Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What the NYC startup world needs (and doesn’t need)

cdixon.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 37 posts

Re: What the NYC startup world needs (and doesn’t need)

#11

Post by raldi »

jcampbell1 wrote: post #6

I think Chris is confused about the magnitude of $100M to bring a top university. $100 million in infrastructure upgrades to under-used land to attract a university is a bargin. The income and sales taxes would earn back the $100M in no time. It is pretty hard to find $100M investment, that will bring $1B+ follow on investment, and a few thousand people on a payroll who use very few government services.

Seriously. The city government almost spent twelve times as much on two baseball stadiums:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/17/opinion/bonus-season-for-b...

The final amount that was actually spent is subject to a lot of interpretation, but it's clearly in the nine-figure range.

Re: What the NYC startup world needs (and doesn’t need)

#12

Post by tomkarlo »

old-gregg wrote: post #8

Great post, as usual. And agree with almost everything except this: > You can rent a decent place in a cool part of town on a typical startup salary. "Decent" and "typical" are open for interpretation, but I can tell that for most interpreters I know the expression above evaluates to False. :)

This... I'm originally from New York, and I know lots of good engineers who grew up there, but quickly realized that you don't make anything more for working in New York versus San Francisco, Austin, or Denver.

Yes, you can afford a place in Manhattan on an engineer's salary. But it's going to be too small for a family, and if you want a bigger place you're going to need to do a long commute. Compare that with other cities where a well-paid software engineer is at the top end of the income ladder and can rent out a full house for what they'd pay for a 2-bedroom in NY.

(And yes, it's even a lot more expensive than SF. I've looked at apartments in both cities - while rents in SF are comparable to New York, you're still generally getting a much larger place for the same price. That matters if you have kids.)

Brooklyn and Queens are nice (if not that much cheaper for the areas near Manhattan.) But if working in New York means you have to live 40 mins outside of Manhattan, or in Hoboken / NJ, what's the point of being in NY? Might as well be in Denver with a 4000 sq ft house.

It's unlikely that NY rents are going to drop a lot. If startups in NY want to attract more top talent, they're going to have to pay significantly more than startups in cheaper locales.

Re: What the NYC startup world needs (and doesn’t need)

#14

Post by dougws »

old-gregg wrote: post #8

Great post, as usual. And agree with almost everything except this: > You can rent a decent place in a cool part of town on a typical startup salary. "Decent" and "typical" are open for interpretation, but I can tell that for most interpreters I know the expression above evaluates to False. :)

I'm about to start work at a New Yrk startup, and I have had no trouble finding a place to live on my probably average salary. Granted, I am single and don't have children, but I imagine that's not uncommon for startup employees.

Re: What the NYC startup world needs (and doesn’t need)

#15

Post by achompas »

Isn't there a question about whether PayPal's employees were great entrepreneurs or if they benefitted from network effects?

Anyway, my impression is that the NY startup scene consists of a lot of high-profile startups. Could someone explain to me why these (or any other) startups should aspire to be PayPal-esque, aside from being absurdly successful?

Re: What the NYC startup world needs (and doesn’t need)

#17

Post by jamesteow »

uberc wrote: post #10
jamesteow wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'My biggest challenge in NYC has been the availability of dependable salaries for coders and designers from non-startups.' I can't speak to programming/engineering jobs, but there's plenty of design jobs from non-startups. Almost every agency (including tiny ones) are based or have an office in NY. DUMBO has a ton of digital agencies. Motion graphics firms are centralized in Manhattan or in LA. Small ones can be foun…

Indeed, I think spodek's point is that the many non-startup design jobs (with "dependable salaries") in New York makes it harder to attract good designers to startups.

Ah okay. Whoosh, right over my head...

Re: What the NYC startup world needs (and doesn’t need)

#18

Post by jamesteow »

tomkarlo wrote: post #12
old-gregg wrote: post #8

Great post, as usual. And agree with almost everything except this: > You can rent a decent place in a cool part of town on a typical startup salary. "Decent" and "typical" are open for interpretation, but I can tell that for most interpreters I know the expression above evaluates to False. :)

This... I'm originally from New York, and I know lots of good engineers who grew up there, but quickly realized that you don't make anything more for working in New York versus San Francisco, Austin, or Denver. Yes, you can afford a place in Manhattan on an engineer's salary. But it's going to be too small for a family, and if you want a bigger place you're going to need to do a long commute. Compare that with other…

Once you live in Brooklyn, it's possible to go days without having to enter the city. Plenty of awesome neighbourhoods in the BK (Greenpoint, Park Slope, Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, Bushwick, South Slope, DUMBO). I saw a LOT of young professionals with families in DUMBO/Park Slope/Brooklyn Heights.

Certainly, if you're intent on living in the city, you'll pay a premium.

Re: What the NYC startup world needs (and doesn’t need)

#19

Post by [deleted] »

jamesteow wrote: post #18
tomkarlo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This... I'm originally from New York, and I know lots of good engineers who grew up there, but quickly realized that you don't make anything more for working in New York versus San Francisco, Austin, or Denver. Yes, you can afford a place in Manhattan on an engineer's salary. But it's going to be too small for a family, and if you want a bigger place you're going to need to do a long commute. Compare that with other…

Once you live in Brooklyn, it's possible to go days without having to enter the city. Plenty of awesome neighbourhoods in the BK (Greenpoint, Park Slope, Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, Bushwick, South Slope, DUMBO). I saw a LOT of young professionals with families in DUMBO/Park Slope/Brooklyn Heights. Certainly, if you're intent on living in the city, you'll pay a premium.

[deleted]

Re: What the NYC startup world needs (and doesn’t need)

#20

Post by hullo »

tomkarlo wrote: post #12
old-gregg wrote: post #8

Great post, as usual. And agree with almost everything except this: > You can rent a decent place in a cool part of town on a typical startup salary. "Decent" and "typical" are open for interpretation, but I can tell that for most interpreters I know the expression above evaluates to False. :)

This... I'm originally from New York, and I know lots of good engineers who grew up there, but quickly realized that you don't make anything more for working in New York versus San Francisco, Austin, or Denver. Yes, you can afford a place in Manhattan on an engineer's salary. But it's going to be too small for a family, and if you want a bigger place you're going to need to do a long commute. Compare that with other…

I don't even know where to start here. Leaving aside that a huge chunk of Manhattan has a longer commute to Union Square than even New Jersey, 80% of the city doesn't live in Manhattan.

If you fan out to the metro area, Manhattan falls to less than 9%. Do some of those people wake up some mornings wondering "what's the point", sure, but I promise you (or more specifically: other readers who haven't lived here) most don't.

Post reply on HN