After college, I moved to NYC from Washington, DC to start a startup company. It wasn’t successful, but ironically, another side project that I was working on ended up being successful and now that’s what I’m doing today!
I’ve learned a lot about the entrepreneurship environment in New York City and I’ve put together a few things to consider when deciding whether or not to launch your new startup venture here.
By the way, if you’re thinking of starting a new company and wondering which city has the best hub for tech startups, I’d highly recommend looking into the book, Screw the Valley, by Timothy Sprinkle, which covers the different startup ecosystems around the USA.
1. Heterogenous talent pool
One of the great things that I’ve come to appreciate about NYC is the large quantity of heterogeneous talent that is focused in one small area.
On the tech side, you have backend programmers, designers, front end guys, and UI experts. What’s even better is that many of these individuals bring experience from other areas like finance, fashion, or advertising.
You also have access to many skill sets that aren’t based in tech, like graphic designers, artists, musicians, videographers, writers, and even painters. You can leverage their skills to tell your brand’s story and connect with your customer base.
2. Diverse problem set
There is definitely a “group think” mentality when you get a bunch of like-minded people in a room who have a common goal. When something’s working, everyone else tries to do that same thing, like building the next Instagram for babies or Uber for food delivery.
Interestingly enough, the financial industry has picked up on this and developed high frequency trading algorithms to capitalize on this effect in the public markets.
Obviously, having many liked-minded entrepreneurs around you is great for brainstorming and emotional support, but it can also hinder the innovative process. Why?
Because the individuals that you have access to are entrepreneurs, programmers, and startup guys. It’s great if they are your target market, but if your target market is halfway around the world, then you need to go to or at least visit where the customers are in order to get inside their heads and fully understand their problems and aspirations.
Being around people who aren’t into startups is great for identifying new problems that you wouldn’t have been exposed to in your daily life.
You might find out that the musicians you meet in your neighborhood really need a better way to connect with their fanbase or manage their website, which could lead to a new business idea.
You might find yourself talking with a Wallstreet trader who highlights a recurring problem that their firm and other companies have in the industry, but which has no good software solution.
3. Easy to find early adopters.
With so many people concentrated in one area, you’ll be hard pressed not to find individuals in your target market and get early adopters for your app, platform, or website.
Personally, I don’t think that America is a great country just because of our innovation or strong democracy. I also think it’s because we have a healthy base of consumers who are willing to try new things out and who want to spend money on things they care about.
If you were trying to grow a plant, I would describe NYC as the ultimate fertile soil. You have people from every walk of life, income demographic, and job title. You can find people willing to spend ridiculous amounts on their pet or a huge amount of time doing yoga and meditation.
Since the goal of a startup is to learn what to build, it will be easy to get rapid feedback and conduct trial and error testing with so many consumers.
4. Accelerators, Incubators, Coworking spaces, and VC Funding
Although I wouldn’t put NYC on the scale of Silicon Valley on the attractiveness of funding opportunities, I do think it’s built out a pretty good startup infrastructure.
When I moved here, the next day I was able to:
- Find a free coworking space to work at
- Go to a startup networking event, where I met an angel investor and several programmers
- Hear a talk from a successful entrepreneur.
- Figure out incubators and accelerators I could apply to in the area.
- Meet a cute girl who was a nerd. (Just kidding).
My main concern when moving to NYC was having a place to work where I could meet other entrepreneurs who were going through the same crazy roller coaster ride and the city has a lot to offer.
5. Strong learning centers
If you don’t know how to code, there’s been a movement in the last few years to help entrepreneurs to acquire coding chops so that they can go out there and bring their idea to life.
For example:
6. Media companies and bloggers
It might seem strange that I’m mentioning this point, but think about it.
If you’ve just launched and are trying to get into a major publication or a niche publication in your industry, it will be easier to convince a journalist or blogger to write about you in person at a networking event, rather than to compete with hundreds of other emails in their inbox.
We also have a publication that’s solely focused NYC tech startups.
7. Universities and colleges
Finally, NYC has a ton of colleges and universities. You can draw from these talent pools initially by offering an internship and, of course, employment later down the road.
Speaking at universities or being present at career networking events is also another way to build up your credibility, keep your thumb on the younger demographic, and discover what apps and software products college kids are using now a days.
I hope this post has been helpful! These are some of the benefits that I paid attention to when moving to NYC and have enjoyed since then. Let me know if you have any questions in a comment below!