The big event in the NYC tech/startup world last night was the TechCrunch New York Party, held at the exclusive and sultry Bed (yes, the one you remember from the Sex and the City episode).

I showed up with an agenda in mind: to take the pulse of the NY tech scene, compare to the Valley and gauge whether there is a mania here as there is there. My conclusion is that the hype really hasn’t carried over here yet. This is healthy. We found ourselves attending an actual party— not a check-writing, high-powered, breathless deal-fest like Web2.0 in SF last week must have been— but an actual party.

Ok, maybe more like a party amidst a lot of commercials. The length of the sponsor list rivaled the attendee list. But the venue layout served well, with the exhibitors on a short platform around the main floor, and people free to opt-out by avoiding the periphery and/or hitting the roof deck. Also, I asked around and ran into at least one entrepreneur who was ecstatic about the contacts made with the vendors. An open bar (beer and wine only— or open a tab for cocktails) at Bed can not be cheap, but at sponsorships ranging from $5k-25k (rumored) x the number of sponsors, this still was likely a successful event monetarily.

Heavy rains were a factor, which probably helped as the attendee density was just right.

Congrats to Mike and his crew for a great party and bringin’ it out east. NYC could use more events like this.

Ken Berger is a serial entrepreneur and mentor capitalist who recently made the Valley -> Alley switch. His bio and contact information can be found here.