4 ms·

What NYC really needs: A support group for founders

28 points by aditya 17y ago

Sukotto 17y ago
I'm in the target audience for something like this, though I live in a suburb and not in The City. It sounds awesome and I plan to sign up at my first opportunity.
- aditya 17y ago
  cool - you're more than welcome, as soon as we set this up.
  - fortes 17y ago
    I'm interested as well. But I'm a little confused about the next step. Your post leads me to believe we're all supposed to contact you? I get the feeling that's not what you really want (for attendees)
    - aditya 17y ago
      hah - no. slight oversight, there. join the google group: http://groups.google.com/group/founders-anonymous http://groups.google.com/group/founders-anonymous
aprime 17y ago
nextNY may be close to what the author envisions: http://www.nextny.org/ http://www.nextny.org/
- aditya 17y ago
  nextNY isn't only founders, and is a little too big now. it is a great group of people, just not as close knit as what i'm proposing...
vaksel 17y ago
frankly I think the whole east coast vs west coast thing in startups is stupid. You can do your startup from anywhere in the world....as long as you have a decent internet connection. You want support? Come to HN and ask for advice. You want to do some collaboration with someone? Email/skype them. You want to listen to speakers/discussions about startups? Hit up mixergy. Why is it in the age of the web, we still try to localize everything? The only thing that really matters "localization" wise...is capital. Because in SV you have a ton of people investing in startups. While in NYC, the same people are investing in the stock market. That's the only difference....being able to raise a ton of money quickly, simply by being local to the people who actually want to invest in tech startups.
- mtalantikite 17y ago
  "Why is it in the age of the web, we still try to localize everything?" Because I still think there is something to be said about discussing things over lunch or while having a beer. Is it necessary? Of course not. But there is still something really nice about developing an in person, human connection.
  - matt1 17y ago
    People often ask me why I want to move to the west coast if I want to work on an internet business. After all, you can access the internet from anywhere. The best analogy I've come up with is to say that it's like being a talented actor living in rural Arkansas. Sure, you can act from anywhere, but living somewhere that encourages and supports your talent (like Los Angeles in the case of acting), can make all the difference.
- daleharvey 17y ago
  because information / users / capital / infrastructure are still secondary to (imo) the most important factor in a startup, the passion and drive of the founders. while the internet has greatly improved our access to knowledge, as good as skype and whatever are, it still hasnt replaced the experience of sitting down and having a beer with other founders and people passionate and knowledgeable about the same things.
mtalantikite 17y ago
I'm not sure a support group is exactly what is needed -- there are a bunch of those around (nextny comes to mind, and has been around for years). However, I do agree that the startup scene is rather fragmented here in NYC. While there definitely are neighborhoods with higher concentrations of tech startups (SoHo, Chelsea, and Dumbo come to mind), there really is no 'startup district', if you will. We don't have a neighborhood like, say, South Park, where you have a ton of smaller startup companies concentrated into a fairly small area, or even a common district home to all the large tech companies, like the bay area has. We do have a financial district, fashion district, theater district, diamond district, jazz district, etc etc. While not totally necessary, I do think having a physical center where similar types of businesses call home is really an overlooked part of the success of an industry. It creates a community and helps facilitate a natural type of networking, solely because people doing similar things run into each other every day. Plus the after-work drinks in the neighborhood bars would probably breed even more natural business deals/partnerships. I saw that happening a lot when I worked on Wall St -- you'd be tripping over other hedge fund guys at the pubs after work, just because of the nature of the neighborhood. That said, I'd purpose somewhere like Gowanus in Brooklyn, where leases are cheap and the neighborhood is only now starting to be developed. Lots of Gowanus also has tax incentives associated with it, as it is one of the Empire Zones. Not to mention you're close to the third largest subway stop in the city, making commuting easy. Prospect Park is a short walk away as well. The neighborhood is bound to change to a business focused area within a couple of years anyways, once the stadium for the Brooklyn Nets is built a couple blocks away at Atlantic Yards. Might as well make it a tech-centered district.
- aditya 17y ago
  Gowanus would be cool, except it's a bit far out of Manhattan, which is why DUMBO works. DUMBO is a desert in terms of food choices though. (Not that South Park is any better), but DUMBO is also expensive to live in. I say put all the startups in Greenpoint (cheap labor (hipsters), low rent, and mccarren park!). On a more serious note, I think it would be nice to have a dense concentration of startups in a nice part of town but I don't know how one would pull that off.
  - 17y ago
idlewords 17y ago
What NYC sorely needs is a place to get a good burrito. Group hugs and talking about our feelings, and how sometimes when no one at the startup is looking we cry just a very little bit? Go back to California, hippie!
- aditya 17y ago
  try: http://twitter.com/calexicocart http://twitter.com/calexicocart for a good burrito. :-)
  - idlewords 17y ago
    I will, but I've been hurt before! That's where NYC could really use a support group.
- jsm386 17y ago
  Dos Toros. Open for a few months. Best burrito in the city. Lines can be crazy since the NY Times reviewed it a few weeks ago: http://events.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/dining/reviews/06unde.html http://events.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/dining/reviews/06unde.h... IF the Dos Toros Taqueria just off Union Square brings to mind the sort of fresh, quick and cheap eating found at Mexican joints in the San Francisco Bay Area, that’s by design. It was opened by Leo and Oliver Kremer, brothers from Berkeley, Calif., who worshiped Gordo Taqueria, a Bay Area favorite founded in 1977. Dos Toros is something of an homage.
- joeconyers 17y ago
  http://www.yelp.com/biz/tortilleria-mexicana-los-hermanos-brooklyn http://www.yelp.com/biz/tortilleria-mexicana-los-hermanos-br... I've been east for about 6 years and this is the closest I've gotten to good Mexican food. It is start up friendly[Read:cheap] and amazing- no burritos though last I checked.
yosho 17y ago
isn't there the NYC meetup thing every monrth?

