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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)

#21

Post by knieveltech »

pitdesi wrote: post #20
bcantrill wrote: post #18

In my experience, the only people who weigh in on these debates are those who do not live in Silicon Valley -- like any epicenter for anything, those of us who have made our careers here hardly give a damn how the rest of the world compares themselves to us. (Or to put this another way: New Yorkers do not sit around debating if or that New York is the world's epicenter for finance.) But as someone who has grown sligh…

I wholeheartedly agree that NYC is no threat to Silicon Valley. That being said, for my individual startup, why the hell should I care if there is a microprocessor company, network equipment provider, computer company, etc etc etc? I can't think of very many of the hot startups discussed on this forum where it matters to have those things in the vicinity.

Density of expertise, I suspect. If you're working on a software startup, by definition you're dealing with unknowns. Having companies in the area that have staff that are operating on the cutting edge of everything from cloud services to hardware means you're a hell of a lot more likely to trip over someone who can provide you with the expertise you need.

Re: Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)

#22

Post by bitops »

pitdesi wrote: post #20
bcantrill wrote: post #18

In my experience, the only people who weigh in on these debates are those who do not live in Silicon Valley -- like any epicenter for anything, those of us who have made our careers here hardly give a damn how the rest of the world compares themselves to us. (Or to put this another way: New Yorkers do not sit around debating if or that New York is the world's epicenter for finance.) But as someone who has grown sligh…

I wholeheartedly agree that NYC is no threat to Silicon Valley. That being said, for my individual startup, why the hell should I care if there is a microprocessor company, network equipment provider, computer company, etc etc etc? I can't think of very many of the hot startups discussed on this forum where it matters to have those things in the vicinity.

While not a new startup by any means, consider a company like VMWare. All their sales pitches discuss CPU architectures and how their products are compatible. (The pitches I've heard personally, anyway).

They want to be a big player in cloud, so it makes the most sense for them to be located in Silicon Valley. After that, it's a network effect.

Re: Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)

#24

Post by sayemm »

I'm not going to comment about this comparison between SV and NYC, but I think it's really interesting how PG mentions that bit about Zuck crossing paths with Sean Parker. It reminds me of this clip from Stanford ecorner about how Max Levchin and Peter Theil randomly met one day at Terman - http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1022

I think Paul Buchheit said it best regarding serendipity - http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2010/10/serendipity-finds-y...

Re: Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)

#26

Post by michaelpinto »

Tonight Paul Graham got me more excited about doing a startup in NYC than I've been since the 90s. I don't expect NYC to be silicon valley, nor do I want it to be -- there's enough about this town that makes it special. I was also very encouraged by seeing locals who went through the Y Combinator program -- it was truly energizing. I frankly don't understand how a reporter for the Times can even ask the question...

Re: Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)

#27

Post by bcantrill »

pitdesi wrote: post #20
bcantrill wrote: post #18

In my experience, the only people who weigh in on these debates are those who do not live in Silicon Valley -- like any epicenter for anything, those of us who have made our careers here hardly give a damn how the rest of the world compares themselves to us. (Or to put this another way: New Yorkers do not sit around debating if or that New York is the world's epicenter for finance.) But as someone who has grown sligh…

I wholeheartedly agree that NYC is no threat to Silicon Valley. That being said, for my individual startup, why the hell should I care if there is a microprocessor company, network equipment provider, computer company, etc etc etc? I can't think of very many of the hot startups discussed on this forum where it matters to have those things in the vicinity.

That you don't care highlights the difference between Silicon Valley and everywhere else. Here, even the so-called "hot" startups are no more than two or three hops away from the tech giants -- and that absolutely informs our collective thinking: we know how to build billion dollar tech companies because so many of us have worked for them.

Re: Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)

#28

Post by po »

avree wrote: post #15
donohoe wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strongly disagree. Seattle has distractions. SF has distractions. Any city with population > 200,00 has its share of distractions. Might be booze, and parties, or it might be hiking and the outdoors. I lived and worked in NYC for 10 years. Bankers? Yeah, a big part of the citys blood. However they were always secondary to the tech scene which was primarily startup and media. The reported advantages of NYC - such as t…

As someone who's lived on both coasts, I think that the major difference between NY and SF 'distractions' is that the West Coast distractions are generally more 'related' to tech. When I go out to any random bar in SOMA, I'm likely to meet mainly tech/startup people. It's a very insular community. In NYC, you're more likely to meet a wider breadth of people—which can be good or bad, depending on what you're looking f…

In NYC, you're more likely to meet a wider breadth of people—which can be good or bad, depending on what you're looking for and what kind of person you are.

I think you can make an argument that as internet technology takes a larger roll in people's lives and becomes more mainstream, having a diversity of skills in your company will become more necessary as well.

Re: Is New York's Tech Boom Sustainable? (PG asks)

#30

Post by kokey »

bengl3rt wrote: post #9
dr_ wrote: post #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 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.

I have the same trouble with living in London. It takes a strong will and mental effort to manage your money and the distractions, and make optimal plans to get the basics done like getting to work and back and buying groceries, going out without spending too much on cabs and drinks. You have to plan and budget, where in other places you can just go with the flow and things just tend to work out since there aren't so many bad directions to flow in, either due to the lack of options or just hanging out with a crowd that makes do with the same means. That said, if you learn to handle a tough city, everywhere else becomes very easy, and it's probably one of the reasons I come back here every few years to force myself to grow up a little bit more.
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