Welcome
hank williams
Welcome!
One of the things I realized while sitting at the MIT forum is just how many people are thinking about this issue, but are in their own professional silo. This is particularly true of the academic folks, though not exclusively.
As I see it there are things that can be done, and people are doing a lot of very cool things. I certainly dont want this to compete with nextNY or to overlap any existing efforts. My thoughts here really relate to two ideas.
1. Being a kind of think tank for the "state of new york tech"
2. sponsoring and helping to take specific actions to foster growth in new york as a tech center.
This is not very specific yet, but at this point i'd like to throw the discussion open for others to chime in. David Rosenstrach and I have been bouncing Ideas around, and I m sure that he has stuff to say. But I also invite everyone to chime in. A little organized chaos at the start could be helpful.
Hank
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whydoeseverythingsuck.com
hank williams
David Rosenstrach and I
Rosenstrauch. Sorry for the typo.
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whydoeseverythingsuck.com
Jean Barmash
Hey Guys,
Myself and a few other guys spent some time last week flushing out an idea for what I call “Tech Dinner Salon.” – Basically a self-organizing forum for people to discuss these types of issues. Among the top ideas for discussion was exactly this – how to foster more tech in NY.
I haven’t posted it to the larger NextNY list, but would love your feedback.
http://www.nextny.org/wiki/show/Tech+Dinner+Salon
http://www.nextny.org/wiki/show/DinnerSalonSignup
Thanks,
Jean
hank williams
I think it is an excellent idea.
Hank
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Eric Wiesen
Very briefly (and largely in summary of material already posted across
email strings on NextNY) there are a couple of key constituencies that
need to be brought in if this effort is going to succeed:
1. Entrepreneurs (broadly defined as those who have or are willing to
start companies here)
2. Engineers
3. Investors
4. Universities
5. Media/Press (I don't disagree at all with Hank's primary contention
that there is a problem, but I think there are nuances around the
extent to which NYC also has an "image problem" when it comes to tech)
Interested to hear how people think we can make progress toward
increasing New York's importance as a tech center. Certainly this is a
tremendous opportunity.
Eric Wiesen
David Rosenstrauch
> This is a very good (and timely) idea. Look forward to helping out.
>
> Very briefly (and largely in summary of material already posted across
> email strings on NextNY) there are a couple of key constituencies that
> need to be brought in if this effort is going to succeed:
>
> 1. Entrepreneurs (broadly defined as those who have or are willing to
> start companies here)
> 2. Engineers
> 3. Investors
> 4. Universities
> 5. Media/Press (I don't disagree at all with Hank's primary contention
> that there is a problem, but I think there are nuances around the
> extent to which NYC also has an "image problem" when it comes to tech)
Agreed - we need to involve all of these. (I wrote nearly the same list
to Hank in a private email a week or 2 back.)
If I could elaborate a bit more on the list though:
* re: #4: there's a couple of University sub-constituencies, and we
might want to try to include all of them: 1) "technology transfer"
divisions, who are concerned with licensing university research to the
external tech community, 2) university tech students, who are concerned
with finding tech jobs when they finish school, and 3) university tech
professors/department heads, who have some of the same concerns as the
students, but also have some interest in tailoring their curriculum to
suit the market's needs.
* One really important constituency that was omitted from this list:
city government. e.g., ITAC, or a rep. from the Mayor's office, etc.
> Interested to hear how people think we can make progress toward
> increasing New York's importance as a tech center. Certainly this is a
> tremendous opportunity.
>
> Eric Wiesen
My personal opinion is that the first thing we ought to do is to get a
representative from each of those constituencies to chime in and vent
about why, from their perspective, the current situation sucks, and
(hopefully) some suggestions on what could/should be changed to make
things *not* suck. Having a list of those would IMO give us a pretty
clear picture on what exactly the problems are, and who's being affected
and how.
Then with those in hand, we can then be in a position to really
understand the problems, the causes, what's the highest priority issues,
etc. We could then consolidate those issues into a master list of
objectives for the effort, and an action plan on how to achieve them.
I'd be happy to volunteer to write up the list of developer/engineer issues.
That said, Hank disagreed with this approach a bit. (Again in a private
email exchange we had; glad we'll have a public forum for this stuff
from now on.) I hope I'm presenting his opinion correctly (and please
feel free to correct me if I'm not, Hank), but he thought it'd be better
to get a non-profit together for this, get some funding for it, and hire
some people to do a more professional analysis of the problem.
Your thoughts?
DR
hank williams
That said, Hank disagreed with this approach a bit.
(Again in a private
email exchange we had; glad we'll have a public forum for this stuff
from now on.) I hope I'm presenting his opinion correctly (and please
feel free to correct me if I'm not, Hank),
but he thought it'd be better
to get a non-profit together for this, get some funding for it, and hire
some people to do a more professional analysis of the problem.
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David Rosenstrauch
>> email exchange we had; glad we'll have a public forum for this stuff
>> from now on.) I hope I'm presenting his opinion correctly (and please
>> feel free to correct me if I'm not, Hank),
>
> but he thought it'd be better
>> to get a non-profit together for this, get some funding for it, and hire
>> some people to do a more professional analysis of the problem.
>>
>
> Well its a little off. I think that this process is going to yield great
> results, but I am fearful that there are tasks that cannot be done by an
> "all volunteer force" unless we get some really dedicated volunteers. But I
> don't think that creating a non-profit is job one. I think the first task is
> to define a mission and get clear about what the goals are and get buy in
> from important constituencies. Then we can think about how to execute in a
> more aggressive way, perhaps organized around a non-profit.