28 points by aditya 17y ago

I'm in the target audience for something like this, though I live in a suburb and not in The City. It sounds awesome and I plan to sign up at my first opportunity.

aditya 17y ago
cool - you're more than welcome, as soon as we set this up.
- fortes 17y ago
  I'm interested as well. But I'm a little confused about the next step. Your post leads me to believe we're all supposed to contact you? I get the feeling that's not what you really want (for attendees)
  - aditya 17y ago
    hah - no. slight oversight, there. join the google group: http://groups.google.com/group/founders-anonymous http://groups.google.com/group/founders-anonymous

aprime 17y ago

nextNY may be close to what the author envisions: http://www.nextny.org/ http://www.nextny.org/

aditya 17y ago
nextNY isn't only founders, and is a little too big now. it is a great group of people, just not as close knit as what i'm proposing...

vaksel 17y ago

frankly I think the whole east coast vs west coast thing in startups is stupid. You can do your startup from anywhere in the world....as long as you have a decent internet connection. You want support? Come to HN and ask for advice. You want to do some collaboration with someone? Email/skype them. You want to listen to speakers/discussions about startups? Hit up mixergy. Why is it in the age of the web, we still try to localize everything? The only thing that really matters "localization" wise...is capital. Because in SV you have a ton of people investing in startups. While in NYC, the same people are investing in the stock market. That's the only difference....being able to raise a ton of money quickly, simply by being local to the people who actually want to invest in tech startups.

