 6-ounce snapmahi fillets, osteaks (aboutpatted dry Fresno or serrano seeded, and tgarnish (optioIn a blender, ccilantro, scallioger, lime zest aæ teaspoon eapepper. Blendsmooth, aboutscraping the jaMeasure æ cuintoawide, shtransfer the resmall bowl and the fish to the puree into all sson with salt. Warm a 12over high heat Globe readers get 12 weeks of Milk Street print magazine plus complete digit
GRILLED SNAPPER PHOTO G RAPH BY ERIK BERNSTEIN; B RO CCO L I BY JOE MURPHY neutral oil, plus grill pan roughly chopped rated lime zest, poons lime juice, dges,to serve round black pper fillets, mahi or swordfish t1-inch thick), chilies, stemmed, thinly sliced,to onal) ombine the ons, oil, ginand juice, and ach salt and on high until t1minute, ar as needed. up of the puree hallow dish; mainder to a dreserve. Add dish, rub the sides, and sea-inch grill pan tuntil water flicked onto the surface immediately sizzles and evaporates. Using a heatsafe brush, lightly coat the pan with oil, then place the fillets flesh side down in the pan. Cook until the fish releases easily, 2 to3minutes. Using a thin metal spatula, flip the fillets and cook, turning as needed, until the flesh flakes easily,4to 6 minutes. Garnish with the chilies, if using. Serve with the reserved puree and the lime wedges. Grilled Broccoli With HarissaVinaigrette and Pickled Shallot MAKES 4 SERVINGS Smoky, deeply charred broccoli is delicious, but grilling the vegetable can be tricky because the dense stems cook more slowly than the florets. The solution? We parcook the broccoli in the microwave. (Alternatively, you could blanch the broccoli in boiling water for 2 minutes, plunge into ice water just until cool, then pat dry.) Borrowingarobust flavor combination from Berber&Q: On Vegetables, by London chef Josh Katz, we make a harissa vinaigrette that we first toss with the broccoli before grilling, then at the end for a jolt of brightness. 1 pounds broccoli, trimmed, stalks peeled Kosher salt and ground black pepper 2 tablespoons white vinegar 2 medium shallots, halved and thinly sliced 3 tablespoons golden raisins ⁄ cup extra virgin olive oil 1 to 1 tablespoons harissa paste 3 tablespoons lime juice 2 teaspoons honey cup lightly packed fresh dill or mint, torn Slice the broccoli heads lengthwise into halves or quarters, depending on size, then into spears with stems about -inch thick. In a large microwave-safe bowl, tal access for just $1. Go to 177milkstreet.com/globe. Ginger-Lime Grilled Snapper With Herb Sauce
mix teaspoon salt in cup water. Add the broccoli and toss; cover and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Toss, cover, and microwave until bright green and just shy of tender-crisp, another 2 minutes. Remove the broccoli from the bowl and set it aside. Discard the water from the bowl, then wipe out and reserve the bowl. (The broccoli can be cooled and refrigerated for 1 day.) In a small bowl, mix teaspoon salt with the vinegar and 2 tablespoons water. Stir in the shallots and raisins. Set aside, stirring occasionally, until needed. In the reserved large bowl, whisk together the oil, harissa, lime juice, honey, and teaspoon each salt and pepper. Measure out cup and set aside. Add the broccoli to the bowl with the remaining dressing and toss until coated. Prepareacharcoal or gas grill. Foracharcoal grill, spreadalarge chimney of hot coals evenly over one side of the grill bed; open the bottom grill vents and the lid vent. Heat the grill, covered, for5minutes, then clean and oil the cooking grate. Foragas grill, turn all burners to high and heat, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes, then clean and oil the grate. Place the broccoli on the grill (on the hot side, if using charcoal); reserve the bowl. Cook, occasionally turning the broccoli, until well charred and tender-crisp, 6 to8minutes. Return the broccoli to the bowl. Immediately add the reserved dressing (while the broccoli is hot) and toss. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Transfer the broccoli to a platter. Using a slotted spoon, lift the pickled shallots and raisins out of their liquid and scatter over the broccoli; discard the liquid. Sprinkle with the dill. Grilled Red Curry Chicken MAKES 4 SERVINGS In his latest book, 101 Thai Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die, Los Angeles chef Jet Tila includes a recipe for a simpler way to make gai yang, or Thai marinated chicken, a dish that, made the traditional way, requires a laundry list of items, including cilantro roots, turmeric, and lemon grass, plus a way to pound them to a paste. In his new spin, Tila combines only six ingredients to make an aromatic, flavor-packed marinade that comes together in minutes. In our adaptation of his recipe, we swap bone-in chicken thighs for Tila’s whole chicken and cut slashes into them so the marinade gets deep into the meat. Before use,stir the coconuto incorporateseparates to thleftover coconukeep in the freairtight contaieral months. Serve the chsteamed jasmi1 cup full-fat co cup Thai red c2 tablespoons c2 tablespoons w2 medium garliKosher salt 3 pounds bone-chicken thighSweet chili dippinfollows) and/to serve In a medium btogether the cocurry paste, cusugar, garlic, aspoons salt. Usknife, cut paraspaced about1in the skin side piece of chickethe way to the the chicken to using your hanmarinade onto and into the sland refrigerateGrilled BroccoWith Harissa Vinaigrette anPickled Shallo
MAY 12, 2024 1 1 hours or up to 24 hours. Prepareacharcoal or gas grill. Foracharcoal grill, ignite a large chimney of coals, let burn until lightly ashed over, then distribute evenly over one half of the grill bed; open the bottom grill vents. Foragas grill, turn all burners to high. Heat the grill, covered, for 5 to 10 minutes, then clean and oil the grate. If using gas, turn off one burner, leaving the remaining burner(s) on high. Remove the chicken from the marinade, scraping off as much as possible, and place the pieces skin side up on the cooler side of the grill. Cover and cook until the thickest parts of the thighs (not touching the bone) reach about 170 degrees, 35 to 40 minutes. Using tongs, move the chicken, still skin side up, to the hot side of the grill. Cook, uncovered, until lightly charred on the bottom, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the chicken skin side down and cook until the skin is crisped and lightly charred, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer skin side up to a platter and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve with the dipping sauce and/or lime wedges. Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce MAKES ABOUT CUP 3 medium garlic cloves, finely grated 2 red Thai chilies, stemmed and thinly sliced, or 1 to 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes cup white sugar cup white vinegar Kosher salt In a small saucepan, combine the garlic, chilies, sugar, vinegar, cup water, and teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then reduce to medium heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until lightly syrupy and reduced to about cup, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a jar or small bowl and cool completely. Christopher Kimball is the founder of Milk Street, home toamagazine, school, and radio and television shows. Send comments to magazine@globe. com. , be sure to ut milk well e the fat that he top. Any ut milk will eezer in an iner for sevhicken with ine rice. oconut milk curry paste curry powder white sugar c cloves, minced -in, skin-on s,trimmed g sauce (recipe /or lime wedges, bowl, whisk oconut milk, urry powder, and 2 teasingasharp allel slashes, 1inch apart, eof each en, cutting all bone. Add the bowl and, nds, rub the othe chicken lashes. Cover e for at least 4 oli nd ot
