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I don't know what's more sad, the fact that NJ killed its own tech scene or that the revival efforts shining example focus on a "company that helps people make

I don't know what's more sad, the fact that NJ killed its own tech scene or that the revival efforts shining example focus on a "company that helps people make money on videos they post on social media". That's certainly a far cry from inventing the transistor and pioneering radio. Yep, NJ is still (for now) dead to tech. It reminds me of Columbus, Ohio, which used to be a big Internet and tech hub. Now, only burnt embers and dilapidated warehouses of prior successes remain. The only tech jobs are the fading and hold-over "IT Administrators" at lackluster companies like Nationwide and random health companies. There have been a few scattershot efforts, very familiar to what is happening in NJ to try and get entrepreneurs to "startup" but it's not about the tech anymore. The real creative soul, and passion, love of science and wonderment of the natural world, which is really what fuels tech, is long gone. I'm sorry but social media marketing is a business, not real innovative technology.

dmix 9y ago
> Some cultural differences were also shaped by the law. New Jersey has strict anti-competitive laws that make it hard to take what you learn at your job and create a new company. This is probably the biggest influence. SV is built on people who starte working at HP, Microsoft, or Google, then left to found their own company - or straight out of college for the lucky/rich kids like Zuckerberg and Gates. Then there is the wealthy ones who 'made it' sticking around and financing the next generation. This is very likely the entrepreneurial, internally competitive, and experimentally financed system that was never properly established in NJ. New Jersey had their successful golden era, then instead of fostering the next one they focused only on the big companies, acted protective/insular as big companies do, and got government policy to protect their interests from the young upstarts - instead of fostering them.
- ChuckMcM 9y ago
  A thousand times this. I had a discussion on the plane with a person trying to make their city more like the Bay Area. And they had looked at universities, and air ports, and demographics, and infrastructure. I asked them whether or not their state allowed the enforcement of non-compete agreements? Yes. Do they allow employers to take ownership of all work product even when it is done on the employee's non-work time on non-work equipment? Yes. So I said, first thing you have to do is make both of those 'no', then you can start on the other bits. But allowing people to compete with the people who hired them is essential.
pc86 9y ago
> I'm sorry but social media marketing is a business, not real innovative technology. Is anything really claiming with a straight face that social media marketing is innovative technology?
rayiner 9y ago
I don't think there is any reason to believe that any places, no matter how far sighted, can expect lightning to strike more than once. These booms happen when some technological advance precipitates a cluster of development. Eventually, that technology becomes commoditized, the margins fall out, the work gets shipped overseas. The next boom is going to cluster somewhere else and you're not going to be able to predict what will cause it. Why did the auto industry arise in Detroit? Why did the airline industry arise in Seattle?
heymijo 9y ago
When was Columbus, Ohio an internet and tech hub? Are you somehow referring to Batelle? https://www.battelle.org/about-us https://www.battelle.org/about-us Genuinely curious. I used to live in Columbus and knew it mainly for retailers (Express, Limited Brands, etc.), insurance co's, hospitals, some other big co's like Cardinal Health, Batelle, and Ohio State University. Columbus is bucking the trend in Ohio and other places in the midwest because it's growing. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2017/01/04/job-growth-to-continue-in-2017-in-central-ohio-but-at-a-slower-rate.html http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2017/01/04/... They also just had a $1 billion exit for Covermymeds, a tech company in the healthcare field. http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170126/covermymeds-sale-for-11-billion-touted-as-seminal-for-central-ohio http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170126/covermymeds-sale-for-1... Anecdotally, just this weekend I was visiting Columbus and stopped by the old house I rented in Victorian Village. I paid $975/month 10 years ago and the same place is renting for $1875/month today. Anyways, I'm not here to cheerlead Columbus, just genuinely interested in reconciling the picture I have with the one you painted of "dilapidated warehouses" and an Internet/tech hub that lost its way. Thanks! P.S. I see your byline: "most of my comments are designed to provoke a response" so well played iamleppert.
- iamleppert 9y ago
  They were the home to CompuServe back in the day. FreeNet Columbus Ohio was an early WWW you could dial up to. UUNET had a big co-lo during the heyday, and there was a huge level3 POP. Lucent Technologies had a big old lab off Bethel rd that I took intro to Unix classes when I was 13. And, of course, Batelle. I worked for CallTech awhile when it was a startup and later bought by Teleperformance (remember Suzy Waud commercials??). And also I worked at Manta before the jig was up there. I know about Covermymeds, but I wouldn't call it a tech company either. It's a glorified paper pushing app and I doubt anyone doing anything interesting would want to work there. Cbusr.com was actually pretty cool and one of the last things I remember being interesting in the social space, but hardly revolutionary. TechColumbus is also somewhat of a joke. I know the downtown area has been growing, but I think thats just a function of millennials wanting to live in the short north/arena district and not in the burbs with their parents. I do have a dream that one day I'll return to Columbus, seasoned white hair, and actually start a real tech company...
animatedgif 9y ago
For those who are paying attention, Vydia does not do social media marketing. We help our customers protect their video content online. It's a digital rights management platform.
- iamleppert 9y ago
  Even worse!

