It’s the biggest city in the U.S., the financial capital of the world, but does New York City have what it takes to become the next great technology hub?
It’s sure going to try.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Tuesday the creation of the Mayor’s Council on Technology and Innovation, a task force to foster the growth of technology companies in the city. The mayor’s ultimate goal isn’t merely to emulate the success of California’s Silicon Valley, but rather to surpass it, turning the late ’90s phrase “Silicon Alley” into something more than a marketing slogan.
“We certainly can’t sit here and let Silicon Valley be bigger than us at anything,” he said at a meeting of technology professionals at New York University. “You have the power to make New York City the global capital for entrepreneurship. This is the area that is going to define this city in the 21st century economy.”
It’s a tall order trying to match, if not overtake, the nonstop output of high-tech success stories coming out of Silicon Valley, but it’s one that could well become reality.
“I like that the mayor is stirring the coals,” said Frank Rimalovski, the managing director of NYU’s Innovation Venture Fund. “He gets it, but I don’t think that New York is going to become the next Silicon Valley any more than San Francisco’s theater district is going to become the next Broadway. If New York wants to become a true hub for entrepreneurs, there has to be more than just internet companies here.”
NYC Tech Connect, which is part of the Entrepreneur-in-Residence for New York City program created last February, could be just what the city needs, as it aims to provide “programs, expertise, and resources designed to accelerate the development of entrepreneurs and their resulting technology start-ups” in the hard sciences. Other, more generalized programs, such as the Economic Development Corporation and the New York City Investment Fund, also help connect good ideas with sound backing.
And even if the city could use a bit more help branching out into the hard sciences, there are plenty of Internet technology companies that already call New York home, including Foursquare, Tumblr, and Gilt Groupe. Twitter, though based in San Francisco, opened an office in New York last week.
Rimalovski spent more than a dozen years helping startups quickly make the successful transition from good idea to well-funded business — “early stage spinout,” in the parlance of entrepreneurship — before joining the NYU fund last year. He sees more than a few differences in the way that Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley operate.
Prior to the advent of the NYU Innovation Venture Fund, the city never really had the sort of central academic nerve center to play the role that Stanford has in Silicon Valley, or that MIT has played in Boston. (Can’t name an MIT-affiliated startup? Try E Ink, the company whose display technology powers most e-readers, including the Kindle and Nook.) Without that academic center, that “core ingredient,” Rimalovski said it’s that much harder to match designers with engineers, to match those with business sense to those who couldn’t run a lemonade stand.
Another difference between the Valley and the Alley is diversity. The best known, and therefore most valuable, New York startups, such as Foursquare and Tumblr, are primarily Internet-based ones, but where are the semiconductor guys, or the people making strides in green technology?
“Genentech launched an entire industry,” said Rimalovski, referring to the bio-technology company. Being able to pump out social app after social app may be great, but may not do a whole lot to ensure the city’s long-term growth.
That’s not to say the city’s technology scene isn’t well positioned for the future, with support networks in place that encourage risk-taking and outside-the-box thinking.
Jon Lazar, a programmer and social media consultant who recently helped launch online news magazine The Interrobang, has seen first-hand how the New York technology scene has evolved over the past few years.
“In the beginning, the scene was a lot more narrowly focused,” he said. “There never used to be any interest” from the business guys, but now you can’t go to a New York Tech Meetup without tripping over would-be investors and recruiters.
“Tech events were once limited to particular industries like traditional media or new media,” said Richard Blakeley, founder of the Webutante Ball charity gala and Websdays, the Internet networking event in partnership with Internet Week New York. “Now, because tech in New York reaches so many different industries, monthly meet-ups like Websdays range from editors, public relations people, video producers to advertising, finance and venture capitalists.”
Lazar also pointed to the number of shared work spaces, including New Work City and General Assembly, where budding entrepreneurs can work alongside one another without having to waste thousands of dollars per month renting an office.
The one thing New York undoubtedly has going for it, says Rimalovski, is the city itself: a true metropolis of highly educated, hardworking people with legendary grittiness. It just needs someone to “spark the fire.”
“Entrepreneurship is like a benign virus,” he said. “It feeds upon itself.”
“I believe New York has already passed Silicon Valley as the place to be,” said Blakeley. “After all, it’s Google and Facebook that decided to move east, not the other way around.”
