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

Baltimore Is Getting Its First Startup Incubator

bmoremedia.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 64 posts

Re: Baltimore Is Getting Its First Startup Incubator

#51

Post by thestoicattack »

subelsky wrote: post #47
asmithmd1 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Boston, which is almost exactly the same populations as Baltimore, had 72 murders last year. If New York had the murder rate that Baltimore does that would mean over 3000 people murdered in a year. Baltimore has a serious violence problem no matter how you try to rationalize it.

who's trying to rationalize it? There's not much I can do about it; it's still an awesome place to live. Good luck buying a house in a nice part of Boston or NYC as a working-class or middle-class person. Meanwhile I'm hacking code, running a startup, and I live in a super nice house in a walkable neighborhood that's very different than the one narrow slice you saw in that show.

What neighborhood? (Charles Village here.)

Re: Baltimore Is Getting Its First Startup Incubator

#52

Post by subelsky »

sausagefeet wrote: post #49
subelsky wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

glad to hear it! But this is just one small facet of the tech scene in Baltimore...Please check out my response to kovar for a list of other resources you should check out.

What is the difference between this and something like ETC on Boston St? They have The Hive which is a cheap place for startups to go (do they lack funding?).

The ETC is great but does not provide funding, and you have to pay rent for the office space (though the leases are on startup-friendly terms, graduated rates, etc). The ETC will actually be providing their services (consulting, introductions, etc) to our portfolio

Re: Baltimore Is Getting Its First Startup Incubator

#53

Post by subelsky »

thestoicattack wrote: post #51
subelsky wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

who's trying to rationalize it? There's not much I can do about it; it's still an awesome place to live. Good luck buying a house in a nice part of Boston or NYC as a working-class or middle-class person. Meanwhile I'm hacking code, running a startup, and I live in a super nice house in a walkable neighborhood that's very different than the one narrow slice you saw in that show.

What neighborhood? (Charles Village here.)

We haven't locked down the space yet but are hoping for a spot in Fells Point. I actually also live in Charles Village, let's meet up for coffee sometime! (mike@subelsky.com)

Re: Baltimore Is Getting Its First Startup Incubator

#55

Post by mcgeadyd »

zavulon wrote: post #54
mcgeadyd wrote: post #45

shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttt! Looks like Mayor Carcetti really is turning things around.

Stringer Bell is definitely going to be applying.

Where do you think the money is coming from?! Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

Re: Baltimore Is Getting Its First Startup Incubator

#56

Post by adestefan »

bmelton wrote: post #3
subelsky wrote: post #2

I know there are a lot of incubators starting up now, but there aren't so many on the east coast. I wrote in more detail about the vision of this project and why we're doing it in this Google Doc, if anyone is interested in starting something in their own city: https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AdPdQktVsPezZGp0bW1jNF8xN...

Baltimore's a good target. You generally would expect something like this to happen in the (nearby) DC area, but between Fort Meade and other Maryland-area institutions, there is some AMAZING talent in or around Baltimore, and it's much more pleasant getting into and out of. Mike, if you need any help with anything technical, please feel free to let me know -- contact info is in my profile.

I would agree with all of this. I'm still amazed that I can get from my house outside of Laurel to downtown Baltimore in 15-20 minutes even during the morning commute. There's also such easy and cheap access to DC, Philly, NYC and Boston via Amtrak.

We have a crop of good schools around here too. There's Hopkins and UMBC in the city plus UMD College Park has a top notch CS program.

Re: Baltimore Is Getting Its First Startup Incubator

#57

Post by burgerbrain »

subelsky wrote: post #26
xiaoma wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's the consistent 200-300 homicides per year that hurt Baltimore's reputation.

yes but how many other cities have had their homicides so dramatically portrayed to the world cognoscenti?

Ever watch Law and Order? CSI?

Re: Baltimore Is Getting Its First Startup Incubator

#59

Post by Perceval »

bmelton wrote: post #3
subelsky wrote: post #2

I know there are a lot of incubators starting up now, but there aren't so many on the east coast. I wrote in more detail about the vision of this project and why we're doing it in this Google Doc, if anyone is interested in starting something in their own city: https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AdPdQktVsPezZGp0bW1jNF8xN...

Baltimore's a good target. You generally would expect something like this to happen in the (nearby) DC area, but between Fort Meade and other Maryland-area institutions, there is some AMAZING talent in or around Baltimore, and it's much more pleasant getting into and out of. Mike, if you need any help with anything technical, please feel free to let me know -- contact info is in my profile.

Well, in my limited experience, Reston VA is a center for a lot of smaller tech companies. But they have a different environment. While they are entrepreneurial, they are not oriented around angel investing / venture capital to the same extent than places like San Francisco. This is because they have government funding and government contracts in lieu of private funding.

Now, obviously there is still a significant amount of VC funding in Reston, but government money plays the role that initial incubator money might in other regions. I, for instance, worked briefly at a startup that was developing technology spun off from a DARPA initiative. My uncle, a VC, was a Vice President there.

Like most things in and around Washington DC, the presence of the federal government changes the political/economic/social/cultural environment in ways that you won't see in other parts of the country.

Baltimore makes more sense, because there's a greater need for startup cash and startup cash will have a greater effect here, since it's not going to be crowded out by government money.

Re: Baltimore Is Getting Its First Startup Incubator

#60

Post by paul9290 »

xiaoma wrote: post #25
Griever wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Wire (while being an incredible show) definitely hurt Baltimore in terms of its reputation. There are some fantastic areas around, and the culture is very inspiring.

I think it's the consistent 200-300 homicides per year that hurt Baltimore's reputation.

Yes but The Wire did not take place in Fells Point or Canton. Which is the Hoboken(yuppie) of Baltimore.

Every city has its west baltimore components to it.

Post reply on HN