1 2 T H E BOSTON GLO B E M A G A Z INE I’m hosting party, and thpeople my cthe date to R“gentle remsponded.Hetactfully resed by asking a boyfriend “I’m so sorrplus-ones bmake it!” is particular rguest list—one—then You’re talkinot the evelimited tickreason to ethink you sYour woone no-go ihas no intepartners ofsocialize wiductive and a pragmatipeople to npeople have son with thbeen harpinare strugglisupport is hPlusPARTY GUBRING A DBUT NOT MISS COUpfrPLAGUED BYTHANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS Unlocking AI’s Potential Thursday, May 16 10 a.m. ET Scan to sign up: VIRTUAL EVENT Or visit: Globe.com/techweek May 13 – 16 2024
my child’s college graduation he guest list was limited to child really wanted there.As RSVP is approaching, I texted a minder” to those who haven’t reerein lies the dilemma: How do I spond to invitees who respondgif they may bring a date and/or or girlfriend to the party? Anonymous / North Reading ry, we’re not able to have but we truly hope you can sperfectly polite. If there’s a reason you can’t expand the —space being the most obvious mention that. But is there? ing about a graduation party, ent itself, for which there are kets. If there isn’t any practical exclude additional people, I should allow plus-ones. ording implies that the plusis because your adult child erest in socializing with the f the people they do want to ith. If so, that’s an unprodungenerous attitude. On c level, it will cause some not attend. And why not let etheir emotional support perhem at a party? (I know I’ve ng on this, but a lot of folks ing socially and a little extra hugely welcome.) It’s also not a great look to invite some couples and not others, especially if a spouse of one year gets invited while a significant other of two years does not. Finally, your recent grad is entering prime growing-the-social-network years. This is one of the ways such networks grow—through meeting people vetted by existing friends and acquaintances, not by hermetically sealing off a curated group. Why can’t people say thank you when receivingagift? I noticed this around 10 years ago with a nephew who never acknowledged gifts I sent him. When I finally asked my brother if his son got the gifts, he got really annoyed and snarled “Of course he did.” Now this seems to extend to just about everyone I give gifts to. What changed in at least letting the sender know, yeah, I got this? R.C. / Vermont Oh, your complaint has been around longer than that! I can’t bring myself to be a stickler about the format of thank yous, but yes, people should do something to acknowledge a gift. If they don’t, you can always check in withagift recipient; maybe the gift didn’t arrive or the thank you is in your spam folder. But if someone responds like your brother did—or is consistently ungrateful—stop sending gifts. Not to punish them, but because they’ve made it clear that gifts aren’t something they value. There’s no need to continue doing kind deeds for people who don’t want them! Release yourself from the obligation. Miss Conduct is Robin Abrahams, a writer with a PhD in psychology. None UESTS ARE ASKING TO DATE. PLUS, PRESENT — ACCOUNTED FOR. NDUCT ront YAPET PEEVE? Miss Conduct can help! Write [email protected].
7:15 P.M. MIDA, BOSTON SMOOTH BEGINNINGS Ben I enjoy meeting people in person more than online because I feel like you get more of a spark in person, and I also really want a meet-cute. Gabe I needed some practice putting myself out there in the Boston dating scene since I’ve only lived here for two years. Ben I listened to the Feelin’ Myself playlist on Spotify (mostly because it’s packed with Sexyy Red,who I’m really into right now). Gabe I listened to my R&B playlist while getting ready. I ended up wearing a hat because I didn’t like how long my hair was, but overall I think my fit came together well. Ben The hostess was so excited— it seemed like the best part of her day. She pointed to the end of the bar and said,“That’s him.” Gabe Ben came up and introduced himself with a handshake. First thing I noticed was his perfect hair. I was also fascinated by his good skin. I really wish I asked him what hisskin care regimen was. SKINSECRETS Ben He’sfrom California and went to UC Davis. He visited Boston for the first time and then, less than five monthslater, he moved here because he loved it so much. He works as a health care consultant for doctors. Gabe He grew up in Connecticut and graduated from Northeastern with a degree in finance. Ben It felt like friendly chit-chat and not necessarilyadate. Gabe It was easy to talk to him and he gave of a very calm demeanor. Ben I ordered the Secret Garden for a cocktail(it felt like a spand then we ordered the fritto misto, a fried seafooMy Arctic char was fantascooked perfectly. The servfantastic. I loved our waitGabe I ordered the short rThe food was good, no coBen It did notseem like thmatch. He was older than There was a big diferencwe lived. Also, our careerscollege were completely uGabe I do not think that[work out, due to our age FLAWLESS FINALITY Ben It was late and I had train the next morning so get home and he also hacommute home. I think it mutual that the date woGabe Ben gave me his nubecause I wanted to makwe both made it home saalso wanted to share somresources as he’s applying Ben He was really nice bulike there was nothing beand I think he felt the samsure we were actually atteach other. Gabe We just waved goodkiss because I personally on a first date. SECONDDATE Ben No, there was no cheGabe I don’t think so. I donecessarily think there isspark, and that’s OK. GRADINGTHE DATE Ben/C Gabe/A — Compiled by MeDINNER WITH CUPID BEN POULIOS 23 / recent graduate HIS HOBBIES Tennis, cooking WHAT MAKES HIM A CATCH He’ssuper funny and conversational. GO ON A BLIND DATE. WE’LL PICK UP THE TAB. Fill out an application at bostonglobe.com/cupid. Follow us on Twitter or Instagram @dinnerwithcuGABE CENIZAL 27 / associate project manager HIS PERFECT SATURDAY Makeahomecooked dinner, do hisskin care routine, and watch hours of TikToks LAST THING HE READ The Groom Will Keep His Name: And Other VowsI’ve Made About Race, Resistance, and Romance Skin Deep WILL THESE DATERS SCRATCH BELOW THE SURFACE?
