As 2007 rolls in, I’m looking forward to what the next year will bring for the NYC tech community. As for nextNY, I hope we broaden our reach to more digital media folks, and to those who support the core tech, like marketing, PR, financial folks. We’re also starting to see more meetings with smaller groups… niches within the group that meet to roll up their sleeves and accomplish some great things. That would be a great trend to continue in ‘07. Another area I think we can make great strides in is connnecting to governmental and academic resouces… to the local infrastructure of NYC for space, expertise, etc… in an effort to help make NYC even more innovation friendly in 2007.

Happy New Year, nextNY! Let’s get back to work ASAP!

This blog emerged from a group called nextNY. Last February, I made the very small move of knocking over a single domino… e-mailing a handful of young people in the New York City tech community to get together to connect socially and professionally. Sending a couple of e-mails is just about the extent of credit I can legitimately take for the growth and development of this group.

Nine months later, we have almost 400 people on our listserv. We have been inside Google and on the receiving end of dodgeballs. Everyday, we help each other with lawyer referrals, hacks, best practices, and developer hiring. The organization is free, lightweight and community powered: Totally Web 2.0 compliant. It runs itself through the efforts and legwork of its members, like Anthony from Squarespace who donated a Squarespace account for this blog, Lee who got our wiki/website up and running, and Shawn and Danny from Iridesco who created the theme of our website. Lots of other people have contributed by helping to create or run events and share their ideas, because this group is what its members have made of it.

And now we’re breaking out of the listserv to jumpstart the buzz about New York City as a technology hub…not just “Silicon Alley.”

Silicon Alley.

I really hate that name.

There are a couple of reasons. One, it makes the NYC technology community seem small, like we could all fit on one street.

Granted, NYC streets with highrise buildings could hold thousands of people, but that’s beside the point. Technology lives in many places around here… within big companies and small companies, startups and universities. You’ve got financial services startups on Wall Street, and advanced technology development uptown at Columbia. Williamsburg hipsters develop the virtual world of Second Life, while a short trip on the Path train takes you to the New Jersey brainchildren of all the flying seeds from Bell Labs. Bump into an entrepreneur at Coffee Shop right in the heart of Union Square or as far afield as Stamford, CT, which is as close to NYC as Palo Alto is to San Fran. Oh, and Google hired about 250 engineers in the past two years that are now working in Chelsea. Did I mention ITP?

We might not be working right next to ten other startups on the same street, but we’re probably right down the street from the hedge fund that uses our technology, the publisher whose side we are a thorn in or even the one who wants to use what we built. If the future is about digital media—ad supported or otherwise—there’s something to be said for being in the biggest media and advertising town in the world.

Oh yes, we are way bigger than just one street or one “road” or one “route”.

The other reason I hate the term “Silicon Alley” is because it’s a knockoff. It makes us sound like a version of something, rather than our own unique environment. That’s where this blog comes in and, to a large extent, what nextNY is all about. Since the very beginning of this group, we’ve talked on our listserv about community building, but we’ve cringed when someone mentioned “building our own Valley.” We do not want to build our own Valley. If we wanted to be in the Valley, we would, but we’re New Yorkers, native or adopted and we’ve got our own thing going.

So here we are… ready to stand up and be as loud a voice as RSS will carry us. We’ll be talking about NYC startups, personalities, and events. We’re not going to compare ourselves to anyone else… we’re going to promote ourselves just as every other good startup should. Help us ensure NYC’s place in the future of technology and digital media by coming to our events, participating on our listserv, and connecting with other up-and-coming professionals in the NYC area.

I love this town.

Charlie O’Donnell is the Director of Consumer Products at Oddcast, a New York City venture backed startup whose avatar platform is used for interactive advertising and personal expression. He was formerly an Analyst at Union Square Ventures.

Contact Charlie at charlie.odonnell@gmail.com or view more articles at
www.thisisgoingtobebig.com