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First Off
Rowan: Hello, Boston! A bunch of restaurants, coffee shops and breweries have officially launched their pumpkin-flavored items, so I think we are officially welcoming the fall. We're also gearing up to welcome students back to school next week with the launch of a new section, both in the Beat and on our website, called On the Quad. It'll focus on all the innovations coming from students in the Boston area, because we all know there's no shortage of bright young minds here.
Look out for the new section on Tuesday, Sept. 3. And in the meantime, nominate the bright young minds in your networks for this year's 25 Under 25 awards. Nominations close Sept. 10!
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The Big One
A breakdown on the day’s biggest Inno story.
Emma: TOMS, Cotpaxi, and Warby Parker all have one thing in common: they strive to be ethical companies. That phrase might seem like an oxymoron. In the past, business was survival of the fittest. The young, social impact-minded founders of today, though, have put their energy toward a new trend: ethical entrepreneurship.
In 2012, Michael Burnstein and David Spandorfer founded Janji. It’s a running apparel company, but it also supports global clean water initiatives. Twice a year, Janji designs a collection inspired by a different country. The company meets with local artists to craft their countries’ “untold stories” through clothing. Once the clothing is designed, manufactured and sold, Janji donates 5% of proceeds to clean water projects in those countries.
Janji’s mission statement: “Our promise is to use the power of running to fight the global water crisis.”
To Spandorfer, Janji is “using running as a way to explore, connect, and change the world.”
But what is ethical entrepreneurship? It’s not a simple question to answer. Founders can’t exactly rely on the theories of ethics they learned as freshmen in Business 101. Is Janji an ethical business because it works with local artists and donates proceeds to charity? What about how they source and manufacture goods, or how it treats its workers?
Vinit Nijhawan, interim executive director at the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center and a serial entrepreneur himself, has one answer: generosity is key.
“The best entrepreneurs are generous with their employees, generous with their time, generous with their families,” Nijhawan said. “You have all these constituents, and you have to treat them fairly.”
Janji certainly meets the generosity requirement through its charity commitments. It also uses sustainable materials where it can; Spandorfer pointed to his company’s use of recycled polyester and Alpaca wool.
I asked if there were any guidelines in place to protect workers. Spandorfer lacked a concrete answer.
“We care about highlighting these people and doing it the right way,” he deflected.
Read more: Practicing “Ethical Entrepreneurship,” The Newest Trend in Business
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In The Know
The Inno stories you need to read today.
Elsewhere in Inno
Stories from around the Inno network we think you'll dig.
Making Moves
Inside the people, companies and organizations making moves in Boston.
Emily: With the scent of the waves nearby and the screams of seagulls flying overhead, I opened the doors to Logz.io’s new Fort Point office.
Located at 253 Summer St., Logz.io’s 14,420 sq. ft. office is right on the edge of the Fort Point Channel, giving it the convenience of close proximity to the hub of Downtown Boston but the oceanside views of the Seaport District. And the office is brand-new. In fact, Logz.io only moved into it a couple of weeks ago. Its old office, just across the street, simply wasn’t enough for the rapidly growing company.
“We’ve more than doubled the number of employees in the last year, and we’re going to continue to add more going forward to keep the pace, the growth of our business,” said Keith Alsheimer, Logz.io’s chief marketing officer. “So we needed more space, and we just wanted to have an environment that was more like our corporate culture.”
Read more: #OfficeEnvy: Logz.io’s Fort Point Office Is Bringing Unification to a Whole New Level
Sri: Zerto, a Boston-based IT resilience company, today announced the launch of an Early Access Program for the Zerto platform certified with VMware’s VAIO framework. It also announced the availability of Zerto Analytics Resource Planner, a new IT resilience resource planning tool that provides real-time and historical insights and analysis of the protection status of applications and data
Rowan: Boston-based enterprise AI startup DataRobot is partnering with CallMiner, a provider of AI-fueled speech and customer engagement analytics solutions, to accelerate AI capabilities within the contact and customer experience center.
Rowan: Akamai, the state’s largest cybersecurity company, with a market capitalization over $14B, gave up a $700K tax break because it failed to deliver on its promised job targets, our sister publication the Boston Business Journal reports.
Sri: MIT Solve announced the finalists who will compete in next month's Solve Challenge Finals in New York City.
Rowan: Swansea-based BayCoast Bank says it's looking into offering loans directly to cannabis clients, and talking with GFA Federal Credit Union about how both banks might offer debt financing to cannabis-linked companies.
New Money
Your daily funding roundup.
Sri: The Clubhouse, a makerspace in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, was awarded $100K from the SBA MaTCH pilot competition. It will expand and extend its Clubhouse-to-Career (C2C) Pathways to Success program. Participants will each be awarded a stipend upon completion of the program, as an incentive, to recognize the work accomplished, and as compensation for time spent in addition the goal of immediate placement into a meaningful paid job.
In The Community
The events and happenings to know about tonight and this week.
Emma: Tech Talks: Down at Atlantic Wharf, check out the BOS Video Technology meetup showcasing the engineering side of video technology. You’ll watch and discuss presentations on video playback, streaming and coding. Don’t forget to grab a few slices of pizza and drinks while you’re there. RSVP here.
6:30 p.m., 280 Congress St., Boston, free
Listen to This Right Now
Insight and analysis from the community and beyond.
Zach: Jason Burke is the Chief Strategy Officer of clypd, a Davis Square, Somerville-based startup providing an audience-based sales platform for television advertising.
Burke possesses a unique skillset as both a product engineer and business designer. Prior to clypd, Burke built optimization products for Boston-based ScanScout which was acquired by Tremor Video in 2010. A graduate of Tufts University, Burke has also made a name for himself locally as an angel investor and startup advisor. In May 2019, Burke joined Underscore.vc’s UFirst accelerator program, serving as a mentor to first-time founders. Outside his activity within the entrepreneurial landscape, Burke’s recreational sanity has been questioned, having chosen to suffer through three “Double Boston Marathon.” Listen to his interview with Boston Speaks Up here.
 Featured Jobs
Featured startup and tech jobs on BostInno's new Careers Directory.
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Meet The Authors
Rowan Walrath
rwalrath@americaninno.com
Srividya (Sri) Kalyanaraman
skalyanaraman@americaninno.com
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