M a y 12, 2 0 2 4 1 3 ring vibe) North Shore od appetizer. stic and vice was ter. rib lasagna. omplaints. he best nI expected. ce in where s/majors in unrelated. [we] would diference. Yan early oI had to d a long twas pretty uld end. mber ke sure afe. I me career gfor jobs. ut I just felt etween us me. I’m not tracted to dbye! No never kiss emistry. on’t a romantic Melissa Schorr upid. SPONSORED BY Do We Need a New Innovation Playbook? Thursday, May 16 4:00 p.m. ET Scan to sign up: IN PERSON EVENT Or visit: Globe.com/techweek May 13–16 2024
1 4 T H E BOSTON GLOB E MAGAZINE PL202
TECH POWER LAYERS 24
AndrewBialeckandEdHallen KLAVIYO / SOFTWARE WinnFo1 IMaGE FROM aDO B E STO CK
M a y 12, 2 0 2 4 1 5 B Y S COTT KI RS NE R I n December 2013, Ed Hallen and Andrew Bialecki were not sure it made sense to throw a holiday dinner. The employees at their company, Klaviyo, consisted of just the two of them and an intern. But they showed up at Mooo on Beacon Hill anyway and hadasemifestive steak dinner. Just overadecade later, Hallen, Bialecki, and Klaviyo employees were again eating at Mooo. But this time, the check was covered by investment bankers who managed Klaviyo’s successful initial public offering last fall. The company, which sells marketing software to e-commerce merchants, now has 1,800 employees andastock market value of about $6 billion. That IPO and the consistent growth of Klaviyo helped propel Bialecki and Hallen to the top of The Boston Globe’s Tech Power Players list for 2024. In addition to growing their own company, the two founders are helping to reseed Boston’s tech ecosystem, investing in startups they hope will build even bigger companies. “A very big part of Klaviyo’s culture is to pay it forward,” ki Klaviyo's ning ormula
1 6 T H E BOSTON GLOBE M A G A Z I N E TECH POWER PLAYERS Bialecki says. In many ways, Klaviyo’s story shows that the fundamentals of building a successful tech company in Boston have remained consistent for decades. Well-educated and driven founders get experience at other people’s startups, spot an opportunity—and chase it. Boston entrepreneurs are still chasing opportunities, although it has become much tougher. Klaviyo’s was the only local tech IPO in 2023. Some tech-focused venture capital firms in the Boston area have shifted employment toward Silicon Valley and New York, stopped investing, or laid off employees. Venture capital dollars invested in Massachusetts fell 26 percent last year, according to the National Venture Capital Association and PitchBook, a Seattle firm that tracks investment markets. right time on the right daoffice two days a week, urecent Monday afternoontions, Lacey Berrien, wasan empty home while trywith family on ThanksgivHallen and Bialecki mFor both, it was their firswent to the University ofmoved to Cambridge to ewho grew up in Newton,He was an early engineerKlaviyo, focused on helpiitors into buyers. “The guy is a grinder,” boss at Performable, whicompany HubSpot in 201TECH POWER PLAYERS
Andrew Bialecki (left) and Ed Hallen (above) At the same time, the question of what constitutes a local tech company — and what it looks like as it grows from startup to industry force — has been redefined by remote work and location-agnostic hiring. That expands the talent pool, but it also means fewer people taking the T downtown or going out for lunch. To witness even moderate activity at a tech company these days, you must drop by at the ay. At Klaviyo, employees are in the usually Tuesday and Thursday. On a n, the company’s head of public relas a bit likeareal estate agent showing ying to conjure visions of it bustling ving. met at a Virginia data analytics startup. st full-time job after college. (Hallen f Virginia, Bialecki to Harvard.) Hallen earn his MBA at MIT, and Bialecki, came back for his next startup job. ring hire at Performable, which, like ing websites convert more of their vis”says Elias Torres, Bialecki’s former ich was acquired by digital marketing 11. “He was so Bialecki and Hallen initially funded the company by tapping their own savings, and then began landing customers. Continued on Page 27 B IA LE CK I P H OTO GR AP H BY D IA NA LE VI NE FO R T HE B OSTO N GLO B E
Rick Cohen SYMBOTIC / ROBOTICS
M a y 12, 2 0 2 4 1 7 B Y A ARO N PR ES SM AN After signing retail giant Walmart as the lead customer for the Wilmington company’s automated box sorting systems, Rick Cohen took Symbotic public in 2022 in a deal that valued the company at $10 billion. In 2023, Cohen struck a deal with Japanese tech company SoftBank Group in a venture to offer automated warehouse storage to smaller retailers. The deal helped boost Symbotic’s order backlog to $23 billion. Now the New Hampshire billionaire is looking for more places to put Symbotic’s robots to work. “A confluence of technologies,” Cohen says in an email, “made it possible for Symbotic to design a system that could potentially move every box in the world with greater efficiency.” A new system dubbed BreakPack, which handles individual items instead of cartons of goods, is ready for customers, Cohen told Wall Street 2
1 8 T H E B O STO N G L OBE M A GAZ I N E TECH POWER PLAYERS analysts in February. And Symbotic is tweaking its carton-moving robots to handle perishable goods at low temperatures. “I can’t give you a number for the market,” Cohen told analysts, “but it’s a big market.” Overall sales are accelerating. Last year, revenues hit almost $1.2 billion, nearly double the revenues of 2022, and Symbotic's stock price rose 330 percent — the best performance of any local tech company. The value of Cohen’s 38 percent stake, which includes the holdings of family trusts, rose to more than $10 billion. Cohen spent almost 30 years running his family’s grocery business, C&S Wholesale Grocers, before shifting to head up the robotics business as CEO six years ago. But he was constantly experimenting with automation technologies for his grocery warehouse, building one of the most advanced sorting and storage systems at a facility in York, Pennsylvania, in the 1990s. Cohen is also known for having sharp elbows. He was deeply involved in Symbotic’s operations as chairman of the board as the company went through three CEOs in six years, from 2011 until the end of 2017. Cohen then stepped in as chief executive, giving up the top job at C&S. In 2022, he recruited longtime electronics industry exec Michael Loparco to take over at Symbotic, but the partnership lasted only eight months. Loparco departed and Cohen returned to the CEO role. But Symbotic hasn’t missed a beat. Sales rose 80 percent in the first quarter. ª Aaron Pressman is a Boston Globe technology reporter. Send comments to [email protected]. TECH POWER PLAYERS HOW WE MADE THE TECH POWER PLAYERS LIST Tech Power Players 50 highlights local leaders’ impact on technology and business. All candidates were scored by Globe journalists and an external advisory committee. We ranked them by their economic impact and their influence in the tech community, including their eforts in mentorship, diversity, and equity. We prioritized achievements from the past year. In some cases, we chose to honor more than one person from the same organization in one slot. COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY DANA GERBER, HIAWATHA BRAY, SCOTT KIRSNER, AARON PRESSMAN, AIDAN RYAN, AND ESHA WALIA EDITED BY ROB GAVIN AND GREGORY T. HUANG EXPLORE MORE FROM THE LIST ONLINE AT GLOBE.COM/TECH50
