Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)
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Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)
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Re: Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)
#2> Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable?
Why, yes, yes it is. The talk was very enjoyable, but the entire event felt like a sales pitch for NYC businesses to scoot over to Cali for the better weather and opportunities.
Aside from Valley elitism, there is absolutely no reason why Y Combinator shouldn't have an operation in NYC. In fact, it's about time.
Re: Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)
#3"distractions of city life" is no understatement. What makes NYC quite a fun place to visit or live in also detracts from it becoming a serious contender to the Valley. It's a city of bankers who have, or traditionally have had, tons of money to throw around, and the restaurants, nightclubs and realtors who serve them. Everyone else has been mostly ancillary.
Maybe that will change. Maybe one of the startups here will go public and become the next Google or Facebook, but I really don't see those types of people working in the city. It seems like even at Google, the more serious engineers are pulled back to the Valley. And despite it's reportedly growing membership rolls, I'm pretty doubtful about foursquare's future as well - and I honestly think it may have had a good one if it was HQ'ed in the Valley.
The reported advantages of NYC - such as the ability to just roll into the offices of media or advertising companies or fashion houses, so you can cut deals with them - are largely myths.
Re: Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)
#4I think the negatives Graham cites outweigh the positives. Ultimately, "nerdy visionaries" win out over "rapacious dealmakers."
The culture is just too different and I just don't mean the business culture. It's reflected in all walks of life.
For example, let's take dating. In NYC if you're not making money or on the very fast track to doing so then you might as well not exist. In my experience dating in the Bay Area women are much more accepting of guys who are working on something long term that may or may not payoff (not saying this is always the case, just moreso than other cities I've lived in).
In short, in the Bay Area you get points for being a creative doer, in NYC you get points for already having money in your bank account. The Bay Area culture is just more conducive and accepting of the trials and tribulations of startup life.
Re: Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)
#5What NYC needs is a few local cash-outs for entrepreneurs (without them having to move to SV to do so). And then those entrepreneurs to reinvest in local startups. That's the positive reinforcement loop that takes place in SV, and I think that it's required for lift-off to be achieved.
As an aside, the UK suffers the same problem : There's a ton of money in London (similar to NYC) chasing financial opportunities, but those opportunities distract people from the high risk / high return technology bets that are commonplace on the West Coast. That was one bright feature of HP buying Autonomy in the UK, except for the questionmarks now hanging over HP...
Re: Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)
#6I think the negatives Graham cites outweigh the positives. Ultimately, "nerdy visionaries" win out over "rapacious dealmakers." The culture is just too different and I just don't mean the business culture. It's reflected in all walks of life. For example, let's take dating. In NYC if you're not making money or on the very fast track to doing so then you might as well not exist. In my experience dating in the Bay Area…
On the dating front, just accept that the 'money set' are people who don't want to date you, and you probably don't want to date them either. But even after subtracting them out, there are a whole lot of other interesting people in NYC.
But I'll agree that one thing about NYC is that 'the pressure is on' : whether money or time or whatever. Maybe that's part of the attraction.
Re: Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)
#7> Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? Why, yes, yes it is. The talk was very enjoyable, but the entire event felt like a sales pitch for NYC businesses to scoot over to Cali for the better weather and opportunities. Aside from Valley elitism, there is absolutely no reason why Y Combinator shouldn't have an operation in NYC. In fact, it's about time.
I think I could name several reasons not to start a second branch when the mothership is doing so well, regardless of the locations involved.
Re: Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)
#8"distractions of city life" is no understatement. What makes NYC quite a fun place to visit or live in also detracts from it becoming a serious contender to the Valley. It's a city of bankers who have, or traditionally have had, tons of money to throw around, and the restaurants, nightclubs and realtors who serve them. Everyone else has been mostly ancillary. Maybe that will change. Maybe one of the startups here wil…
re: Google
- I worked at Google NYC, and as I recall, over a third of the 2500+ NYC Googlers are engineers. Most of the Docs and Geo teams are headquartered in NYC. Sure, some of the more talented engineers I know travel to the Mtn View or Washington offices once every few weeks, but they still call NYC home.
re: Foursquare - Dens and Naveen seem to be moving well in my book. New app features, new API features, growing developer community, and a growing SF office. I'm bullish.
re: media and advertising - Not true. helped build a company called Invite Media in NYC. Our engineering was located in Philly (laregly UPenn grads), but we moved Product and Client-facing roles to NYC specifically because this is not a myth. Having our HQ in NYC was critical to getting our product in front of the major advertising companies, building relationships with those companies, and those relationships were a key reason Google bought us.
Re: Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)
#9"distractions of city life" is no understatement. What makes NYC quite a fun place to visit or live in also detracts from it becoming a serious contender to the Valley. It's a city of bankers who have, or traditionally have had, tons of money to throw around, and the restaurants, nightclubs and realtors who serve them. Everyone else has been mostly ancillary. Maybe that will change. Maybe one of the startups here wil…
Seconded. I just lived there for eight months and came away with the idea that it's a great place to visit, not a great place to live.
The cognitive overhead of being frugal in NYC is absurdly high so you eventually give up on it to focus on whatever you're actually doing, and there's a persistent layer of low-level noise that sometimes makes it impossible to focus.
Re: Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)
#10I think the negatives Graham cites outweigh the positives. Ultimately, "nerdy visionaries" win out over "rapacious dealmakers." The culture is just too different and I just don't mean the business culture. It's reflected in all walks of life. For example, let's take dating. In NYC if you're not making money or on the very fast track to doing so then you might as well not exist. In my experience dating in the Bay Area…
You might be right but dating isn't the example to go with.
When I met my wife-to-be, I didn't even have a bank account and my fast-track job was washing pint glasses, clearing tables, and kicking people out of the bathroom for sex/drugs/both.
I don't see much difference in NYC vs Bay Area when it comes to creativity and building.
There are differences but I have yet to figure it out.