Irrefutable proof! As in don’t try to refute it, okay?
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Paul Graham Thinks We're Second Best!
At Y Combinator's first-ever Manhattan meetup in September, the illustrious Mr. Graham announced once and for all that YC would in fact not be in NYC, in part because, according to Mr. Graham, there are better petri dishes for growing startups. "New York cares too much about money," he said, "Palo Alto is home to nerdy idealists who want their product to be perfect." Hmm, methinks the guru doth protest too much. Mr. Graham did, however, offer this bit of consolation, "Well, at least we know you guys have now surpassed Boston. New York is definitely now solidly in the no. 2 spot." We're Number Two! We're Number Two!
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Anti-Establishment Cred
The city that brought you Occupy Wall Street was not afraid to speak truth to tech power this year, or at least call it like they see it. When Instapaper's Marco Arment called bullshit on the false claims of the tech giants earlier this week, we couldn't help but hear shades of Fred Wilson's aspirational mantra, “Don’t be a Google Bitch, don’t be a Facebook Bitch, and Don’t be a Twitter Bitch. Be your own Bitch.” Someone call up Etsy. That's just begging to be embroidered on a pillow.
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We've Got Our Own Russian Billionaire, Spasiba Very Much
Sure, Yuri Milner may have thrown some millions he found stuffed between the couch cushions of his new Palo Alto manse at New York's darlingest co-working space, General Assembly. The real get? When Russia's second-richest billionaire (are you sensing a pattern here) wanted to launch a U.S. arm for his $750 venture fund, RTP, his right hand man Kirill Sheynkman chose our backyard. Give us your tired, your poor, your Russian tech money yearning to break free.
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You Want Your Frivolous Facebook Lawsuit? We Got Your Frivolous Facebook Lawsuit Right Here
And our litigious gadfly has a more intriguing back story. Just imagine if Aaron Sorkin had this kind of material to work with.
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Startups Are Not Leaving Us for the San Francisco Anymore!
In the case of
BankSimple, they're leaving us for . . . Portland. PROGRESS. -
We Got Our Own Reality TV Show
Tyra wishes she were as quotable as David Tisch.
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We Did Our Little Turn on the Catwalk
We did it for a good cause, and we looked good doing it.
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We One-Upped Peter Thiel
$100,000 not to go to college and a floating entrepreneurs island? Try a $100 million to turn Roosevelt Island into the Stanford of the East*
*Actual Stanford not included. -
The Valley Was, Like, All Up In Our Office Space
Don Draper, meet Mark Zuckerberg.
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Facebook Anoints Us Worthy of Their Devs
All Your IPO Windfall Are Belong to Us.
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Is That an Acquisition Offer In Your Pocket Or Are You Just Happy to See Us?
Skype + GroupMe= Karaoke.
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
After crunching the numbers from the good folks at FormDs.com, we counted almost 20 local tech startups who raised more than $10 million in venture financing. Then there were the elite handful in the 'We raised $50 million+' category. If you see someone from Tumblr, Foursquare, ZocDoc, or Buddy Media out at the bar tomorrow night, drinks are on them.
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We Breed 'Em Young
Mr. Bennett.
An impressive short list.Really an unforgettable year for New york.