owen (Owen Johnson)

Interests

computer science, Entrepreneurship, human connection, Real Estate

Web Links

Connect Providence
Rentometer
Betaspring
Making Progress
My Twitter Feed

About Me

Owen has a strong interest in human connection, entrepreneurship, computer science, and real estate.

He is a founder and managing partner of Betaspring, a Providence-based startup accelerator; the founder and co-organizer of Connect Providence; and the founder and principal broker of Reagent, a real estate brokerage and property management firm. He sits on the board of directors for Woonsocket-based Location, Inc. Owen is founder and Chairman of the Board of the 501(c)3 Making Progress, sits on the board of the Providence Community Library, and is a micro-trustee of the Providence Awesome Foundation.

Past ventures include Investment Instruments, provider of online residential real estate services Rentomatic.com and Rentometer.com; Interdimensions, a high-growth interactive agency; and The Webmasters' Guild, a 501(c)6 non-profit professional organization. Owen recently served on the board of directors of The Genesis Center.

He holds an S.B. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.

Recent Content

Title: Rentomatic Redesign (Forum) Submitted: September 4th, 2008 - 12:05pm

I'm happy to report that Rentomatic.com launched a new look-and-feel today.

Title: Providence named #8 best city for home sellers (Forum) Submitted: April 23rd, 2008 - 5:06pm

Forbes recently reported Providence as the #8 best city to be a home seller in:

http://www.forbes.com/2008/04/...

From the article:

"Forbes looked at the country's largest metro areas and assessed how friendly conditions are expected to be for sellers this year. Each city was ranked by its 2007 unsold vacancy rate, calculated by the U.S. Census American Housing Survey, and how much the market had tightened or loosened when compared with 2006 conditions. Then they looked at construction starts, job creation and the degree to which new conforming loan limits from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will improve each market's lending conditions.

8. Providence, R.I.

Though prices here are falling, vacancy rates are extremely low and falling further (dropping to 1.6% at the end of 2007, the sixth lowest rate in the nation, from 1.8% at the end of 2006). Combine that with a 42% cut in inventory, and you're looking at a market that may slump due to job loss (1% this year) but isn't going to turn into a buyers' market anytime soon."

Go Providence!

Recent Comments

Source: Connect Providence's New Site (Forum) Submitted: February 13th, 2009 - 8:26am link

Thanks Jack! More interesting improvements to come in the first half of '09!

Source: Rhode Island Twitter "Sound Off" (Blog) Submitted: January 29th, 2009 - 10:11am link

I'm @owenjohnson

Source: Native Structures, Inc. placeholder in place, blog is posting (Forum) Submitted: December 9th, 2008 - 4:59pm link

Sean, definitely speak with JJ over at JTJInvestments.com. He's the developer of 28 Wolcott St, a very cool eco-building in Providence. He has a wealth of knowledge related to greening existing structures. If you need his contact info, just let me know.

Source: IDSA RI has a beautiful new site (Forum) Submitted: December 3rd, 2008 - 4:55pm link

Very nice! Congrats!

Source: Portsmouth Firm A2B Tracking Solutions Wins GSA Contract Award (News) Submitted: October 23rd, 2008 - 6:56pm link

Wonderful news! Congratulations A2B!

Source: Rhode Islander stars in popular internet video (Forum) Submitted: October 4th, 2008 - 5:09am link

Awesome!

Source: Would You Like to be a Better Public Speaker? Here's Some Tips. (Forum) Submitted: October 1st, 2008 - 11:00am link

Great post Andy. I'll also recommend that one finds a Toastmasters chapter that jives with their own personality. Providence has a chapter: http://providence.freetoasthost.com/ The organization is a great platform to develop one's speaking skills.

Source: Rentomatic Redesign (Forum) Submitted: September 10th, 2008 - 2:18pm link

Allan, yes, the little cartoon guys have been removed from the landlord site, but at the moment, still live on the tenant site. David, thanks for the feedback! In what complex do you live?

Source: Ruby Group - October Meeting?? (Forum) Submitted: August 29th, 2008 - 5:38am link

Matt, I agree with you about the neverending challenge of keeping specs/tests/code in sync. Code can only act as spec for so long, and community knowledge won't suffice for any project of reasonable scope. I've found that team agreement about what should be in the specs, what the tests should test, and what documentation level should be in the code is critical. Keeping the specs at a different level than the code is valuable. Duplicating information in the specs and the code is tempting, but every piece of duplication info creates an update nightmare.

Source: RI Ruby Group and Rails Shops (Forum) Submitted: July 31st, 2008 - 5:11pm link

Rentomatic, BatchBlue, and Public Display are both shops that primarily(potentially exclusively) use Ruby on Rails for developing their products. I personally would be interested in A Ruby Users Group in PVD.