New Jersey looks to nurture tech startups | Hacker News Reader

New Jersey looks to nurture tech startups

northjersey.com

5 pointsbmac274 comments

Curious if there are any Jersey folks amongst us and whether or not they might eschew potential NYC opportunities in favor of being closer to home if something like this comes to fruition.

I feel like the uncoolness and suburban nature of much of NJ will work against the success of this.

At the same time there are many upsides too. Northern NJ has easy access to NYC without the high cost of living, overhead, and additional city taxes. As the tech scene in NYC continues to grow, I can see some of it spilling over to the other side of the bridge (or tunnel). In fact, if NYC does ever produce a massive tech company ( a la FB, Google, Paypal, etc size) I can see norther NJ being the logical location for a campus headquarters.

I mean there are a lot of rational reasons for a startup to be in northern NJ, but the other rising startup areas mentioned in the article (with the exception of Bryn Mawr, I don't know whats up with that) are all places that are cool for young people to move to and have a certain societal status. Telling your friends that you are going to move to Bergen County just isn't the same as saying you are going to Boulder.

A lot of suburban places "make sense," like for instance Nashua, NH is well within commuting distance of Boston/Cambridge and offers lower taxes, rental property, etc. but I doubt the Boston-area startups will move there.

I do agree that it will be the home for corporate campuses (I live in Westchester Co., NY, which has a lot in the way of large companies but not many startups, and is very similar to northern NJ), but that makes a lot of sense. A large company needs WAY more space, has an established revenue stream (so taxes matter way more) and the employees will be way more likely to have a family and therefore be more interested in living in the suburbs.

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