1 ANDREW BIALECKI AND ED HALLEN Klaviyo / SOFTWARE (see page 15) 2 RICK COHEN Symbotic / ROBOTICS (see page 17) 3 YVONNE HAO State of Massachusetts VENTURE CAPITAL Hao, appointed in January 2023, spent her first year as secretary of economic development working to expand the state’s support for technology and biotechnology while facing some of the toughest business conditions in years. She played a leading role in crafting the Healey administration’s $3.5 billion economic development bill. Before joining state government, Hao spent two decades building, running, and financing businesses, including cofounding the private equity firm Cove Hill Partners. 4 JASON ROBINS DraftKings / CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY Robins, chairman, CEO, and cofounder of DraftKings, has brought his company’s sportsbook offerings to 27 states and grown DraftKings’ stock market value to about $20 billion. It all started with a fantasy—fantasy sports, that is. Robins, Matt Kalish, and Paul Liberman launched DraftKings from a Watertown apartment in 2011, first offering daily fantasy games with cash prizes and then expanding into gambling as states legalized sports betting. 5 DHARMESH SHAH AND YAMINI RANGAN HubSpot / SOFTWARE Rangan, the CEO, and Shah, chief technology officer and cofounder, lead the state’s biggest software company, driving innovation both at the company and throughout the region’s tech ecosystem. Rangan, who succeeded cofounder Brian Halligan, has led HubSpot to new heights, introducing new products and technologies, including artificial intelligence. Shah is one of the region’s most active entrepreneurs and mentors, having invested in more than 80 startups. 6 CARMICHAEL ROBERTS Material Impact/ VENTURE CAPITAL Roberts has made it his mission to lift up companies tackling global issues. As cofounder and managing partner of venture capital firm Material Impact and co-lead of the investment committee for climate-focused Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Roberts has funneled money into companies developing solutions to make the world more sustainable, from lab-grown cotton production to air conditioning that consumes less electricity than traditional cooling systems. 7 KATIE RAE Engine Ventures / VENTURE CAPITAL After six years at the helm of MIT spinout The Engine, Rae narrowed her focus in 2023 when the organization split into two entities:apublic benefit corporation dubbed The Engine H AO PHOTO G RAPH BY DI AN A LEVIN E FO R TH E BOSTO N G LOBE
Accelerator and the venture capital firm Engine Ventures. Rae is now leading the VC operation, continuing her long record of investing in up-and-coming tech firms that are developing “tough tech” solutions to global problems. 8 JEREMY ALLAIRE Circle / FINTECH Allaire is the chief executive of Circle, which since 2013 has steadily grown to one of the most respected companies in the cryptocurrency industry. Circle is best known for its “stablecoin,” or USDC, which is pegged to the value of the US dollar. Circle hopes to join a handful of public crypto companies after filing in January for an initial public offering. 9 COREY THOMAS Rapid7 / CYBERSECURITY As CEO of Rapid7, Thomas has made the Boston company into a powerhouse of threat intelligence, ransomware prevention, and digital forensics, providing cybersecurity tools to some 10,000 companies. He was appointed to the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee last year and chairs the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. 10 NIRAJ SHAH Wayfair / CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY Over the last 20-plus years, Shah has built Wayfair into an e-commerce powerhouse. The online retailer of couches, dining room tables, and decor netted $12 billion in revenue in 2023. The company—which Shah took public a decade ago—is making another foray into brickand-mortar retail this spring when it opens a large-format store outside of Chicago. 11 TYE BRADY AND ROHIT PRASAD Amazon / ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE The Amazon pair lead the tech giant’s operations in Greater Boston. With the company looking to add more generative AI products, Prasad shifted from overseeing Alexa to become head scientist for artificial general intelligence. Brady, chief technologist at Amazon Robotics, is helping develop new robots for packing goods and testing humanoid robots in the company’s warehouses to see whether they have a place there. 12 AMAN NARANG Toast / SOFTWARE Narang,aToast cofounder, became CEO this year, after serving as chief operating officer and helping guide the restaurant technology company through its 2021 initial public offering. The company has streamlined the operations of more than 100,000 restaurants through its products — such as point-of-sale and kitchen display systems — and has a stock market value of about $13 billion. 13 BRIAN HALLIGAN Propeller Ventures / CLEANTECH After shaking up marketing as a founder and CEO of the software powerhouse HubSpot, Halligan is now making waves in the world
M a y 12, 2 0 2 4 1 9 of climate tech. Halligan, who left HubSpot in 2021, is one of the entrepreneurs behind Propeller Ventures, a fund that has invested in more than a dozen companies developing sustainable technologies related to the ocean, from electric-powered boats to carbon-removal processes. 14 CLAIRE HUGHES JOHNSON Stripe / FINTECH Hughes Johnson has driven innovations at Stripe — a payment processing company whose clients include Amazon and Marriott — first as chief operating officer and now as a corporate adviser. She helped the company grow to more than 6,000 employees, from fewer than 200. Hughes Johnson was a leader at Google for more than 10 years, overseeing aspects of Gmail and consumer operations. 15 ED PARK Devoted Health / HEALTHTECH Park’s company, Devoted Health, provides health care software. The company recently raised $175 million to back its mission to help seniors, boosting its total venture funding to $2 billion. Devoted Health offers clinical care and uses proprietary technology to serve more than 200,000 members across 13 states, making it one of the fastest-growing and most successful health care companies in the country. 16 WILL AHMED AND EMILY CAPODILUPO Whoop / CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY Ahmed, founder and CEO of Whoop, and Capodilupo, the first full-time employee, have helped grow the company to a multibillion-dollar valuation. Whoop has advanced consumer technology through its fitness wearables. Ahmed has worked with athletes such as basketball legend LeBron James and soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo. Capodilupo helped create the Whoop Recovery Score, which tells users how ready their bodies are to train onagiven day. 17 DANIELA RUS Liquid AI / ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Rus, an innovator in robotics and AI, cofounded Liquid AI, an MIT spinoff that came out of stealth mode last year as it develops a new generation of artificial intelligence. She is also the director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT. Rus, who developed self-driving golf carts and the BakeBot robot chef, has two books out this year examining robots and AI. 18 ERIC PALEY AND DAVID FRANKEL Founder Collective VENTURE CAPITAL Since cofounding Founder Collective in 2009, Paley and Frankel have been at the forefront of the state’s venture capital scene, investing in such standouts as ride-hailing titan Uber, fitness wearables company