It’s sure going to try.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Tuesday the creation of the Mayor’s Council on Technology and Innovation, a task force to foster the growth of technology companies in the city. The mayor’s ultimate goal isn’t merely to emulate the success of California’s Silicon Valley, but rather to surpass it, turning the late ’90s phrase “Silicon Alley” into something more than a marketing slogan.
“We certainly can’t sit here and let Silicon Valley be bigger than us at anything,” he said at a meeting of technology professionals at New York University. “You have the power to make New York City the global capital for entrepreneurship. This is the area that is going to define this city in the 21st century economy.”
It’s a tall order trying to match, if not overtake, the nonstop output of high-tech success stories coming out of Silicon Valley, but it’s one that could well become reality.
“I like that the mayor is stirring the coals,” said Frank Rimalovski, the managing director of NYU’s Innovation Venture Fund. “He gets it, but I don’t think that New York is going to become the next Silicon Valley any more than San Francisco’s theater district is going to become the next Broadway. If New York wants to become a true hub for entrepreneurs, there has to be more than just internet companies here.”
NYC Tech Connect, which is part of the Entrepreneur-in-Residence for New York City program created last February, could be just what the city needs, as it aims to provide “programs, expertise, and resources designed to accelerate the development of entrepreneurs and their resulting technology start-ups” in the hard sciences. Other, more generalized programs, such as the Economic Development Corporation and the New York City Investment Fund, also help connect good ideas with sound backing.
And even if the city could use a bit more help branching out into the hard sciences, there are plenty of Internet technology companies that already call New York home, including Foursquare, Tumblr, and Gilt Groupe. Twitter, though based in San Francisco, opened an office in New York last week.
Rimalovski spent more than a dozen years helping startups quickly make the successful transition from good idea to well-funded business — “early stage spinout,” in the parlance of entrepreneurship — before joining the NYU fund last year. He sees more than a few differences in the way that Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley operate.
Prior to the advent of the NYU Innovation Venture Fund, the city never really had the sort of central academic nerve center to play the role that Stanford has in Silicon Valley, or that MIT has played in Boston. (Can’t name an MIT-affiliated startup? Try E Ink, the company whose display technology powers most e-readers, including the Kindle and Nook.) Without that academic center, that “core ingredient,” Rimalovski said it’s that much harder to match designers with engineers, to match those with business sense to those who couldn’t run a lemonade stand.
Another difference between the Valley and the Alley is diversity. The best known, and therefore most valuable, New York startups, such as Foursquare and Tumblr, are primarily Internet-based ones, but where are the semiconductor guys, or the people making strides in green technology?
“Genentech launched an entire industry,” said Rimalovski, referring to the bio-technology company. Being able to pump out social app after social app may be great, but may not do a whole lot to ensure the city’s long-term growth.
That’s not to say the city’s technology scene isn’t well positioned for the future, with support networks in place that encourage risk-taking and outside-the-box thinking.
Jon Lazar, a programmer and social media consultant who recently helped launch online news magazine The Interrobang, has seen first-hand how the New York technology scene has evolved over the past few years.
“In the beginning, the scene was a lot more narrowly focused,” he said. “There never used to be any interest” from the business guys, but now you can’t go to a New York Tech Meetup without tripping over would-be investors and recruiters.
“Tech events were once limited to particular industries like traditional media or new media,” said Richard Blakeley, founder of the Webutante Ball charity gala and Websdays, the Internet networking event in partnership with Internet Week New York. “Now, because tech in New York reaches so many different industries, monthly meet-ups like Websdays range from editors, public relations people, video producers to advertising, finance and venture capitalists.”
Lazar also pointed to the number of shared work spaces, including New Work City and General Assembly, where budding entrepreneurs can work alongside one another without having to waste thousands of dollars per month renting an office.
The one thing New York undoubtedly has going for it, says Rimalovski, is the city itself: a true metropolis of highly educated, hardworking people with legendary grittiness. It just needs someone to “spark the fire.”
“Entrepreneurship is like a benign virus,” he said. “It feeds upon itself.”
“I believe New York has already passed Silicon Valley as the place to be,” said Blakeley. “After all, it’s Google and Facebook that decided to move east, not the other way around.”
