The start-ups that favour New York over Silicon Valley

"People in San Francisco really saw the vision more," he says.

"New Yorkers tend to be a lot more competitive whereas people in Silicon Valley, I think of them as more ambitious."

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One thing I noticed when I moved to the bay area from New York is I experienced something similar. A critical part of my process is running my ideas and designs by "normal people". It's easy to get caught up in a technology-centered idealistic mindset because it surrounds San Francisco like a bubble. There are some ideas that friends in San Francisco might say "Oh that sounds great! I know of an API/Library/start-up doing something that might be able to help you!" but friends in New York might say "People want that? You can make money off that?"and that is healthy. Sometimes those questions are asked much too late in the process.

In SV you get an insular market of products where you have start-ups that serve needs that really only other start-ups have. Or you end up building your product only for the tech-savvy folks you are always surrounded by in the valley. And that's not necessarily a bad thing but I think many of us hope to serve more people than what is essentially a tiny swatch of the world.

On the one hand, like the founder of that quote, I think it's nice to be surrounded by the ambitious atmosphere of SV. But it's also nice to be surrounded by a money-centric cynical realism that comes, I think, from NY's finance roots and the skepticism & cynicism in it's blood.

>But what quickly emerges when you speak to those involved in New York's start-ups is how they are focused on solving specific everyday problems rather than Silicon Valley's broader game-shifting approach.

> ... [ShopMine] analyses Pinterest accounts and helps users know which of their friends to turn to for recommendations on specific products and services.

This is the kind of BS silicon valley gets mocked for. Not a good example of a starup "solving an everyday problem".

I think people in both places are fond of anecdotes, sweeping generalisations and recognising in my caustic sarcasm a burning jealousy of those fortunate enough to live in either place.

And Martin Varsavsky, http://english.martinvarsavsky.net/investments , just moved to New York from Spain. So he will add some competition to other investors in NY.

"The startups that favour New York over Silicon Valley"