dmix 9y ago

> Some cultural differences were also shaped by the law. New Jersey has strict anti-competitive laws that make it hard to take what you learn at your job and create a new company. This is probably the biggest influence. SV is built on people who starte working at HP, Microsoft, or Google, then left to found their own company - or straight out of college for the lucky/rich kids like Zuckerberg and Gates. Then there is the wealthy ones who 'made it' sticking around and financing the next generation. This is very likely the entrepreneurial, internally competitive, and experimentally financed system that was never properly established in NJ. New Jersey had their successful golden era, then instead of fostering the next one they focused only on the big companies, acted protective/insular as big companies do, and got government policy to protect their interests from the young upstarts - instead of fostering them.

ChuckMcM 9y ago
A thousand times this. I had a discussion on the plane with a person trying to make their city more like the Bay Area. And they had looked at universities, and air ports, and demographics, and infrastructure. I asked them whether or not their state allowed the enforcement of non-compete agreements? Yes. Do they allow employers to take ownership of all work product even when it is done on the employee's non-work time on non-work equipment? Yes. So I said, first thing you have to do is make both of those 'no', then you can start on the other bits. But allowing people to compete with the people who hired them is essential.

pc86 9y ago

> I'm sorry but social media marketing is a business, not real innovative technology. Is anything really claiming with a straight face that social media marketing is innovative technology?

rayiner 9y ago

I don't think there is any reason to believe that any places, no matter how far sighted, can expect lightning to strike more than once. These booms happen when some technological advance precipitates a cluster of development. Eventually, that technology becomes commoditized, the margins fall out, the work gets shipped overseas. The next boom is going to cluster somewhere else and you're not going to be able to predict what will cause it. Why did the auto industry arise in Detroit? Why did the airline industry arise in Seattle?

heymijo 9y ago

When was Columbus, Ohio an internet and tech hub? Are you somehow referring to Batelle? https://www.battelle.org/about-us https://www.battelle.org/about-us Genuinely curious. I used to live in Columbus and knew it mainly for retailers (Express, Limited Brands, etc.), insurance co's, hospitals, some other big co's like Cardinal Health, Batelle, and Ohio State University. Columbus is bucking the trend in Ohio and other places in the midwest because it's growing. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2017/01/04/job-growth-to-continue-in-2017-in-central-ohio-but-at-a-slower-rate.html http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2017/01/04/... They also just had a $1 billion exit for Covermymeds, a tech company in the healthcare field. http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170126/covermymeds-sale-for-11-billion-touted-as-seminal-for-central-ohio http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170126/covermymeds-sale-for-1... Anecdotally, just this weekend I was visiting Columbus and stopped by the old house I rented in Victorian Village. I paid $975/month 10 years ago and the same place is renting for $1875/month today. Anyways, I'm not here to cheerlead Columbus, just genuinely interested in reconciling the picture I have with the one you painted of "dilapidated warehouses" and an Internet/tech hub that lost its way. Thanks! P.S. I see your byline: "most of my comments are designed to provoke a response" so well played iamleppert.

iamleppert 9y ago
They were the home to CompuServe back in the day. FreeNet Columbus Ohio was an early WWW you could dial up to. UUNET had a big co-lo during the heyday, and there was a huge level3 POP. Lucent Technologies had a big old lab off Bethel rd that I took intro to Unix classes when I was 13. And, of course, Batelle. I worked for CallTech awhile when it was a startup and later bought by Teleperformance (remember Suzy Waud commercials??). And also I worked at Manta before the jig was up there. I know about Covermymeds, but I wouldn't call it a tech company either. It's a glorified paper pushing app and I doubt anyone doing anything interesting would want to work there. Cbusr.com was actually pretty cool and one of the last things I remember being interesting in the social space, but hardly revolutionary. TechColumbus is also somewhat of a joke. I know the downtown area has been growing, but I think thats just a function of millennials wanting to live in the short north/arena district and not in the burbs with their parents. I do have a dream that one day I'll return to Columbus, seasoned white hair, and actually start a real tech company...

animatedgif 9y ago

For those who are paying attention, Vydia does not do social media marketing. We help our customers protect their video content online. It's a digital rights management platform.

iamleppert 9y ago
Even worse!