Tonight I will be on Brian Lehrer’s TV show, together with Chris Dixon and Henry Blodget, to talk about what’s in store for NYC tech startups over the next decade. At least that is the putative topic, although I would not be surprised if the conversation goes elsewhere. Here are some points I am planning to make: It has never been easier to hire top tech talent for NYC startups. And that’s not just because folks no longer want to work (as much) in finance. It is because people want to live an...

Tonight I will be on Brian Lehrer’s TV show, together with Chris Dixon and Henry Blodget, to talk about what’s in store for NYC tech startups over the next decade. At least that is the putative topic, although I would not be surprised if the conversation goes elsewhere. Here are some points I am planning to make: It has never been easier to hire top tech talent for NYC startups. And that’s not just because folks no longer want to work (as much) in finance. It is because people want to live an...

Now that the cost of servers and bandwidth has plummeted, office space tends to be the biggest expense following payroll for a lot of web startups. Here are some quick tips on what to do.When you are just getting going, simple get some desks, ideally at a friend’s startup. New York City also has some great deals in the NYU Poly incubators. Whatever you do, it should be month-by-month with zero lockin.As you get larger, it’s best to sublease on relatively short subleases (12 - 24 months). You ...

Now that the cost of servers and bandwidth has plummeted, office space tends to be the biggest expense following payroll for a lot of web startups. Here are some quick tips on what to do.When you are just getting going, simple get some desks, ideally at a friend’s startup. New York City also has some great deals in the NYU Poly incubators. Whatever you do, it should be month-by-month with zero lockin.As you get larger, it’s best to sublease on relatively short subleases (12 - 24 months). You ...

The first startup I was involved with was a management consulting company in Germany. I had been out of college for less than a year when I joined four much more experienced guys in forming Bossard Consultants Germany (some initial funding was provided by Bossard France, a well established consulting firm there). We got off to a great start, landing some premier clients such as Lufthansa and Porsche. The firm grew rapidly and we hired a lot of very smart guys to join the team. Notice a patter...

The first startup I was involved with was a management consulting company in Germany. I had been out of college for less than a year when I joined four much more experienced guys in forming Bossard Consultants Germany (some initial funding was provided by Bossard France, a well established consulting firm there). We got off to a great start, landing some premier clients such as Lufthansa and Porsche. The firm grew rapidly and we hired a lot of very smart guys to join the team. Notice a patter...

Here is just a small sampling of all the awesome events that took place in NY City this week (I realize I should have posted this at the beginning of the week). Just to name a few, there was Web 2.0 Expo, the net neutrality debate on Tuesday night and New York Entrepreneur Week. There was also the UK digital mission to New York and I am sure many others that I am forgetting or did not know about. Last week saw the announcement of Founders Collective, a great addition to the seed funding avail...

Here is just a small sampling of all the awesome events that took place in NY City this week (I realize I should have posted this at the beginning of the week). Just to name a few, there was Web 2.0 Expo, the net neutrality debate on Tuesday night and New York Entrepreneur Week. There was also the UK digital mission to New York and I am sure many others that I am forgetting or did not know about. Last week saw the announcement of Founders Collective, a great addition to the seed funding avail...

Fred had a good post yesterday about why he considers Y-Combinator the “Best Deal in Startup Land." I believe that also and want to add a key reason for it: An intense focus on making versus planning. By entering Y-Combinator, teams commit themselves to a mad sprint to get something built. Ideally something that works well enough or is far enough along to actually launch before or shortly after demo day. That is a completely different approach from that taken by business plan competitions. Mo...

Fred had a good post yesterday about why he considers Y-Combinator the “Best Deal in Startup Land." I believe that also and want to add a key reason for it: An intense focus on making versus planning. By entering Y-Combinator, teams commit themselves to a mad sprint to get something built. Ideally something that works well enough or is far enough along to actually launch before or shortly after demo day. That is a completely different approach from that taken by business plan competitions. Mo...