mtalantikite 17y ago
"Why is it in the age of the web, we still try to localize everything?" Because I still think there is something to be said about discussing things over lunch or while having a beer. Is it necessary? Of course not. But there is still something really nice about developing an in person, human connection.
- matt1 17y ago
  People often ask me why I want to move to the west coast if I want to work on an internet business. After all, you can access the internet from anywhere. The best analogy I've come up with is to say that it's like being a talented actor living in rural Arkansas. Sure, you can act from anywhere, but living somewhere that encourages and supports your talent (like Los Angeles in the case of acting), can make all the difference.
daleharvey 17y ago
because information / users / capital / infrastructure are still secondary to (imo) the most important factor in a startup, the passion and drive of the founders. while the internet has greatly improved our access to knowledge, as good as skype and whatever are, it still hasnt replaced the experience of sitting down and having a beer with other founders and people passionate and knowledgeable about the same things.

mtalantikite 17y ago

I'm not sure a support group is exactly what is needed -- there are a bunch of those around (nextny comes to mind, and has been around for years). However, I do agree that the startup scene is rather fragmented here in NYC. While there definitely are neighborhoods with higher concentrations of tech startups (SoHo, Chelsea, and Dumbo come to mind), there really is no 'startup district', if you will. We don't have a neighborhood like, say, South Park, where you have a ton of smaller startup companies concentrated into a fairly small area, or even a common district home to all the large tech companies, like the bay area has. We do have a financial district, fashion district, theater district, diamond district, jazz district, etc etc. While not totally necessary, I do think having a physical center where similar types of businesses call home is really an overlooked part of the success of an industry. It creates a community and helps facilitate a natural type of networking, solely because people doing similar things run into each other every day. Plus the after-work drinks in the neighborhood bars would probably breed even more natural business deals/partnerships. I saw that happening a lot when I worked on Wall St -- you'd be tripping over other hedge fund guys at the pubs after work, just because of the nature of the neighborhood. That said, I'd purpose somewhere like Gowanus in Brooklyn, where leases are cheap and the neighborhood is only now starting to be developed. Lots of Gowanus also has tax incentives associated with it, as it is one of the Empire Zones. Not to mention you're close to the third largest subway stop in the city, making commuting easy. Prospect Park is a short walk away as well. The neighborhood is bound to change to a business focused area within a couple of years anyways, once the stadium for the Brooklyn Nets is built a couple blocks away at Atlantic Yards. Might as well make it a tech-centered district.

aditya 17y ago
Gowanus would be cool, except it's a bit far out of Manhattan, which is why DUMBO works. DUMBO is a desert in terms of food choices though. (Not that South Park is any better), but DUMBO is also expensive to live in. I say put all the startups in Greenpoint (cheap labor (hipsters), low rent, and mccarren park!). On a more serious note, I think it would be nice to have a dense concentration of startups in a nice part of town but I don't know how one would pull that off.
- 17y ago

idlewords 17y ago

What NYC sorely needs is a place to get a good burrito. Group hugs and talking about our feelings, and how sometimes when no one at the startup is looking we cry just a very little bit? Go back to California, hippie!

aditya 17y ago
try: http://twitter.com/calexicocart http://twitter.com/calexicocart for a good burrito. :-)
- idlewords 17y ago
  I will, but I've been hurt before! That's where NYC could really use a support group.
jsm386 17y ago
Dos Toros. Open for a few months. Best burrito in the city. Lines can be crazy since the NY Times reviewed it a few weeks ago: http://events.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/dining/reviews/06unde.html http://events.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/dining/reviews/06unde.h... IF the Dos Toros Taqueria just off Union Square brings to mind the sort of fresh, quick and cheap eating found at Mexican joints in the San Francisco Bay Area, that’s by design. It was opened by Leo and Oliver Kremer, brothers from Berkeley, Calif., who worshiped Gordo Taqueria, a Bay Area favorite founded in 1977. Dos Toros is something of an homage.
joeconyers 17y ago
http://www.yelp.com/biz/tortilleria-mexicana-los-hermanos-brooklyn http://www.yelp.com/biz/tortilleria-mexicana-los-hermanos-br... I've been east for about 6 years and this is the closest I've gotten to good Mexican food. It is start up friendly[Read:cheap] and amazing- no burritos though last I checked.

yosho 17y ago

isn't there the NYC meetup thing every monrth?