

 New York Isn’t Silicon Valley. That’s Why They Like It. - bengebre
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/technology/07reboot.html

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iamelgringo
I organize Hackers and Founders SV, and I'm finally heading out to NYC in a
couple of weeks to check out Hackers and Founders NY. I'm really looking
forward to checking out the startup scene.

BTW, I'd love to be able to crash on someone's floor the night of the 25th
after the meetup. Ping me if you're interested. I promise to be a good guest.
:)

~~~
kqr2
If you don't get an offer, check out :

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

~~~
iamelgringo
If it doesn't work out, I already have a place picked out on AirBnB. I'd just
like to hang out with a HN reader if possible.

~~~
aditya
You can crash on my couch - email in profile!

~~~
iamelgringo
Thanks for the offer, aditya. I just accepted an offer a couple of hours ago.
I'd love to catch up if you're going to be at the Hackers and Founders,
though.

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skmurphy
There are Bootstrapper Breakfasts (<http://www.bootstrappersbreakfast.com/> )
in Silicon Valley four times a month, and twice a month in San Francisco as
well as monthly in Minneapolis and San Diego. I think the Silicon Valley
entrepreneurial ecosystem is richer and much more complex than the queue at
Sand Hill Road. And that similar opportunities for serious conversation with
other entrepreneurs exist in many cities around the world.

~~~
wavesplash
If you're going to blatantly self-promote your event, how about a little
disclosure?

~~~
skmurphy
It's in my YC profile: I am not trying to hide anything.

I mentioned them in response to an article about breakfasts for entrepreneurs
in New York, so that folks who might be interested in similar events in
Minneapolis, San Diego, San Francisco, or Silicon Valley would know.

~~~
wavesplash
Mate, take a tip from iamelgringo. Call it out upfront and state clearly what
the organization is. From what I see Bootstrappers Breakfast is a lead
generation opportunity for your business.

Many events in the valley are run by current founders for current founders or
run by angels as leadgen. The assumption is that you're either an investor or
a founder that wants to give back. If you're doing it for contract leadgen
(e.g. the startups you engage with are paying for your services in cash or
stock) and you're not calling that out upfront you're treading on assumptive
good will.

In short: If you're going to use news YC as a venue to self-promote, then be
upfront.

~~~
skmurphy
Candidly it's not a leadgen for my business. We run it as a service to the
bootstrapping communities in the cities that we operate. And San Francisco,
San Diego, and Minneapolis are moderated by other folks and often the Silicon
Valley Breakfasts are moderated by other folks.

I know Jonathan Nelson (iamelgringo) and appreciate what he is doing. I have
been to several Hackers & Founders events and found them worthwhile. It's nice
to be able to meet for breakfast as well. I have been on YC for perhaps four
years now and contributed I hope a number of useful comments and links.

I have no idea who you are from your YC profile or why you have jumped to the
conclusions that you have. I ask that you take me at my word and otherwise
accept that reasonable men may differ.

~~~
wavesplash
Jonathan runs Hackers and Founders as a sideline to something else he does. He
does it for love and the desire to be around others like him.

You run a consulting firm that feeds on startups.

Your breakfasts are a marketing/leadgen program. That's fine if you call it
out, but you're deluding yourself if you try to claim it's a community
service. It may benefit the community as a side effect, but that's not why you
do them.

ProTip: When you have a conflict of interest, call it out upfront. Anything
less dilutes your legitimacy.

~~~
skmurphy
We've never met to my knowledge so I don't believe that you know me.

I am an entrepreneur and enjoy conversations with other entrepreneurs. I had a
photography business in my teens and did my first startup in Silicon Valley in
1979 when I was still in college. the resources that were available then were
minimal.

The breakfasts attract a broad range of folks: 20 year olds to folks in their
60's, men, women, the entrepreneurially curious, people in startups, serial
entrepreneurs, consultants, and others. We don't turn anyone away as long as
they want to talk about real issues related to bootstrapping.

I started them because I was fed up with attending evening events that were
either about hearing a VC speak or were in bars and involved bullshit
networking. I wanted to take part in serious conversations about
entrepreneurship, in particular bootstrapping a business, because there were
too few discussions about real problems.

We have a unique format for the breakfasts that foster one conversation on a
range of topics proposed by those that show up. We have guest speakers
sometimes, but they only have prepared remarks for about 6-8 minutes at which
point they take part in the conversation. We have invited a number of
entrepreneurs to talk about lessons learned from successes and failures
including the inventor of MacProject, Writely, Wowzamedia to name a few.

I am not sure how you have reached the conclusions about me that you have but
you are mistaken in your characterization of my motives. In particular I
reject "everything you do is for business." There are no pockets in shrouds:
not everything has to be about money.

~~~
wavesplash
Unless you've started a product company recently that you're not sharing with
us, all the above plus your website says you're not an entrepreneur anymore.
You may have been one 30 years ago, you may like being around entrepreneurs,
but catering to them is not the same as being one today.

Today it seems you're a consultant/service-provider.

Although not original, your breakfasts may be good. Just please for the sake
of our patience, call out your conflict of interest when posting here. There
are many charming ways to do it. Denial or dismissal isn't one of them.

If someone calls you on a conflict of interest and there's even a remote
chance there might be a conflict, just say something like: "Forgive my
oversight. ...". Then graciously move on.

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gsiener
I'm moving to Brooklyn this summer and get very excited to keep seeing
articles like this. I'm also going to be in town at the end of March, what are
some "must see"s in the scene?