2 0 T H E BOSTON GLO B E M A G A Z I N E TECH POWER PLAYERS JoyBALGORITHARTIFICIAL INB Y A IDAN RYAN Joy Buolamwini didn’t set out to become one of the best-known critics of artificial intelligence. But while a graduate student at MIT in 2015, Buolamwini — who is Black—discovered that facial recognition software didn’t work for her face. That kicked off her journey from aspiring academic to accidental advocate, leading her to formulate the concept of “coded gaze,” or how the priorities, preferences, and prejudices of technologists get built into algorithms, software, and other products. That insight has grounded her work as she raises awareness of how technology can perpetuate bias and discrimination — and inflict harm—even without malicious intent. Her work over nearly a decade couldn’t have set Buolamwini up better for this moment. Big tech companies (such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon) and AI-focused firms (such as OpenAI and Anthropic) are investing billions of dollars into AI-powered chatbots and applications that generate images and video from text prompts. “While no one is immune to algorithmic abuse,” Buolamwini says, “those already marginalized in society shoulder an even larger burden.” Following her experience at MIT, Buolamwini gave a TED talk on combating bias in algorithms. In 2016, she founded the Algorithmic Justice League — a nonprofit organization that spreads awareness of the coded gaze through art and research. She now serves as the organization’s president and artist in chief and takes on speaking engagements across the world. Buolamwini was the subject of the 2020 Netflix documentary Coded Bias. 21 Buolamwini says warnrelevant than ever beforebeing used in weapons syand about the military tefor policing. But, her biggest conce“kill people slowly.” Her first book, UnmasProtect What Is Human iargues AI can play a role cess to housing, health caties. If AI is used to screeTECH POWER PLAYERS
Buolamwini HMIC JUSTICE LEAGUE TELLIGENCE nings about AI are more e. She worries about it ystems to target people echnology being adapted ern may be how AI can sking AI: My Mission to in a World of Machines, in denying people acare, and other necessien applicants for a job or claimants for health benefits, she says, it can perpetuate discrimination through the coded gaze —and harm people throughout their lives. “By recognizing and acknowledging the existence of the coded gaze,” Buolamwini says, “people can work toward mitigating algorithmic bias, preventing AI harms, and ensuring that technology is used ethically and responsibly to prevent harm and discrimination.” ª Aidan Ryan is a Boston Globe business reporter. Send comments to [email protected].
Whoop, ticket marketplace SeatGeek, and online pharmacy PillPack. Even with a slowdown in the VC market, the New York- and Cambridge-based firm continues to thrive, announcing its fifth fund in late 2023, with a total of $95 million. 19 PAUL ENGLISH Boston Venture Studio SOFTWARE English, best known for cofounding the travel booking site Kayak, is a serial entrepreneur who has launched companies such as Boston Venture Studio, an incubator for consumer technology startups. He is a cofounder of Embrace Boston, the nonprofit that aims to dismantle systemic racism and brought the sculpture The Embrace to Boston Common; and BannedBooksUSA. org, which sends books banned in Florida to anyone there who wants them. 20 LARRY BOHN AND DAVID FIALKOW General Catalyst/ VENTURE CAPITAL Bohn and Fialkow, through the Cambridge-based venture capital firm General Catalyst, have placed winning bets on startups over the past two decades. They have invested in companies including the software company HubSpot, which went public in 2014; software companies Datalogix and Vitrue, both of which were acquired by Oracle; and PathAI, which uses AI to help medical diagnoses. 21 JOY BUOLAMWINI Algorithmic Justice League ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (see page 20) 22 YAN WANG AND ERIC GRATZ Ascend Elements / CLEANTECH Wang,amaterials engineering professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and his former postdoctoral colleague Gratz developed a nontoxic method of extracting the costly minerals from used lithiumion batteries. Their company, Ascend Elements, has raised more than $1 billion in venture funding, including $542 million in the biggest VC round in Massachusetts last year. The company opened a factory in Georgia in 2023 and is building another in Kentucky. 23 UDI MOKADY CyberArk/ CYBERSECURITY After 18 years of leading the company he founded, Mokady last year gave up the role of chief executive but remains chairman of the board and active in the Boston cybersecurity scene. Mokady joined venture capital firm General Catalyst as an adviser for startups in AI, business software, and in Israel. Ten years after going public, CyberArk reached a stock market value of $10 billion in 2024. 24 MARK BARROCAS SharkNinja / CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY Barrocas, the CEO of SharkNinja, has helped lead the Needham-based maker of vacuums, blenders, and other household and kitchen appliances since he joined as B U O LaMW IN I P H OTO GR aP H By S UZ aNNE K RE IT ER /G LOBE STa FF
M a y 12, 2 0 2 4 2 1 president in 2008. Under Barrocas, SharkNinja has expanded its products, global footprint, and bottom line. Barrocas helped lead the company’s spinoff from Hong Kong company JS Global Lifestyle Co. in 2023. 25 JASON KELLY AND RESHMA SHETTY Ginkgo Bioworks / HEALTHTECH Kelly and Shetty, two of the cofounders of Ginkgo Bioworks, push the boundaries of technology and biotechnology. Their company aims to program cells like computers, for applications in the pharmaceutical, consumer, and energy industries. Ginkgo went public in 2021 in a merger with a so-called blankcheck company that generated some $1.6 billion for Ginkgo. The company in 2014 participated in the famed Y Combinator program. 26 JANE MORAN Mass General Brigham HEALTHTECH As chief information officer for consumer products giant Unilever, Moran oversaw a massive shift toward cloud computing. Now she’s in charge of the IT systems at one of the nation’s most prestigious health care companies. Moran plans to use AI to better manage patient records and clinical research data. She’s also tackling the challenge of integrating the digital systems of MGB’s far-flung network hospitals, clinics, and providers. 27 JEFF BUSSGANG Flybridge / VENTURE CAPITAL Bussgang, an investor, teacher, and author, is seeking to increase diversity in Boston’s tech sector and integrate AI in classrooms and companies. A cofounder and partner at Flybridge, he cofounded and chairs Hack.Diversity, which mentors Black and Latino tech professionals. In 2023, he created an AI chatbot to help Harvard Business School students learn case studies. And he’s writing a book to help startup founders understand AI. 28 YOUNGME MOON AND KARIM LAKHANI Harvard Business School EDUCATION Moon and Lakhani, professors of business at Harvard Business School, are each focused on the intersection of AI and technology. Moon is the author of the best-selling book Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd, about redesigning business strategies. She has sold more than 2 million case studies on businesses such as IKEA and Uber. Lakhani is founder of the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard and has worked closely with NASA. 29 MIGUEL DE ICAZA Xibbon / SOFTWARE A longtime champion of open-source technology, de Icaza returned to his roots as a programmer in 2022 when he launched Xibbon, a Boston startup that builds game M ay 1 2 , 2 0 2 4 2 1
