Twenty New York startups are competing to be featured in the second season of our web series The Pitch. But only 10 will move on for a chance to pitch investors--Steve Schlafman of Lerer Ventures and Nikhil Kalghatgi of SoftBank Capital--and win funding for their idea. And you get to decide!

Check out the slideshow and vote for your favorite startups to make it to the next round.

Admitted.ly – A platform gamifying college admissions.

Chalkable – An app store for educational tools.

Doppelhanger – A matchmaking service for your closet.

Equala – Social radio for you and your friends.

Funderverse – A social network for companies.

FundingCommunity – A platform revamping small business lending.

Instreamia – A new way to teach and learn language.

Kapture – A mobile application to turn anyone into a brand ambassador.

Lover.ly – A visual search engine for all things bridal.

MealTics – A crowdfunding platform for donating meals to local soup kitchens and shelters.

Motionry – A social network for developing sustainable technologies.

SeamlessDocs – A platform for making any PDF fillable.

Seed&Spark – A social network for filmmakers and film lovers.

Sendicate – An email app for sending emails simply.

Silver Living – An independent source of research and reviews of senior care facilities nationwide.

SpaceSplitter – Free and simple tools for awesome roommate living.

Status Chart – A better way to showcase all things freelancers do.

Suitey – A real estate brokerage platform.

The Swizzle – A platform organizing and simplifying daily emails from brands.

UrbanClout – An internet subscription service for TV shows and movies.

The topography of New York’s tech scene has changed since 2011, when we first peeked behind closed doors to document the fundraising process for season one of The Pitch. According to the latest reports, venture capitalists are investing more money in more local tech startups, luring expats from fashion and Wall Street to pursue their dreams and launch their own company.

But success is far from guaranteed, especially with the spectre of the Series A crunch and difficulty in getting users to download and engage–never mind pay for–your product or service. That’s why, for our second season of The Pitch, we’re letting you decide which startups get a chance to sell their concept on camera to investors from top notch firms like Softbank Capital and Lerer Ventures. Because, hey, if the founders can’t convince you to vote, how will they ever convince VCs to invest?

Will it be the team gamifying college admissions? The platform for managing finances and responsibilities with your roommate? The matchmaking service for your closet? Or, perhaps, the site that lets users crowdfund meals for the homeless?

Readers are welcome to vote as many times as they would like. The 10 startups with the most votes by midnight Thursday, March 28th will have their pitch vetted on camera by Nikhil Kalghatgi from SoftBank Capital and Steve Schlafman from Lerer Ventures, and vy for the chance of taking home $10,000 in funding.

Check out this season's startups and click “like” to vote for your favorites.

The Coffee Shop in Union Square, located on the bustling corner of 17th St. and Union Square West, is famous for several things: the waitresses are models, it turns into a Brazilian dance club on the weekends, was voted Best Bar for Modelizers in the Village Voice, and New York says it boasts a "high risk of poor service and unpleasant encounters with attitudinal (but often pretty) people" but praised the crayons and puzzle place mats for kids. This noisy, WiFi-less den is famous for something else within the tight-knit community of Silicon Alley: it serves as the de facto meeting place for VCs and founders such as Union Square Ventures' Fred Wilson and IA Ventures' Roger Ehrenberg. "Pitch your startup to First Round Capital here. They're right across the street," says the Foursquare tip left by Charlie O'Donnell. 

But it seems that after years of fealty, New York's nerdiest investors are moving on. This morning Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, who checks into Coffee Shop at least twice a week, declared he'd had enough. "First day of #coffeeshopboycott (@ Friend of a Farmer w/ 2 others) [pic]: http://4sq.com/sE6vu3," he tweeted, inspiring a flurry of queries. In answer to Foursquare's Dennis Crowley, Mr. Wilson explained: "I can put up w/ mediocre food & bad coffee but when they disrespect one of their most loyal customers its time for #coffeeshopboycott." Mr. Wilson did not respond to an email asking him to elaborate. A few founders voiced their support for the boycott on Twitter.

As it turns out, Charming Robot's Dan Maccarone said he's been boycotting Coffee Shop for five years; Steve Schlafman of Lerer Ventures actually quit the Coffee Shop just last week. "Because New York values convenience, people will put up with mediocre breakfast food," Mr. Schlafman said. "Also, people like being seen there. I was kind of fed up with it."

He independently decided to start taking meetings at Friend of a Farmer, the only Union Square eatery with a worse name than "Coffee Shop," a few blocks away on 18th and Irving. The place fits his hippie sensibilities, he said. "Before I was trying to be more stealthy about it," he said. "It's all kind of a joke. My only concern is that after everyone starts going to Friend of a Farmer, whether [the restaurant] will even be able to handle it. It kind of sucks that Fred tweeted about it."

As for Coffee Shop, he says good riddance. "Look, that place is so overplayed," he said. "It's just convenient and it's kind of one of these things that stuck. New York is a place that values innovation and doing different things... I guarantee everyone will be going to Friend of a Farmer in two weeks."

