I love NYC. My life is there. If I could move my startup to NYC, I would do it in a heartbeat. But every venture requires capital, some more than others. Pretty much all "early stage" funds make one or two early stage investments a year, most likely into someone they already know. That means most first-time entrepreneurs have to pitch to dozens of funds before they get funding. Most first-time startup founders I know scheduled three meetings with VCs per day, five days a week, for at least two-three weeks before they got anywhere. That's at least thirty meetings with all kinds of VCs of all shapes and sizes! If you were to do this in NYC, you'd exhaust your opportunities within two days. Six funds cannot possibly support a healthy startup ecosystem. The Valley has thousands, and I've still seen some good early stage teams that didn't get adequate funding. All arguments end here - no capital, no startup scene.
If you've already started a successful company before and you already have a good relationship with one of the funds in NYC (i.e. they invested in you before and you didn't screw it up), you can start thinking about starting up in NYC. If your company is taking off like a rocket, you can start thinking about moving to NYC (in this case you'll get funded pretty much anywhere). If you can bootstrap, you can start thinking about starting up in NYC. Otherwise, moving your startup to NYC is suicide.
I don't know about exploding. The impression I got from the last year and a half there was that they're always asking each other and investors--how come we're not Silicon Valley?
While there is defn a tech scene there, it doesn't seem to compare in spirit, concentration, and amicability here, when it comes to tech. Even just a month and a half in Mountain View, I've seen a noticeable difference.
Good to hear. I could definitely tell that the Ruby job scene has grown there since I last looked for a job 2 years ago. In my last job search, there were very few jobs in NYC for rubyists - now there are quite a few. Most of the jobs I applied for last month were in NYC and today is my first day working at my new job there.
Any other devs in NYC? Any great user groups or events that I shouldn't miss? I'm working remotely at the moment, but will be moving there this month and am hoping to get to know some interesting folks there!
NYC might not have had any 'runaway' successes recently, but it's had some rather respectable advertising-related successes in the last few years - for example, Right Media, TACODA, and Quigo. The employees at these companies have largely gone on to take more-responsible positions at a variety of other advertising-related startups, many of which are doing rather well. When it comes to online advertising, at least, the talent pool over here is getting pretty deep.
If you've already started a successful company before and you already have a good relationship with one of the funds in NYC (i.e. they invested in you before and you didn't screw it up), you can start thinking about starting up in NYC. If your company is taking off like a rocket, you can start thinking about moving to NYC (in this case you'll get funded pretty much anywhere). If you can bootstrap, you can start thinking about starting up in NYC. Otherwise, moving your startup to NYC is suicide.