About Boston
Founders Forum
Boston Founders Forum aims to foster impactful collaborations by forging a united startup community in Boston through unique meetups that mix networking, learning, and evolving — all with a touch of fun!
Each event is special and brings a new perspective to the table for founders to learn from, along practical insights. With speakers ranging from Harvard Business School professors and lecturers, founders and C-Level executives who have participated in multiple successful exits, and high-profile special guest influencers.
John Harthorne is the Founder & Managing Director of Two Lanterns Venture Partners, an industry-agnostic, $25M seed fund focused on US and Israeli software startups.
Prior to launching Two Lanterns in 2020, John was the Founder and 10-year-long CEO of MassChallenge, the most startup-friendly accelerator on the planet. While John was CEO, ~3,000 MassChallenge alumni raised well over $8.5 billion of funding, generated over $3.5 billion of revenue, and created over 180,000 jobs.
The World Economic Forum elected John as one of the 2013 Young Global Leaders, and Ernst & Young selected John as Social Entrepreneur of the Year in New England for 2013.
John earned his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 2007. While at school, John won Grand Prize in the 2007 MIT $100K Business Plan Competition and received the 2007 Patrick J. McGovern Award for impact on quality and visibility of entrepreneurship at MIT.
GTM & Founder Sales Mastery
with Chris Harris @ 12 PM EST
As a founder, you are your company’s first salesperson. Drawing from my experience as a mentor in Harvard Business School’s Entrepreneurial Sales (ES101) course, I’ll share practical, real-world techniques to help you sell your product effectively and lay the groundwork for building a high-performing sales team. In this series, we’ll cover everything from structuring your sales process to scaling your efforts as you grow.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
- How to build effective email campaigns & LinkedIn strategies
- Creating content that builds trust and drives results
- Leveraging partnerships and compelling events to scale
- Using AI and offshore resources to streamline your operations
- Founder selling techniques to help you lead early sales and position your startup for growth
This first webinar is free for everyone! It’s a perfect chance to get a taste of what we’re building at Boston Founders Forum (BFF)—a community of founders and startup teams supporting one another as they grow and scale.
BFF members will get exclusive access to the entire series, along with valuable resources, insights, and opportunities for deeper engagement to help accelerate your growth. Join us to learn, connect, and collaborate!
Effective Leadership
To give and receive constructive criticism effectively, focus on being specific and objective, using the "sandwich" approach, and showing appreciation for the other person's efforts.
Effective Business Strategy
To give and receive constructive criticism effectively, focus on being specific and objective, using the "sandwich" approach, and showing appreciation for the other person's efforts.
Hosts & Speakers
Past Speakers
Event FAQs
The Boston Founders Forum is an exclusive gathering of Boston’s most innovative executives, investors, and founders. It's a platform to engage, network, and share strategies among Boston's leading startup professionals.
The forum aims to: Forge a united startup community in Boston. Host meetups that foster impactful collaborations. Dive into Boston’s unique venues. Offer a mix of networking, learning, and evolving, all with a touch of fun.
Executives, investors, founders, and anyone interested in the Boston startup community are encouraged to attend.
The agenda includes: Introductions and Networking, opening remarks by one of the founders, exclusive Keynote by a guest speaker, refreshments & breakout Sessions, and interactive Q&A.