(2007-03-01) Nextny Big Apple2

I attended the NextNY meeting discussing Nyc Challenges for Start Up-s - [z2007-01-30-NycStartupChallenges]. Some interesting bits:

• NYC Angel Capital people rarely invest in tech/net startups - they do Real Estate, Hedge Fund-s, etc.

• NYC investors of any level are more likely to demand an existing significant revenue stream - no "building audience" as a stage.

• People felt that the expense of living in the city make it harder to get developers to give up their Wall St jobs, no matter how much they hate them.

• there was a general smell of Silicon Valley-envy in the air

• some people felt that it makes most sense to leverage the existing strong industries in NYC: fashion, media, advertising, etc. - although I think there's a question of whether you can foster Disruptive Innovation through the people you're trying to disrupt...

• some folks are thinking about encourage future Entrepreneur-s by speaking to kids via NFTE, etc., while others want to focus on college students to get fresh hires, etc.

• Kristian Hansen intends to put a session together on Real Estate.

• CoWorking, etc.

  • No Neck suggests The Tank Nyc as a space to use

• after the event, I suggested that maybe members should "show their colors" while at a Coffee House with a Luggage Tag or Laptop Sticker bearing the NextNY logo.

• Darren Herman has blogged his experiences and recommendations on the NYC Start Up environment.