Opportunity Station

The startup process for most technology companies was muddied when John Montelione sought to get a firm going in Boston in the early 1980s.

Montelione was convinced his idea, to sell a signal system businesses could use to retrieve data, would work. But investors were hesitant to take a chance on unproven technology. Recalls Montelione: “It was esoteric to them.”

Montelione stuck with it, however, and after receiving $250,000 in startup funds, the company, Mercury Computer Systems, was launched. It was profitable within 18 months, and in six years it had $20 million in sales.