Paul Silva, 16 Years of VVM Alumni, and a Night at the UMass Club

On the evening of Tuesday, September 15, JMK Ventures hosted a dozen founders at the University of Massachusetts Club, high above downtown Boston at One Beacon Street, for a night with Paul Silva and the alumni of the programs he has run for the past 16 years. The room held someone from Paul's original UMass entrepreneurship course, teams from Valley Venture Mentors and Launch413, and a graduate of the brand new Innovate413 cohort.

It was the kind of night you hope for and rarely get. War stories, real problems worked through on the spot, and a lot of laughing. Paul shared a few updates from the room without naming names: one VVM alum is on a glide path toward an exit they will announce themselves, another company is now generating millions in revenue a year and still growing, and one founder who spent a long stretch searching for the right customer now has product-market fit and the good problem of figuring out how to scale.

Why JMK Ventures hosted

This one was personal. I launched my career in western Massachusetts, founding and growing a business while I was still in school, at the same time Paul was bringing resources, structure and guidance to the western Mass startup scene through Valley Venture Mentors. My company placed ninth in the VVM accelerator and was awarded grant money, and that funding is what let the business scale and exit over the following two years.

More than a decade later, getting to host local entrepreneurs alongside Paul, with the whole city laid out below us, and talk through everything happening in Massachusetts innovation right now was a full-circle night. Paul, thank you for 16 years of showing up for founders. It shaped my career, and I know I am not the only person in that group photo who can say the same.

Who was in the room

Alongside Paul and me, the night brought together Michael J Monda, Kathryn Taccone-Colón, Damon Magnuski, Manrique Feoli, Molly Keehn, Jon Katz, Mark Saad, Devon Grodkiewicz, Anthony Wilson, Will Taccone-Colón and John Barber. A group spanning every program Paul has run, from the UMass classroom through VVM, Launch413 and now Innovate413.

The piano

As the sun went down, Paul got talked into sitting at the club's piano and played with the city going dark behind him. The video is in the comments of his LinkedIn post, and yes, he was wearing the duck tie the entire time.

What comes next

Sixteen years of alumni, still showing up for each other. That is the whole point of a night like this. If you are a Massachusetts founder or operator and want to connect, get in touch.

Paul's recap and the piano video: Paul Silva on LinkedIn. My own note on what VVM meant for my career: Joe Khoury on LinkedIn.