
Tech Boom Hits New York - jayzee
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303654804576347170689688438.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop
======
lchengify
I'm a very satisfied customer of Warby Parker.

A couple of things about their service / office that really stand out.

1\. Completely paperless: Basically the place is rows and rows of people
working on mac pros.

2\. Fantastic customer service: If you don't like what they mail you, they
send you up to 5 other models to try each one. You send back what you don't
like.

3\. Convenient sales process: They took a photo of my Rx with a mac and OCRed
it on the spot.

4\. A well manufactured product. I abuse my glasses heavily and have found
Warby Parker's to survive drops, scratches, falling asleep with them on, etc.

5\. Crazy price point: I'm not familiar with their supply chain, but for the
quality I was shocked by the low price. I saw people going in and buying
multiple pairs on the spot.

They may not be a software shop, but they're leveraging every inch of
technology they can get to create a great product and pass the rather
significant savings on to the consumer.

------
cma
<http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html>

------
mattj
A glasses company with a website does not a tech company make.

~~~
daydream
Honest question: why not? What's the line between a tech company, and a
company that makes their own glasses and sells them online?

~~~
brown9-2
Does software produced by this company have a significant impact on their
financials? Do you need a significant amount of software engineers to make
this company run?

~~~
jlmendezbonini
There are many areas of technology other than software. Tech companies !=
software companies.

------
ChuckFrank
Under every boom, real change grinds away. Markets reach maturity when there's
no more room for development and instead there is only room for replacement.
Until that point where new business only replaces exiting business, people
either unable or unwilling to critically evaluate the quality and magnitude of
change keep running in and out of the markets leading to the recurring booms
and busts. Instead think of the public introductions of electricity at the
Chicago Worlds Fair in 1893, which is comparable to the release of Mosaic 100
years later. Compared to electricity, we are in 1911, and realize all the
things that still haven't been invented yet. Neither television, nor the
internet itself had been invented. So while the booms and busts might swirl
around any developing technology, it's vital to remember the key question is
not "is it a bubble?" instead it is "where am I going?" & "where are we
going?" In short Vision > Bubble. Now, since the real estate market is still
slumbering, domestic manufacturing continues it's long decline, the financial
markets have lost their public trustworthiness, the media will naturally
follow what they think the hottest emerging segments are --> Bio Tech, Green
Tech, Online Tech -- because that is their mission. So let's just promise to
keep in mind that any report with the words boom, bust, bubble in them are not
about the vision, or about the real changes that the technology actually
brings. Those stories will be about the boom, bust and bubble itself. By
ignoring those stories, and ignoring the related bubbles we can actually
create the technological changes that we all promise in our work.

------
siculars
I'm NYC born and bred. The kind of New Yorker that just can't see himself
living anywhere else, even the vaunted Silicon Valley or SF in general no
matter the opportunity (so take this with the appropriate grain of salt). In
fact, NYC has been nurturing an interesting tech scene which has just started
getting "noticed" in the last two or so years but obviously has been here much
longer before that. I think there are a number of conflated reasons for this.
NYC is the nerve center for a number of industries not only in the US but
internationally as well. There are many types of startups happening here but
let's delve into a few that immediately come to mind. Healthcare and Biotech,
Media/Entertainment/Music, Commerce, Fashion, Finance, and Government.

NYC has one of the best ratios of hospital beds to patients in the entire
country. There are a huge number of medical institutions in the five boroughs
not only serving a huge variety of patients but also performing a tremendous
amount of research. I work at one of those institutions and I can tell you
that if they weren't looking to capitalize on/spin off their in-house tech,
they are now.

Media and Entertainment. All the major players have HQ's here and where they
are so are startups trying to sell them goods and services. Boxee comes to
mind (as an innovator and a partner). I dunno where to put Meetup, but I'll
put em here.

Commerce. Gilt Group, Etsy, etc.

Fashion. Clothia, Warby Parker.

Finance. The money is here and half the players on Wall Street are looking to
get off the Street and start a business with the right technical talent. Not
to mention innovation in the trading and hedge fund space.

Government. Mayor Bloomberg is really pushing municipal data as a platform.
Check out the NYC DataMine and places like OpenPlans. NYCBigApps is a contest
(two years running) for developers to take advantage of municipal data for the
betterment of the City and maybe make a few bucks/put a business together in
the process. This is only going to grow and I expect some great things to come
of it.

There are also tech plays like 10gen, Nodejitsu, various tech incubators like
BetaWorks and K2 and cooperative groups like GeneralAssembly and NYHacker.

What I find interesting about the tech scene in NYC is that in addition to R&D
there is a huge amount of applied technology due to the confluence of talent
and industries. The stuff that is getting made out here has a revenue model
out the gate because they are re-imagining and re-inventing pre-existing
business with technology as a corner stone. At the end of the day, let's face
it, people want to be here in NYC. You know what they say - If you can make it
here...

~~~
thomasgerbe
NY is definitely amazing. I lived there for a few years and just recently
moved to SF. I miss the food, the people, the nightlife, the transit system
(MTA > BART/MUNI), the women, the competition, and culture. DUMBO has emerged
as one of the coolest hotbeds of digital talent and was awesome to work
around.

But I do not miss the incredibly humid and uncomfortable summers. The (at
times) ridiculous line-ups/congestion. The pedestrian/bike/vehicle wars
(thankfully covered by the Gothamist every week). Tiny apartment spaces with
narrow staircases and no central air. Having to store portable A/Cs...
somewhere...anywhere! And feeling completely removed from nature
(Prospect/Central Park are great... but most people don't pass by it
everyday). And having to deal with people who think they are the shit just
because they live in NY.

Hey, I ain't trying to slag NY. I love it. But... I finally understood how
people could become exhausted by it.

------
thomasgerbe
Re: Warby Parker

$120 for well styled glasses was a no-brainer for me (even just to try out).

What they got right were: 1) Making a really well-designed website (aesthetics
are obviously key in fashion) 2) Getting well-styled frames in their inventory
3) An amazing price point that is consistent across the board.

As a designer, I have a lot of designer friends, especially in NY. They aren't
really into knowing about startups at all. But they all know Warby Parker
(through GQ, word-of-mouth) and don't approach it as a startup but a hip
'small business.' Kudos to them.

~~~
dj_axl
Looks retro hipster.

<http://www.warbyparker.com/>

~~~
ecspike
Spot on.

------
wickedchicken
How many fabless semiconductor startups are in NYC?

