4 ms·

What NYC Needs: A New Narrative

19 points by MediaSquirrel 17y ago

hexis 17y ago
This brings to mind something pg wrote about New York: "New York tells you, above all: you should make more money. There are other messages too, of course. You should be hipper. You should be better looking. But the clearest message is that you should be richer." - http://www.paulgraham.com/cities.html http://www.paulgraham.com/cities.html Of course, founders can make plenty of money. But New York does seem to be unusual in how much it lionizes people who already have lots of money (or least, people who allocate lots of it). I don't expect to see the phenomenon discussed in this blog post change anytime soon.
- elblanco 17y ago
  Well it is after all a city largely driven by the finance sector.
- MediaSquirrel 17y ago
  I think that hugely ambitious companies that achieve insane exits (pref IPO) could make a dent.
  - anamax 17y ago
    > I think that hugely ambitious companies that achieve insane exits (pref IPO) could make a dent. Why? The existence of finance people who have made tons of money and their lionization resulted in the lionization of finance folks who haven't made tons of money. In fact, there's probably a bit of the opposite, namely "you're in finance and haven't made it, so there must be something wrong with you". NYC lionizes AFTER you've made it. Even if it cares how (and it doesn't seem to), it doesn't lionize folks who haven't made it, regardless of how they're trying to make it.
- pw0ncakes 17y ago
  New York is great in many ways, but it's also a city that tells you, once a month, that you're not a part of it and probably never will be. You can buy your way in, sure, but you're just a "guest worker", and you won't actually belong until you make a hundred million or so. The people who "belong" here are the ones whose parents bought real estate in the '70s when it was cheap, those who can actually afford a desirable, family-capable, apartment, and the token not-so-rich (upper-middle-class and extremely well-connected) who have rent control (an arrangement that is often better than ownership, because rent-controlled rents are often lower than the maintenance fees for owners). This is what NYC tells you: you don't belong here unless (or x1 x2 ... xn). The easiest of those xi to change is your income. Aside from that, it's not that materialist of a city.
starkfist 17y ago
This article is too meta and meandering. What is this new narrative? What is the old narrative that needs replacing? That said, NYC has a number of "structural" issues which make it a less than ideal place to start a silicon valley style startup. These same issues can be an advantage for different sorts of startups. A change in narrative is not going to change these.
- zackattack 17y ago
  youre missing the point. matt is pointing out that the paradigm of creating a business for the purpose of getting on a specific investor's radar is completely fucked. instead of pandering to avc/cdixon, people should create for their customers.
  - hugh3 17y ago
    But what about that advice makes it specific to New York City?
    - MediaSquirrel 17y ago
      Really, this particular point is not that specific to NYC. It's applicable more generally, although in SV Steve Jobs & Zuck are the biggest heroes.
  - starkfist 17y ago
    I know I missed the point, that was my point... That said, I think the "paradigm of creating a business for the purpose of getting on a specific investor's radar" is an idea that largely exists in the minds of tech bloggers like the one who wrote the article.
eplanit 17y ago
What an absurd ego battle. I'm sorry I took the bait to read it. You can stop with the False Choice that opens the piece: Who's the hero of the startup universe? Is it the entrepreneur, or is it the investor?
anarcticpuffin 17y ago
I agree with the general push of the article, that we should get back to admiring entrepreneurs rather than VCs, but I have to admit, NYC doesn't do a great job of welcoming entrepreneurship. NYC is an extremely expensive place for a company with little to no revenue, considering wages and rent are so high. I also haven't heard of any tech incubators here either (there might be, so please correct me if I've missed them). A startup could easily grow 3 hours North in Albany with half the early-phase burn rate and have access to both the NYC and Boston VC pools.

19 points by MediaSquirrel 17y ago

hexis 17y ago

This brings to mind something pg wrote about New York: "New York tells you, above all: you should make more money. There are other messages too, of course. You should be hipper. You should be better looking. But the clearest message is that you should be richer." - http://www.paulgraham.com/cities.html http://www.paulgraham.com/cities.html Of course, founders can make plenty of money. But New York does seem to be unusual in how much it lionizes people who already have lots of money (or least, people who allocate lots of it). I don't expect to see the phenomenon discussed in this blog post change anytime soon.

elblanco 17y ago
Well it is after all a city largely driven by the finance sector.
MediaSquirrel 17y ago
I think that hugely ambitious companies that achieve insane exits (pref IPO) could make a dent.
- anamax 17y ago
  > I think that hugely ambitious companies that achieve insane exits (pref IPO) could make a dent. Why? The existence of finance people who have made tons of money and their lionization resulted in the lionization of finance folks who haven't made tons of money. In fact, there's probably a bit of the opposite, namely "you're in finance and haven't made it, so there must be something wrong with you". NYC lionizes AFTER you've made it. Even if it cares how (and it doesn't seem to), it doesn't lionize folks who haven't made it, regardless of how they're trying to make it.
pw0ncakes 17y ago
New York is great in many ways, but it's also a city that tells you, once a month, that you're not a part of it and probably never will be. You can buy your way in, sure, but you're just a "guest worker", and you won't actually belong until you make a hundred million or so. The people who "belong" here are the ones whose parents bought real estate in the '70s when it was cheap, those who can actually afford a desirable, family-capable, apartment, and the token not-so-rich (upper-middle-class and extremely well-connected) who have rent control (an arrangement that is often better than ownership, because rent-controlled rents are often lower than the maintenance fees for owners). This is what NYC tells you: you don't belong here unless (or x1 x2 ... xn). The easiest of those xi to change is your income. Aside from that, it's not that materialist of a city.

starkfist 17y ago

This article is too meta and meandering. What is this new narrative? What is the old narrative that needs replacing? That said, NYC has a number of "structural" issues which make it a less than ideal place to start a silicon valley style startup. These same issues can be an advantage for different sorts of startups. A change in narrative is not going to change these.

zackattack 17y ago
youre missing the point. matt is pointing out that the paradigm of creating a business for the purpose of getting on a specific investor's radar is completely fucked. instead of pandering to avc/cdixon, people should create for their customers.
- hugh3 17y ago
  But what about that advice makes it specific to New York City?
  - MediaSquirrel 17y ago
    Really, this particular point is not that specific to NYC. It's applicable more generally, although in SV Steve Jobs & Zuck are the biggest heroes.
- starkfist 17y ago
  I know I missed the point, that was my point... That said, I think the "paradigm of creating a business for the purpose of getting on a specific investor's radar" is an idea that largely exists in the minds of tech bloggers like the one who wrote the article.

eplanit 17y ago

What an absurd ego battle. I'm sorry I took the bait to read it. You can stop with the False Choice that opens the piece: Who's the hero of the startup universe? Is it the entrepreneur, or is it the investor?

anarcticpuffin 17y ago

I agree with the general push of the article, that we should get back to admiring entrepreneurs rather than VCs, but I have to admit, NYC doesn't do a great job of welcoming entrepreneurship. NYC is an extremely expensive place for a company with little to no revenue, considering wages and rent are so high. I also haven't heard of any tech incubators here either (there might be, so please correct me if I've missed them). A startup could easily grow 3 hours North in Albany with half the early-phase burn rate and have access to both the NYC and Boston VC pools.