Dispatches from the Next Tech Gold Rush

C’mon In, Bill, the Water’s Fine!
Why the little guys want Microsoft and Google to encroach on their turf.

Google is said to be in the market for as much as 200,000 square feet of Hub office space. Microsoft, meanwhile, just picked up 136,000 square feet—enough to double its Bay State workforce to about 1,000. And Boston’s digital-industry denizens couldn’t be happier.

Why? More big companies are relying on startup acquisitions to make up for the R&D work they’re doing less of. So rather than getting crowded out by the giants, even the smallest firms are seeing their chances of getting bought up by their neighbors improve. Google and Microsoft can also serve as a home for serial entrepreneurs who are between launches. “[They give] powerful thinkers a place to perch,” says Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff. If Google’s new digs are anything like its Silicon Valley HQ—where free gourmet meals are the norm—they might not want to leave.

What’s Good for the Geek Is Good for His Lawyer…
And publicist. And broker. A look at who’s riding the tech coattails.

The Shills: Demand for bodies at tech-centric marketing firms is so pronounced that some recruiters have resorted to a rather crude technique for drumming up prospective hires: calling an office and ringing cubicle after cubicle in an effort to lure someone, anyone, away. “They just start dialing different extensions,” says one local tech-PR vet. “It’s hysterical.”

The Suits: Pretty much every new moneymaking tech idea means a new patent application—and a rush on the latter has meant a frothy job market for the city’s intellectual-property lawyers. “There’s a bit of a squeeze,” says Ron Cahill of Nutter McClennen & Fish. “Recruiting has been a major priority for firms all around Boston with IP practices.”

The Space-makers: In the past year the price of office space in East Cambridge jumped $10 a square foot. That can add six figures to some leases, but the spiking prices haven’t left buildings empty. The amount of vacant office space in the neighborhood has dropped 3 percent during the same time—making for some very happy landlords and real estate brokers.

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