Electric Avenue
David
in Technology, Events, NYC
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1 Comment
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7 References
There’s something in the air here on the streets on New York City. It’s a certain buzz, or electricity that can be felt. Anyone who’s been in and around the blogosphere in the past few weeks has to feel it. The NY tech community is on the verge of entering a renaissance period highlighted by the emergence of not only a slew of great companies, but more importantly, a new mindset and philosophy about its place NOT just in the tech world, but in the business world at large. The community is organizing itself rapidly, and thought leaders are taking steps to foster the collaboration and innovation necessary to elevate this relatively underrepresented ‘scene’ into a legitimate player in the NY business world.
In the past few weeks, local bloggers and business leaders such as Tracy Sheridan, Charlie O’Donnell, Darren Herman, and Nate Westheimer have all posted commentary on recent discussions about fostering the development of the NY tech scene. The NextNY discussions on this topic have set off a firestorm of activity from discussions about co-working & Cafe Bricolage, to events designed to bring out and show off the best of NY.
I think Darren hit on the most important in his blog entry (linked above). Since the rise of the the initial dotcom era in the 90’s, the NY tech community has always been compared to SF. The press, and more importantly, the venture money have followed ‘manifest destiny’ and gone west. In order to stand on our own as a thriving business community, we as tech leaders need to redefine how we want the rest of the world to see us. We need to step out of the shadow of Silicon Valley and shine light on the things that make us both unique and strong. New York is the business capital of the world, and we seem shy about being an active part of it. On the west coast, the tech community is a viable and recognized industry, and that’s understandable. Here though, our community isn’t recognized in the same way. We have to recognize and embrace that fact that we are a different beast, and more importantly, we need to highlight and foster the associations and synergies we already have with the NY business world.
As Darren said,
“We have amazing assets here in NY - Madison Avenue, the publishing industry, fashion, finance, textiles, and many other fine industries. These industries are very different than they are out in SF - and because of that, the culture is different, thus affecting early stage startups in terms of technology enabling startups.”
My take from this is that we as the tech community need to foster and grow our relationships in these vertical industries, rather than trying to gain notoriety as an industry ourselves. There seems to be an underlying fear between us and them, the tech startups and the traditional businesses of NY, when in reality, both sides can offer HUGE value to each other. We as the tech community must lead in developing this relationship in order to establish our ground as the digital movers and shakers of the next decade.
So while I think its essential that we continue to foster our community internally, I think it’s far more crucial to open up our doors and work directly with the business world at large. Besides the obvious financial benefits that could come from that relationship, the creative synergies that could result could seriously bring about a whole new wave of great internet technology. Ultimately, we hope to work with real industries, to solve real problems, to make real money - as opposed to valley induced technology and value speculation.
There’s a small group of us here in the community aiming to solve this specific problem. We’ve been working over the past few weeks to put together an event and series of programs that we feel will help to break down the walls that we have constructed and to open the door to the business world around us. Stay tuned, as great things are still to come…
References (7)
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Source: nextNY's NycHub Event
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Response: LinkedA tactical retreat is not a bad response to a surprise assault, you know. First you survive. Then you choose your own ground. Then you counterattack
Reader Comments (1)
Excellent post. This point, in particular, says it all:
In order to stand on our own as a thriving business community, we as [NYC] tech leaders need to redefine how we want the rest of the world to see us. We need to step out of the shadow of Silicon Valley and shine light on the things that make us both unique and strong. New York is the business capital of the world, and we seem shy about being an active part of it.
I'm behind this movement, all the way. Strap yourself in! It's going to be a fun ride.