Well, sounds like we're basically on the same page. I also agree that
the effort will need to grow beyond an all volunteer force. (Indeed, I
think it'll fail if it doesn't!) I'll be happy to have that happen when
the time is right.
> My primary
> concern is that this not just be a group of people that get together and
> talk about doing stuff but don't actually do anything. And to me, if all we
> do is meet that will not be a sufficiently fruitful result. I want to move
> the ball.
>
> Hank
Agree with you completely here. It's a waste of everyone's time if no
actual change ever comes out of it.
In that interest, then, let's get some action going. You know, an
object in motion tends to remain in motion and all that.
So would you agree with the next step I suggested then? (i.e., get reps
from each of the constituencies to describe the problem from their
perspective.) If so, then why don't we get started on it! I can do a
first draft of the developer issues list. Maybe you (or someone else
here) can start on the entrepreneurs issues list. And perhaps you can
contact some of the people you met at the MIT group to start on their
own lists.
Of course, if you think we should approach this a different way, please
chime in.
DR
hank williams
Agree with you completely here. It's a waste of everyone's time if no
> My primary
> concern is that this not just be a group of people that get together and
> talk about doing stuff but don't actually do anything. And to me, if all we
> do is meet that will not be a sufficiently fruitful result. I want to move
> the ball.
>
> Hank
actual change ever comes out of it.
In that interest, then, let's get some action going. You know, an
object in motion tends to remain in motion and all that.
So would you agree with the next step I suggested then? (i.e., get reps
from each of the constituencies to describe the problem from their
perspective.) If so, then why don't we get started on it! I can do a
first draft of the developer issues list. Maybe you (or someone else
here) can start on the entrepreneurs issues list. And perhaps you can
contact some of the people you met at the MIT group to start on their
own lists.
For the last few days I have been trying to colesce all of the input I have been getting about this. Howard Greenstein has offered to provide meeting space, and presumably participation, from NYSIA, which is great. I think I have an action plan for the MIT folks, and there are a few people that I dont want to mention publicly yet who have suggested they would help. So all of that is in motion.
In the meantime, I will start to put together some of my thoughts on issues for entrepreneurs.
Hank
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David Rosenstrauch
> For the last few days I have been trying to colesce all of the input I have
> been getting about this. Howard Greenstein has offered to provide meeting
> space, and presumably participation, from NYSIA, which is great. I think I
> have an action plan for the MIT folks, and there are a few people that I
> dont want to mention publicly yet who have suggested they would help. So all
> of that is in motion.
>
> In the meantime, I will start to put together some of my thoughts on issues
> for entrepreneurs.
>
>
> Hank
Sounds great! Ooh - I'd love to hear who you've got lined up!
Anyway, start I'll drafting up a list of developer issues.
BTW, I'm out of town on vacation next week, so if it'd be possible to
put off meeting till the following week I'd like that, since I'd really
like to be present. But if next week clicks with everyone else for
whatever reason, that's fine too - just someone please take down some
notes on what went down so I can catch up.
DR
hank williams
BTW, I'm out of town on vacation next week, so if it'd be possible to
put off meeting till the following week I'd like that, since I'd really
like to be present. But if next week clicks with everyone else for
whatever reason, that's fine too - just someone please take down some
notes on what went down so I can catch up.
Dont worry, I don't think it will be next week.
Hank
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David Rosenstrauch
> Anyway, start I'll drafting up a list of developer issues.
Write like Yoda, do I? :-)
DR
Tobin
is very broad task. I'm very sure we all recognize that companies at
different stages, segments, and markets do not share the same
challenges. Although there are overlapping issues that transcend
various combinations with solutions based on general terms, the
solutions are tailored for unique environments.
We can and should itemize, categorize and catalog them to build a
vocabulary to the range of challenges NY tech entrepreneurs face, but
just as our region has it's own obstacles each business will also have
their own unique problems. No single pattern will apply as universal
solution when a business is faced with a non-trivial challenge. The
task of identifying the issues is continuous and I feel it's best not
to get hung up on it. My recommendation is to identify a few and
begin your work.
Although I am not in favor of setting up a nonprofit, I do think the
comparison could be of use. When I think of nonprofits, I
specifically think of those who try to empower communities facing
various forms of adversity.
In a simplified view I see the cycle of these nonprofits to execute
the following 4 core types of programs: outreach, education, guidance
& assistance and encouragement. Each of these programs is equally
important, but it is in the guidance & assistance where I feel the
real movement comes from. Especially when there is a challenge at
hand.
Outreach finds and embraces the audience where education provides
information about problems, solutions, and options. These two are the
basis of an academic platform. Guidance & Assistance show how to apply
the education to someone's specific needs in the real world.
Encouragement recognizes achievement and tries to build confidence so
that participants can execute their ideas successfully on their own.
The reason I feel the guidance & assistance are the core of an
organization whose aim is to empower a community is because education
(although important) and information alone is not powerful enough. We
should all know very well, especially in this community, ideas are
nothing without execution.
I feel our community has the outreach and education (unfortunately
usually in the form of a thinly veiled shill), but there are very few
forms of guidance and assistance. Sure we have David Cutler offering
guidance on using Sun technology, but what I'm talking about is more
about mentorship to guide someone to make the community a better
place. From people who want to this community succeed should have
their interests not in their pockets, but for the cultivation of
something exciting and remarkable. A perfect real-world example of
this is Jonah's NextNY Feedback Forum. It's an invaluable opportunity
address issues.
Tobin
[NextNY Feedback Forum] is an invaluable opportunity for early stage
companies to focus on and address their issues with other
entrepreneurs.