Silicon Alley: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Entrepreneurs
Determined competition is essential for a democratic United States political system, and for a vibrant tech economy, NO MATTER WHERE THE COMPETITORS HAIL FROM.
A native New Yorker myself, I called my fellow Silicon Alley startups to (who needs Silicon Valley) action yesterday– Silicon Alley Web 2.0 Startups: Bootstrap For Success – pointing out the hazards of relying on Michael Rambo Arrington’s “obsessive” Web 2.0 chronicling and personal startup investment stance for transferable winning entrepreneurial insights.
As Arrington and Loic LeMeur made clear their intention to seek to “change the world” together, along with a dozen of their closest, powerful, monied Silicon Valley “friends,” I underscored: If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere: New York, NY! Sing it loud, sing it proud fellow Silicon Alley Web entrepreneurs and keep focused: A blinding coterie of Internet star-powered “angel” investor friends is optional, very.
Arrington hails the competitive advantage of Silicon Valley is its competitive spirit: The non-stop drive to “compete to the death”! Hey Michael, Greed IS Good, as you well know, and New York City has long been the capital on that capitalistic front!
Arrington’s ode to the Silicon Valley where he made his big mark suggests his turf enjoys some sort of inalienable claim to success with the American Dream: ”If you are willing to do absolutly anything to achieve your dreams, there is no better placed to be than here.”
REALLY? Good thing Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Michael Bloomberg…got lost on their way to California!
What is really ironic about Arrington’s dissing of Seattle tech, though, is that he lambasts the outdoor nature of Seattle’s nature: “If staring at lakes and skiing after work are important to you, don’t be surprised when your startup doesn’t cut it.” HAH! The legions of New Yorkers that toil 24/7 in windowless, steel skyscrapers scoff in the same fashion at those in the valley sitting at sidewalk cafes and golfing after work.
The current Silicon Valley tech gold rush benefits from a happy, temporal confluence of human and financial resources, NOT from inexorable innate “winning” characteristics. The California gold rush fever that WAS based on native west coast assets depleted itself. Silicon Valley may very well burst its own bubble too, for good.
Silicon Alley? Manhattan was the unfortunate 9/11 victim because terrorists were determined to destroy the money making capital of the world.
I was attending a Silicon Alley conference on Internet business models at the time of the attacks at a downtown tech hub. I fled from the falling World Trade Towers and made the pilgrimage to safety uptown by foot with thousands of my fellow New Yorkers.
Silicon Alley is now in flux, as I analysed earlier in the week. SEE How Web 2.0 Meetups Displaced the New York Software Industry
Arrington cockily disses ”mini tech hubs” at his competitive peril, though. I hear people are “Sleepless In Seattle,” but I KNOW, if you can make it HERE, you can make it ANYWHERE!
Stay tuned for New York, New York’s SILICON ALLEY: CROUCHING TIGER AND HIDDEN ENTREPRENEURS! Disruption is in the (smog filled New York City) air!
PLUS: Business Plans Help the Web 2.0 Kool-Aid Go Down and Yahoo Refugees? Hillary Clinton To Save American Dream for Silicon Valley and NYT Accepts Google Muzzle: Bombs YouTube NYC Story