2 2 T H E BOSTON GLOB E MAGAZ INE TECH POWER PLAYERS treats that meet the company’s usual strict standards, with grass-fed beef and free-range chicken. 33 AISHA FRANCIS Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology / EDUCATION Francis, former managing director of development at Harvard Medical School, is the first woman to lead Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology, Boston’s 116-year-old technical and trade school. Francis is overseeing the school’s transition from its South End location to a new $75 million campus in Roxbury’s Nubian Square. Construction at the new site began in March, with completion expected in 2025. 34 MOHAMAD ALI IBM Consulting / SOFTWARE Ali began his career at IBM, and returned last year to lead the tech giant’s consulting business, with a focus on AI. The move came after four years as CEO of International Data Group, a tech media and research company that publishes Infoworld and PCWorld. Before that, Ali was at the helm of Carbonite, a leading provider of cloud-based data backup services. 35 BOB MUMGAARD Commonwealth Fusion Systems CLEANTECH Mumgaard has raised over $2 billion to build the first practical fusion reactor by late 2025 or early 2026. If he can pull it off, it means an unlimited source of emissions-free electric development tools. This latest venture follows his stint as a “distinguished engineer” at Microsoft, which purchased Xamarin, the mobile app development platform he cofounded in 2016. 30 NICHOLAS HARRIS AND DARIUS BUNANDAR Lightmatter / ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Artificial intelligence is booming, and with it, the energy-guzzling chips that drive the complex programs. So Harris and Bunandar, both MIT alums, helped cofound Lightmatter, a company that aims to make these chips more powerful, efficient, and ecofriendly by harnessing the power of light. Backed by Google Ventures, Lightmatter has raised more than $420 million, achieving unicorn status in 2023 with a valuation of $1.2 billion. 31 ANDREW BECK PathAI ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (see page 23) 32 MIKE SALGUERO ButcherBox / CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY Salguero relied on his own savings and $200,000 in Kickstarter cash to launch one of the nation’s largest online vendors of humanely raised beef and chicken and wild-caught fish. Revenue in 2023 was $500 million. Now he’s delivering healthy food to his customers’ dogs. ButcherBox for Pets delivers dry dog food and TECH POWER PLAYERS
power. And Mumgaard has persuaded some very powerful people. Devens-based Commonwealth Fusion’s financial backers include Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin Group. 36 TADEU CARNEIRO Boston Metal / CLEANTECH Between 7 percent and9percent of global carbon emissions come from steelmaking, according to the World Steel Association. Carneiro says he’s found a better way by using electricity rather than coal to purify iron ore. Boston Metal has opened a pilot plant in Brazil to extract iron and other metals from slag left behind in tin refining. It’s the first step in a plan to transform the global steel industry. 37 PAMELA ALDSWORTH JPMorgan Chase & Co. VENTURE CAPITAL Aldsworth has a view of every angle of the venture capital landscape, from investors holding the purse strings to tech and life sciences entrepreneurs using the capital to effect change. She has overseen venture capital relationships at banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. since 2019, when she left Silicon Valley Bank after two decades of focusing on the VC ecosystem. 38 LIAM DONOHUE .406 Ventures / VENTURE CAPITAL Donohue has invested in health care startups for nearly 30 years. After graduating Georgetown, working at consulting firm Booz Allen, and getting an MBA from Dartmouth, he began venture investing at the Philadelphia-based firm Foster Management. He later launched Boston VC firms Arcadia Partners and .406 Ventures. Among his big wins: the 2008 sale of portfolio company Health Dialog to British company BUPA for almost $800 million. 39 RUDINA SESERI Glasswing Ventures VENTURE CAPITAL Years before the artificial intelligence boom, Seseri cofounded Boston venture capital firm Glasswing Ventures to focus on early-stage AI investments. Seseri, who also focuses on enterprise software and cloud computing investments, has backed startups such as AI-powered supply chain firm Verusen, and data analytics company CrowdTwist, which was later acquired by Oracle. She serves as the chair of the philanthropic board for Boston Children’s Hospital. 40 LEAH ELLIS AND YET-MING CHIANG Sublime Systems / CLEANTECH As cofounders of climate technology company Sublime Systems, Ellis and Chiang have reinvented cement by electrifying production to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Ellis previously worked with Chiang at MIT as a postdoctoral fellow with a focus in electrochemistry. Chiang is a professor of materials science and engineering at MIT. Sublime recently received a B EC K P H OTO GR AP H BY J ESSI CA RI NA LD I /GLOBE STA FF
B Y H IAWAT HA BR AY Dr. Andrew Beck is a Brown University-trained pathologist who did his residency at Stanford University and then stuck around to earn a doctorate in biomedical informatics, a field that uses computers to analyze medical information. That makes Beck an expert in two demanding fields. Still, he thinks he’s an underachiever—but inagood way. “Sometimes,” says Beck, “the biggest impact a person can make is being mediocre in two things, but being right at the interface of those two things.” Beck is the cofounder of PathAI, a Boston company at the interface of artificial intelligence and medical diagnostics. PathAI builds machine learning models that can spot signs of disease or help pharmaceutical companies identify new drugs. PathAI is revolutionizing the way diseases are diagnosed through pathology, a process that hadn’t changed in a century. Tissue samples were stained with dyes to highlight cells and make it easier for pathologists to spot cancers or damaged liver cells through microscopes. The work, which can involve looking at hundreds of slides each day, is demanding, tedious, and susceptible to errors. But today, slides can be digitally scanned and artificial intelligence systems trained to examine them. PathAI specializes in searching for cancer, liver disease, and gastrointestinal disorders. Over the past eight years, the company has trained its AI using 20 million cell samples. And once AI is trained, it can examine samples faster and more thoroughly than the best physicians. AndPathAI /31 “Each image containsdred thousand to a millioing it impossible for humall. “The only one that caviously a trained AI systeKim Branson, global hand AI at pharma giant Gtests possible new drugs which runs an AI model of cell samples to assess tcompounds. PathAI is “great to wor“They get computationalPathAI has raised $25firms such as General Ca
M a y 12, 2 0 2 4 2 3 rewBeck / ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE on the order of a hunon cells,” Beck says, makmans to examine them an really do all that is obem.” head of machine learning GSK, says his company with help from PathAI, that looks at thousands the effectiveness of new rk with,” says Branson. l pathology.” 5 million from venture atalyst, General Atlantic, and D1 Capital Partners. Beck, who declined to release financials, says the company is not yet profitable, but headed that way. As more labs go digital, so will demand for AI diagnoses, says Beck. And that not only means opportunity for PathAI to grow, but also for medicine to improve. “Pathology will continue to get better,” Beck says. “It’s always going to be better next year than it was the year before, because it’s powered by machine learning.” ª Hiawatha Bray is a Boston Globe technology columnist. Send comments to hiawatha.bray@ globe.com.