Betabeat called The Coffee Shop to see if the restaurant was aware it had burned a few super users. Charles Milite, one of the owners, got on the phone right away. The cafe's not-so-active Twitter account followed in the voyeuristic tradition of power lunch spot Michael's by tweeting about which bold names were in the house. "British siren Rachel Weisz and Director hubby Darren Aronofsky having lunch at Coffee Shop with adorable son Henry Chance this afternoon," was the last tweet, in August. But Mr. Milite had never heard of Mr. Wilson or the boycott.

"I wasn't aware at all," he said. "I know that we have a lot of these young guy techie types. It's such a busy place and such a diverse clientele here that no one particular segment would completely hit us in the face. It's a pretty big place and its pretty active."

Indeed, there was cacophony in the background when we called around 2:30 p.m. in the waning hours of lunch, and of the 19,095 check-ins and 149 tips on Foursquare, less than a dozen pertain to the restaurant's critical role in Silicon Alley's economy.

"We don't like to hear that we're giving bad service," Mr. Milite said. "But I'll have to look into that and find out. He could have just had a bad experience."

We read him the tweet, which indicated a string of bad experiences.

"Interesting, okay. Well I don't know," he said. He said he would ask the general manager, Renee, who might know more.

In the meantime, Friend of a Farmer has started racking up the check-ins. Will Silicon Alley's finest be satisfied with the "cozy, country cafe," or will Friend of a Farmer (3,673 check-ins) fail the founder test?

The new Lerer digs.

"We're going to miss Betaworks but we love our new home at 560 Broadway," writes Lerer Ventures' new principle, Steve Schlafman, of the Soho building that hosts Dean & Deluca and until recently, Lerer VC Eric Hippeau's Huffington Post, right by Ben Lerer's Thrillist at 568 Broadway. "Not only is the Soho location better, but we'll have more space so we'll get to host some of our portfolio companies.  In fact, two of our companies will be sharing the space with us."

We're sure young Lerer appreciates being able to take the stairs between his two jobs, although he spends most of his time CEO-ing at Thrillist. Check them out on our new Visitor's Guide to Silicon Alley and leave some tips in the comments.

Mr. Schlafman.

The Lerer Ventures family is growing! Formerly just Kenny Lerer, Eric Hippeau, Ben Lerer, his buddy Jordan Cooper and their entrepreneur-in-residence Christopher Poole, the fund announced about a month ago a new $25 million seed fund and started recruiting for venture capitalists. Today the fund announced its first hire since the new fund: Steve Schlafman, natural business development hustler, former director of investments at the Kraft Group, former StickyBits employee and Startup Bus veteran, is joining as a principal investor.

Mr. Schlafman is enthralled with the start-up scene of New York! "After spending the last twelve months entrenched in the NYC tech community, I’m now convinced that we are witnessing a tech renaissance--and in less than a decade, the tech industry will certainly be as influential (if not more) than any other sector in NYC," he wrote in a guest post on Mr. Cooper's blog.

Why not go back to StickyBits now that it's blowing up? Betabeat asked, thinking that the virally popular site could surely use some business development.

"I'm a small investor in Sticky/Turntable so my relationship with those guys is still intact and very positive," he wrote in an email. "That said, I have ADD so I thought going back to venture was better suited for me."

The Bostonian listed nine reasons why he's bullish on New York:

1. Talent. "For the very first time, the creatives in NYC are shifting their focus to digital."
2. Co-working spaces. "Helping entrepreneurs get their business off the ground and get plugged into an instant network."
3. Meetups. "Meetups are critical to our ecosystem because they physically connect the community, facilitate new relationships, foster collaboration and encourage discussion."
4. Hackathons. "These are essential to any thriving tech community because they provide developers and designers with an opportunity to improve and showcase their skills, build and test new products / ideas, and meet other members of the community."
5. Strategic partners. "NYC has a treasure trove of strategic partners including large financial institutions, advertising agencies, and media companies."
6. Users – "NYC has the largest population and highest population density of any city in the US by more than a factor of 2."
7. Government support. "Mayor Bloomberg’s office has made a commitment to the local tech industry."
8. Breakout companies. "The city now has more than a dozen breakout companies such as FourSquare, Etsy, BuddyMedia, Tumblr, Gilt Groupe, and Kickstarter. And there are some super innovative newcomers like Turntable.fm, Skillshare, GroupMe, Lot18, Canvas and Kohort."
9. Venture capital. "It might be the best time since the 90s to raise money as an entrepreneur."

"I’m most stoked to join Lerer Ventures because the team is first class. Everyone here has built, operated, sold and invested in start-ups. And each person has a high degree of intellectual horsepower and a strong moral compass," he said. "Additionally, the firm has expertise in media and entertainment, technology, publishing, e-commerce, and finance, which aligns with my experience."