My two favorite quotes these days are Ward Cunningham’s “What’s the simplest thing that could possibly work?” and Einstein’s “Simplify as much as possible, but no further.” I believe these to be essential to startup success, especially in a highly connected world, where what might have previously been a feature can now be a company. The temptation, however, always goes in the other direction of making things too complicated or complex. Hence the title of this post. Here are just some of the t...

My two favorite quotes these days are Ward Cunningham’s “What’s the simplest thing that could possibly work?” and Einstein’s “Simplify as much as possible, but no further.” I believe these to be essential to startup success, especially in a highly connected world, where what might have previously been a feature can now be a company. The temptation, however, always goes in the other direction of making things too complicated or complex. Hence the title of this post. Here are just some of the t...

A while back I did a series of posts on board effectiveness. In it I wrote the following about conducting a board meeting:Actively solicit input on decisions from every board member. Some people are oddly quiet in group meetings. Don’t assume that means they are in agreement with everything that is being said. Yes, it should be the directors responsibility to speak up but that doesn’t mean they will. So don’t be afraid to call on a director and ask them what they think. That is especially tru...

A while back I did a series of posts on board effectiveness. In it I wrote the following about conducting a board meeting:Actively solicit input on decisions from every board member. Some people are oddly quiet in group meetings. Don’t assume that means they are in agreement with everything that is being said. Yes, it should be the directors responsibility to speak up but that doesn’t mean they will. So don’t be afraid to call on a director and ask them what they think. That is especially tru...

Today’s post is over at the Union Square Ventures site on the challenge of creating native mobile applications. We are fascinated with the disruption that is taking place in mobile. The big question is what “native” applications will emerge based on the unique technical capabilities of the mobile platform and the emerging behaviors around those capabilities. Head on over there to read some of our early thinking. There are likely to be some big opportunites for startups!

Today’s post is over at the Union Square Ventures site on the challenge of creating native mobile applications. We are fascinated with the disruption that is taking place in mobile. The big question is what “native” applications will emerge based on the unique technical capabilities of the mobile platform and the emerging behaviors around those capabilities. Head on over there to read some of our early thinking. There are likely to be some big opportunites for startups!

Yesterday evening, NY Tech Meetup and CEA LineShows organized an event to pick a startup that would receive a free booth at the next CES. I don’t know how the presenting companies were chosen, but whoever did the initialy seleciton did a wonderful job of representing the diversity and accomplishment of NY startups. There was both hardware (Peek and MakerBot) and software/service (Livestream, Aviary, drop.io). There were all levels of funding from bootstrapped ramen-fed MakerBot to double-digi...

Yesterday evening, NY Tech Meetup and CEA LineShows organized an event to pick a startup that would receive a free booth at the next CES. I don’t know how the presenting companies were chosen, but whoever did the initialy seleciton did a wonderful job of representing the diversity and accomplishment of NY startups. There was both hardware (Peek and MakerBot) and software/service (Livestream, Aviary, drop.io). There were all levels of funding from bootstrapped ramen-fed MakerBot to double-digi...

I wrote last September about the competing views around deflation versus inflation. Interestingly, about 9 months later we still seem don’t seem to have real clarity on the subject. Over that time we have approached deflation but there has also been a ton of government intervention, which has prompted op-eds predicting future inflation and even a new fund run by Mark Spitznagel (a long time collaborator of “Black Swan” author Nassim Taleb) to bet on inflation. On the other hand have been resp...

I wrote last September about the competing views around deflation versus inflation. Interestingly, about 9 months later we still seem don’t seem to have real clarity on the subject. Over that time we have approached deflation but there has also been a ton of government intervention, which has prompted op-eds predicting future inflation and even a new fund run by Mark Spitznagel (a long time collaborator of “Black Swan” author Nassim Taleb) to bet on inflation. On the other hand have been resp...