2 4 T H E B O STO N G L OBE M A GAZ I N E TECH POWER PLAYERS B Y S COTT KI RS NE R Elias Torres says he could see the well-traveled road that he was expected to go down after selling his tech startup, Drift, in 2021: become a venture capitalist, take meetings, and decide which of the next generation of entrepreneurs were worthy of funding. Torres had been involved with several startups — primarily in digital marketing and customer service — but was always in the No. 2 slot, serving a CEO as chief technology officer. One such startup was Performable, which was acquired by HubSpot in 2011. Torres helped reinvigorate HubSpot’s marketing products before leaving in 2014 to start Drift with his frequent collaborator, David Cancel. The company created software that made it simple to add chatbots to websites to answer common questions or schedule sales meetings. And once again, Torres was the No. 2 executive. When Torres left Drift last year, he decided, “This was my time to be the CEO.” At an AI conference in Silicon Valley, he met top executives of OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT. He says he realized how significant ChatGPT would be — and how much help established companies would need to build products around it. He launched his startup Novy to provide that help. Novy has almost nothing on its website— no sales pitches, no mission statements, no “meet our team.” That’s bvia referrals from OpenAwork. AI-related projects inctions about the strategiesgames; explaining family York state; and translatinbattle between rappers spguages. The company has just ready generating several nue, Torres says. He has bhimself, rather than seek“I like the freedom I haveHe’s not exactly sure wit grows up. His ambition Elias Torres NOVY / ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 42
because work is coming AI and Torres’ own netclude answering quess of NBA teams during yleave policies in New ng in real time a rap peaking different lan10 employees, but is almillion dollars in revebankrolled the company king outside investment. e right now,” he says. what Novy will be when nisn’t to create a tech consultancy like Accenture or IBM with thousands of employees. One question on his mind: Can you be a billion-dollar company with 10 or 20 people in this age of AI? As Torres builds Novy, he’s investing in other startups. Perhaps his most successful investment was Klaviyo, the digital marketing company whose cofounder, Andrew Bialecki, worked for Torres at Performable. Explaining his investing strategy, Torres says: “Basically, if you’ve worked for me and you start a company and ask me, I invest.” ª Scott Kirsner writesaregular column for The Boston Globe. Send comments to scott.kirsner@ gmail.com.
is leading old-line money manager Fidelity Investments into the brave new world of cryptocurrency as the head of Fidelity Digital Asset Management. Her promotion in 2023 put her in charge of the team focused on Fidelity’s bitcoin exchange-traded fund, which launched in January. The product has beenasuccess — it’s the second-most popular bitcoin ETF in the world. 45 RANA EL KALIOUBY Blue Tulip Ventures / ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (see page 26) 46 DAVE BALTER Flipside Crypto / FINTECH Balter, an entrepreneur and digital currency expert, strives to power the growth of blockchain, the technology on which cryptocurrencies are based, through his company Flipside Crypto. Flipside provides data and analytical tools for crypto investors. Prior to founding Flipside, Balter was CEO and founder of skills assessment company Smarterer and social media marketing firm BzzAgent. He cofounded Intelligent.ly, which mentored Boston startup owners. 47 LILY LYMAN Underscore VC / VENTURE CAPITAL Soon after she came to Underscore VC from Facebook, Lyman gained a reputation as a shrewd investor, keen at sniffing out early-stage, business-to-business software companies. Among her portfolio companies are Wonderment, a shipping status tracking platform, $40 million investment and produces about 250 tons of cement per year with its low-carbon process. 41 CHRISTOPHER AHLBERG Recorded Future / CYBERSECURITY Ahlberg’s company, Recorded Future, has more than 1,700 clients, including the governments of 30 countries. The company monitors cybercriminal activity worldwide and tracks online misinformation activity sponsored by Russia, China, and Iran. And as the United States and other countries gear up for elections, Recorded Future is applying AI technology to detect and defend against online threats. 42 ELIAS TORRES Novy / ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (see page 24) 43 MIKE MASSARO Flywire / FINTECH Flywire, where Massaro is CEO, helps businesses and individuals carry out international financial transactions in more than 140 national currencies. The company specializes in travel, health care, and education markets. Flywire planted its flag down under over the past two years with acquisitions of two Australian companies: education payments provider Cohort Go, in 2022; and StudyLink, an education software company, in 2023. 44 CYNTHIA LO BESSETTE Fidelity Investments / FINTECH Lo Bessette, a lawyer by profession, TO R RES P H OTO GR aP H ByJ ONaT Ha N W IG GS /G LO BE STaF F
M a y 12, 2 0 2 4 2 5 and Slang.ai, which builds AI-based phone concierges for the hospitality industry. Now Lyman is taking on a new challenge: leading her VC firm as managing partner. 48 SARAH HODGES Pillar VC / VENTURE CAPITAL Hodges invests in enterprise and consumer software companies for Pillar VC, a seed-stage venture firm that she’s helped build since its 2016 founding. Before joining Pillar VC, Hodges was an executive at Pluralsight, one of the world’s largest online learning communities for information technology. She cofounded Intelligent.ly, a leadership development company, and is a member of the Massachusetts Economic Development Planning Council. 49 JOHN WERNER Link Ventures / VENTURE CAPITAL A serial entrepreneur and the managing director of Link Ventures, Werner has a knack for bringing together sharp minds and big money. He’s leading his firm’s push into investments in artificial intelligence startups. Meanwhile, his organization, Ideas In Action, sponsors forums and TED talks featuring leading academics and entrepreneurs. Werner is also a senior fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a columnist for Forbes. 50 EMILY REICHERT Massachusetts Clean Energy Center / CLEANTECH As CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Reichert is working to build a robust, internationally competitive clean energy economy in the state. She also serves on the Massachusetts Economic Development Planning Council. For nearly a decade, Reichert was CEO of Greentown Labs, where she was its first employee and grew the company into the largest climate tech incubator in North America. M ay 1 2 , 2 0 2 4 25
2 6 T H E BOSTON GLO B E MAGAZINE TECH POWER PLAYERS Rana elKaliouby BLUE TULIP VENTURES ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 45
