I’ll leave it to others to dissect, celebrate and denigrate today, I’d just like to point out that my friends (and clients) at blip.tv took one of the more serious, and dare I say attractive photos for the NY Mag cover story (my favorite, of course, is Marissa Evans and that stare!).
This is a fantastic time for the NY tech community, and I know that while attention can and usually is followed by jealousy and second-guessing, I’d say the whole point of the story (which so eloquently speaks about this moment, in this place) is that the people and companies truly invested in the space are in it for larger reasons than a quick payout.
People don’t just flock to Silicon Valley because of the potential liquidity event - they go for the “startup culture;” the positivity, the dogs in the office and the friends who will come to your house for a bbq and a beer, and then stay all night helping you write code.
But hey, this is New York - we’ve got cultcha. Problem is, as Doree points out, in other fields it’s one of exclusivity, reserved for those who are truly in the know. The best thing about the NY Tech community is that it’s taking the best and the brightest from every industry and turning this driven, artistic and inspirational town into a place that’s a little more inclusive, positive, and open than it was before. Now is the time for talented individuals with vision and optimism to change and open the industries that New York has become known for.
I’ll let Dave Winer, a Silicon Valley transplant who has finally returned to roost, sum it up:
Experience has shown that the next generation of startups will be born in the previous-generation startups. So by concentrating inteligence here, the network can develop and new ideas can develop, around the realities of a changing media business, which is a very different perspective from that of Silicon Valley.That’s why it’s important that New York not think of itself as an outpost of the tech industry. It is something unto itself. The goal of the new media industry is to create the news system of the future. Not to exist as an appendage to Silicon Valley’s vision of that.New York’s New Generation of Social Media Entrepreneurs - New York Magazine
