Barbara Finer
PHOTO/MATT VOLPINI
Barbara Finer is, arguably, the most influential person in the MetroWest technology community. An entrepreneur with a STEM background, Finer is the guiding force behind TechSandBox — the region's first tech incubator — which opened on South Street in Hopkinton late last summer.
Finer founded TechSandBox, her sixth startup, to serve as a place for tech entrepreneurs to work, network and receive mentoring at affordable rates. Until TechSandBox opened (first at Becker College's Southborough campus before the Hopkinton location was leased), facilities of this kind were only found within the Route-128 belt and in Boston and Cambridge.
Less than a year after its founding, TechSandBox is housing seven start-up firms, and has become a hotspot for networking and professional development events for the industry. About 40 active volunteers from area businesses help by offering free mentoring services.
Finer notes that many industry veterans who may be mulling self-employment call MetroWest home, and that's what makes an incubator a commodity in the region.
Though Finer believes she's drawing from a strong technology community, she said MetroWest has historically lacked a common, regional identity. She hopes her incubator will help change that.
“This is part of what I'm trying to do, is cohere the area,” Finer said.
Finer is probably as qualified as anyone to help build a more unified MetroWest. She was born in Dorchester but has lived in Hudson for many years, and her last business — a consulting firm called QuiVivity — was based in Marlborough.
She also has vital connections to neighboring technology communities, serving as co-chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge, which helps entrepreneurs with business development. And until recently, she served on the board for Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Venture Forum.
In addition to her work at TechSandBox, Finer rounds out her focus, teaching business and entrepreneurship courses at Brandeis University and Becker College.
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