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I'm not a member of either community - can you expand on the difference you see between the two?

by alex_c 10y ago

neom 10y ago
Some people are building toys for children, some people are building tools for humans. Both are fine, in moderation. I think we see more and more the NYC tech culture feels like they are trying to build real things, the valley is stuck in consumerism and has lost the ability to push the needle, much of this is due to poorly considered greed and linear thinking. :(
- sievebrain 10y ago
  What is "linear thinking"?
  - w1ntermute 10y ago
    It's one of those buzzwordy terms currently in vogue in the tech industry. It's a hipper way of saying "not creative/disruptive". The b-school equivalent would be "thinking inside the box". For example, here's sama (president of YC)[0]: > Very rare and extremely powerful combination: the ability to think both clearly and very non-linearly. Most people lucky to have one. An example of nonlinear thinking by sama[1]: > the company wanted to come visit our offices so they could make sure we were a 'real' company. At that time, we were only 5 guys. So we hired a bunch of our college friends to 'work' for us for the day so we could look larger than we actually were. It worked, and we got the contract. As you might expect, Peter Thiel prefers to be a contrarian and use his own term for it: Zero to One[2]. 0. https://www.twitter.com/sama/status/699330028404772864 https://www.twitter.com/sama/status/699330028404772864 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3048944 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3048944 2. https://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future/dp/0804139296 https://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future/dp/080...
    - markonthewall 10y ago
      Afaik the folks at F8 started the trend, I heard them use that idiom back in 2009 (F8 didn't exist yet)
- 650REDHAIR 10y ago
  Tools for humans.... Sure. http://www.businessinsider.com/business-insider-2015-silicon-alley-100-hottest-startups-2015-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/business-insider-2015-silicon...
- pohungc 10y ago
  What are some of the most impactful things being built in the NYC tech scene?
  - abhi3 10y ago
    theskimm, buzzfeed
  - neom 10y ago
    pinterest, etsy, fab, digitalocean, buzzfeed, any media platform, guilt, foursquare, seamless web, app nexsus, etc. I could literally list 100.
    - 650REDHAIR 10y ago
      So pinterest, fab, buzzfeed, guilt, and foursquare are "tools for humans" and startups like, oh I don't know, Tesla in SV/SF, are toys?
      - neom 10y ago
        You named Tesla, bravo...?
  - shanacarp 10y ago
    So there are actually other things being built in NYC that are very not scenish at all. Like Vroom - no one talks about the used car market, but they are huge. Knewton and Schoology, two other big company no one treats as huge unless you are into ed-tech Kinnek just raised a huge round, they are trying to be an amazon of suppliers All of these things are impactful, but, well, weird. There are a LOT of those types of things in NYC
- econner 10y ago
  What a sweeping generalization. Can you provide any justification that the valley has "lost the ability to push the needle?"
  - neom 10y ago
    Just look at the general investment philosophy of any VC below T1.

I'm not a member of either community - can you expand on the difference you see between the two?

by alex_c 10y ago

I'm not a member of either community - can you expand on the difference you see between the two?

neom 10y ago

Some people are building toys for children, some people are building tools for humans. Both are fine, in moderation. I think we see more and more the NYC tech culture feels like they are trying to build real things, the valley is stuck in consumerism and has lost the ability to push the needle, much of this is due to poorly considered greed and linear thinking. :(

sievebrain 10y ago
What is "linear thinking"?
- w1ntermute 10y ago
  It's one of those buzzwordy terms currently in vogue in the tech industry. It's a hipper way of saying "not creative/disruptive". The b-school equivalent would be "thinking inside the box". For example, here's sama (president of YC)[0]: > Very rare and extremely powerful combination: the ability to think both clearly and very non-linearly. Most people lucky to have one. An example of nonlinear thinking by sama[1]: > the company wanted to come visit our offices so they could make sure we were a 'real' company. At that time, we were only 5 guys. So we hired a bunch of our college friends to 'work' for us for the day so we could look larger than we actually were. It worked, and we got the contract. As you might expect, Peter Thiel prefers to be a contrarian and use his own term for it: Zero to One[2]. 0. https://www.twitter.com/sama/status/699330028404772864 https://www.twitter.com/sama/status/699330028404772864 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3048944 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3048944 2. https://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future/dp/0804139296 https://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future/dp/080...
  - markonthewall 10y ago
    Afaik the folks at F8 started the trend, I heard them use that idiom back in 2009 (F8 didn't exist yet)
650REDHAIR 10y ago
Tools for humans.... Sure. http://www.businessinsider.com/business-insider-2015-silicon-alley-100-hottest-startups-2015-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/business-insider-2015-silicon...
pohungc 10y ago
What are some of the most impactful things being built in the NYC tech scene?
- abhi3 10y ago
  theskimm, buzzfeed
- neom 10y ago
  pinterest, etsy, fab, digitalocean, buzzfeed, any media platform, guilt, foursquare, seamless web, app nexsus, etc. I could literally list 100.
  - 650REDHAIR 10y ago
    So pinterest, fab, buzzfeed, guilt, and foursquare are "tools for humans" and startups like, oh I don't know, Tesla in SV/SF, are toys?
    - neom 10y ago
      You named Tesla, bravo...?
- shanacarp 10y ago
  So there are actually other things being built in NYC that are very not scenish at all. Like Vroom - no one talks about the used car market, but they are huge. Knewton and Schoology, two other big company no one treats as huge unless you are into ed-tech Kinnek just raised a huge round, they are trying to be an amazon of suppliers All of these things are impactful, but, well, weird. There are a LOT of those types of things in NYC
econner 10y ago
What a sweeping generalization. Can you provide any justification that the valley has "lost the ability to push the needle?"
- neom 10y ago
  Just look at the general investment philosophy of any VC below T1.