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I beg to differ on your point. I honestly believe that what made Zuckerberg successful was his "exposure" to the social components. Wherever you are, if you're

I beg to differ on your point. I honestly believe that what made Zuckerberg successful was his "exposure" to the social components. Wherever you are, if you're a geek, you're going to be a geek. But if you're in a city, you, as a programmer, will be impacted in small ways, allowing you to create apps that are more "social". The article covers a number of aspects and business is one. Maybe it ought to be clearer on the point of techies. My view is that techies are still essential to building solid apps but as we move in the "social" phase of the web, pure tech is not the only ingredient. There needs to be more in terms of user experience and in terms of understanding what social can be (as far as its potential). In order to do so, you need to be proactive about understanding the "normals". And opportunities to do so are higher in New York than they are in the valley. If you're surrounded by hackers, you will get a good understanding of hacker culture. But it will make it that much more difficult to understand what a secretary or banker or model are interested in. So it makes it that much more difficult to create products that are appealing outside of hacker circles. In New York, there isn't a choice in terms of learning about those other groups or not. We're all on top of each other so something as common as a subway ride creates some of that exposure. The fallacy I'm trying to break through is that New York doesn't have hackers. It does and the number of hackers is growing. And that's the reason for the warning I'm sounding (because end of day, the article is not a triumphant call but rather a call for both sides to bring their best game). NYC has a lot to learn from the valley in terms of fostering an engineering culture (its own engineering culture is just nascent) but the valley has a lot to learn about sectors outside of tech. I respectfully disagree that the next Google or Facebook will come from a top tech school. In fact, I'd warrant that the founders of that next big deal company are currently at work in some place none of us could imagine (like who would think that a kid from the midwest would come up with a successful web browser. Well, ask Marc Andreesen and I'm sure he'd be willing to make that bet :) ). The question is whether those kids will move to NYC or the valley and I'd venture that, in the future, NYC may be more attractive than the valley.

redthrowaway 16y ago
Zuckerberg's exposure to "social components" was merely an extension of his attending a top [non-tech] school. I still think your argument about being surrounded by people somehow making you more suited to building a social app is weak. Like I said, I'll agree that New York has hackers. I'll stand by my assertion, however, that they tend to leave if they're looking to launch a startup. Especially given YC's dominance of the angel game and their requirement that successful applicants move to the valley. You could be right that the founders of the Next Big Thing are currently toiling away in obscurity, but I doubt it. There's a hacker mindset that's relatively adverse to large corporations. Also, while Andreesen may be a legitimate example, the game has changed significantly since the early 90s. There's a huge free-for-all right now in the startup biz, and it's all happening in the valley. Ultimately, however, we aren't talking about right now. We're talking about the future. What does it take to make a community? Talent, and the attraction thereof, sure. But it also takes culture. It takes a certain kind of zeitgeist, one which is friendly to irresponsible nerds who would rather shoot for gold than get a real job. New York simply doesn't have this culture. It's too conservative, too greedy. New York is the Mecca of the Almighty Dollar, and Silicon Valley is the Mecca of the Nerd. Barring some huge cultural shift, I don't see that changing.

redthrowaway 16y ago

Zuckerberg's exposure to "social components" was merely an extension of his attending a top [non-tech] school. I still think your argument about being surrounded by people somehow making you more suited to building a social app is weak. Like I said, I'll agree that New York has hackers. I'll stand by my assertion, however, that they tend to leave if they're looking to launch a startup. Especially given YC's dominance of the angel game and their requirement that successful applicants move to the valley. You could be right that the founders of the Next Big Thing are currently toiling away in obscurity, but I doubt it. There's a hacker mindset that's relatively adverse to large corporations. Also, while Andreesen may be a legitimate example, the game has changed significantly since the early 90s. There's a huge free-for-all right now in the startup biz, and it's all happening in the valley. Ultimately, however, we aren't talking about right now. We're talking about the future. What does it take to make a community? Talent, and the attraction thereof, sure. But it also takes culture. It takes a certain kind of zeitgeist, one which is friendly to irresponsible nerds who would rather shoot for gold than get a real job. New York simply doesn't have this culture. It's too conservative, too greedy. New York is the Mecca of the Almighty Dollar, and Silicon Valley is the Mecca of the Nerd. Barring some huge cultural shift, I don't see that changing.