According to Anil Dash, the most exciting startups on the web are being started in New York City, not the Silicon Valley.
New York City startups are as likely to be focused on the arts and crafts as on the bits and bytes, to be influenced by our unparalleled culture as by the latest browser features, and informed by the dynamic interaction of different social groups and classes that’s unavoidable in our city, but uncommon in Silicon Valley. Best of all, the support for these efforts can come from investors and supporters that are outside of the groupthink that many West Coast VC firms suffer from. When I lived in San Francisco, it was easy to spend days at a time only interacting with other web geeks; In New York, fortunately, that’s impossible.
Am I biased? Sure. But are there half a dozen startups anywhere in the world as interesting and full of potential as these new NYC efforts? Isn’t it exciting that these are all built around the full potential of the open web, instead of merely trying to be land grabs within the walled gardens of closed platforms? I’m more optimistic about the environment and opportunity for starting new ventures than I’ve been in ages, and for me the fundamental reasons why are demonstrated best by startups that could only happen in New York City.
Even technology is contextual.
Chcek out Irving
“Is there a third act for New York, in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Can it once more become a global center of innovation? I believe so. But, if and only if New York returns to its roots, – the entrepreneurial qualities that help it become a world class city, – and leaves behind the bad habits acquired in the last fifty years.”