B Y DAN A GERBER Rana el Kaliouby flew back to Boston from India in November after meeting with leaders of the country’s artificial intelligence sector. Midair, she resolved to take a leap of faith: step down as deputy CEO of the Swedish AI company Smart Eye and launch a firm, Blue Tulip Ventures, to invest in AI startups. “There’s just so much happening, and it was a little bit of FOMO,” she recalls. “I was like, I’m missing out on all this exciting innovation with AI.” It was a major pivot for the longtime entrepreneur, a trailblazer in the field of “emotion AI” — systems that use data and machine learning to provide insights into human feelings and behavior. In 2009, while a postdoc at the MIT Media Lab, el Kaliouby cofounded Affectiva, a startup built on emotion AI technology. Affectiva worked with industries from advertising to health care before it was acquired by Smart Eye, which uses AI to track driver safety and awareness, for $73.5 million in 2021. But the transition away from founder, she discovered, was a difficult one. “It was like an identity crisis,” says el Kaliouby, who remains an adviser at Smart Eye. In early 2022, she dipped her toe into investing by launching a $12 million fund with fellow entrepreneur Rob May, investing in 40 startups that employ artificial intelligence. Now, with Blue Tulip, which she is launching with former Affectiva and Smart Eye chief marketing officer Gabi Zijderveld, the focus is “human-centric AI”— “AI that’s good for people, good for the planet, is ethical, and is built with diverse teams,” says el Kaliouby. That final criterion is close to her heart. Muslim and born in Egypt, el Kaliouby is all too aware that AI does not have enough diversity. “If we’re going to use AI to solve health and climate and energy and food sustainability,” she says, “you needadiverse set of ideas. And that won’t come if we’re funding the same type of founders over and over again.” As she adds venture capitalist to her list of accomplishments — entrepreneur, best-selling author, TED speaker — el Kaliouby is watching the AI scene in Boston. She sees the potential for leading industries, such as health, education, and energy, to be transformed by artificial intelligence. And she can’t wait to help. “This is where I think there’s room for being different, being unique,” she says. “We have the talent, we have the dollars. We should be able to build incredible AI-first companies here. There is absolutely no reason not to.” ª Dana Gerber is a Boston Globe business reporter. 45Send comments to [email protected]. E L K AL I O UBY P H OTO GR AP H BYSUZANNE K RE ITER/GLO BE
gung-ho. There’s nothing he might think of as impossible; everything is a matter of perseverance.” Bialecki and Hallen reunited in 2012. Their vision was to create a tool to unify analytics — information about what people are doing onawebsite — with communication. For example, if a shopper placed an item into an online cart, the retailer could send an email or text message with a discount, more information about the product, or another nudge to get the shopper to complete the transaction. Bialecki and Hallen initially funded the company by tapping their own savings, and then began landing customers. Their first was Blank Label,aBoston company that sells custommade clothing for men. Klaviyo reached about $1 million in annual revenue before the founders decided to raise a $1.5 million “seed” round of venture capital funding in 2015. Torres said he’d invest and connected them with Jon Karlen, a partner at the Boston venture firm Accomplice. Karlen invited the cofounders and Torres to a Red Sox game. “I showed up at their office the next day, on Boylston Street, and it was eight engineers playing video games, surrounded by pizza boxes,” Karlen recalls. “But they had 200 customers, and they were totally cranking. They had no salespeople; it was just engineers building a great product.” Karlen later started his own investment firm and put more money into Klaviyo in 2016. Even as it raised more than $450 million, Klaviyo remained “the best kept secret” in Boston’s startup scene, Karlen says. The founders just kept their heads down, building the company, expanding the customer base, and delivering results. One decision that helped fuel Klaviyo’s growth was integrating the software with Shopify, a technology platform on which roughly 4.5 million e-commerce stores are built. (Shopify, based in Ottawa, made a major investment in Klaviyo in 2022.) Klaviyo’s software now works with other e-commerce platforms, including Square, Wix, and Salesforce Commerce Cloud. As with many online software products, Klaviyo offers a free version that gets online retailers to try it. But as retailers start connecting with more customers, the pricing goes up — from $20 to several thousand dollars a month. At the end of 2023, Klaviyo said it had nearly 2,000 customers that each spend more than $50,000 per year —such as toy maker Mattloses money: Its operat$330 million.) Klaviyo customers ding the value of every cmarketing investmentsreturns. Klaviyo, unsurdata oriented. The weeevery Thursday, is calle“You have to tell a stBialecki explains. “Whacomplished, and some A key focus for Klavitificial intelligence to itketing tasks can happevention. That “doesn’t mjobs, but we want a woyour job,” Hallen says. “all the things a marketeto do, so they can focusters: ideas, strategy, anWhen Bialecki and Hyo off the ground, Bialeserving as secretary of hThthebuanKLAVIYO Continued from Page 16
M a y 12, 2 0 2 4 2 7 — including companies tel. (Overall, Klaviyo still ting loss for 2023 was depend on data, tallyclick to determine if their s are generating positive rprisingly, is incredibly ekly team meeting, held ed “By the Numbers.” tory through numbers,” at’s something you’ve acfun factoid about it.” iyo in 2024 is adding arts product so more marn without human intermean people won’t have orld where it’s easier to do “We want to automate er doesn’t really want s on the stuff that matnd creating.” Hallen were getting Klaviecki’s father, Greg, was housing and economic development under former governor Deval Patrick. The elder Bialecki often talked about Massachusetts cultivating more “pillar companies”—big, successful, and stable firms that would attract talent and help train the next generation of entrepreneurs. The younger Bialecki wound up becoming a case study for that—and a billionaire in the process. Bialecki is thinking about Boston’s tech ecosystem beyond his own company. Just as his former boss put money into Klaviyo in its early days, Bialecki and Hallen have funded about a half-dozen former Klaviyo employees building their own ventures. Among them: Wonderment, a Boston startup that focuses on customer service after people buy something—and integrates with Klaviyo’s product. “I tell everyone,” Bialecki says, “that I expect there should be one or more folks who come out of Klaviyo and build even bigger than we did.” ª Scott Kirsner writesaregular column for The Boston Globe. Send comments to scott.kirsner@ gmail.com. he foundersjust kept eir heads down, uilding the company, nd delivering results. M ay 1 2 , 2 0 2 4 27