Why New York Could Surpass San Francisco Someday

After spending just over 2.5 years in New York after the exact same time in SF, I thought it was time to digest and write out what I enjoy about the NYC tech scene in addition to the major gaps I have seen during that period.

There are obviously geographic differences that I think work to NYCs advantage as the tech community is condensed to a small area that is easily accessible by subway, but the dramatic differences between the two communities afford each their own advantages. However, at the end of the day, the 1367.3mm invested in NYCs tech ecosystem Q3 pails in comparison to the 4332.9mm invested in SV in the same quarter.

The New York tech community is coming along quite well though and with over 200 million dollars in the last 6 months going to healthcare startups, it shows that New York is also diversifying from the fin tech and ad tech worlds as well.

Here are the top three insights I have from my time spent as an executive sales leader on both coasts.

1. Fear of failure

SF is super entrepreneurial and so is NYC but in starkly different ways.

New Yorkers flat out work… I never have to ask the people to stay late to get the job done instead I have to tell them to go home. I didn’t have that same experience in SF but I have noticed that in NYC there is a fear instead of embracement of failure.

Front line people coming from big companies seem to struggle to take general direction, make it their own and go out on a limb. Instead the default seems to be to wait for instructions that are approved by a leader or VP, this way they’re “safe” and they can always say they didn’t know.

There is no easy fix for this failure to take ownership and run with things, and unfortunately, this is something that slows the growth of startups. In order to catch up, the people coming from the mortgage/finance/media space need to be ready to not just roll up their sleeves and work, but also bring their ability to problem solve to work everyday. The culture needs to shift from rewarding working hard and instead reward entrepreneurial attitudes of working smart.

2. Sales talent is difficult to impossible to find

There is no lack of sales people, just a lack of tech sales people.

The lack of tech sales talent in New York is staggering. The real issue isn’t that there aren’t as many sales people, but that the sales people here today struggle to sell value or educate. The sales talent from big industries are used to selling ads or bonds and can’t seem to avoid talking about how amazing their company and/or product is. They stumble trying to understand why deals aren’t closing.

To make matters worse these individuals come from the industries that startups are selling to, so they look even more attractive and lure many entrepreneurs with the enticement of their Rolodex. Then four months later they haven’t closed a deal and you can’t figure out why. When another two-month pass you realize you have three people like this now and none of them are killing it.

Sales skills almost always trump industry knowledge because you can teach the industry. Yes, people may have low hanging fruit contacts, but you will be underwhelmed most of the time. Tech Sales is a skill that takes years to develop.

3. Startups are still cool in New York

NYC:
Where do you work? Hedge fund
Where do you work? Investment bank
Where do you work? A startup
Everyone: that’s cool what do you guys do. I wish I could work at a startup.

SF:
Where do you work? Startup in Soma
Where do you work? Box
Where do you work? Demand force
Everyone: cool…

It’s part of the shiny new toy factor but regardless, it’s still cool to be a part of the tech community in NYC. The environment is more exciting and the community is a little more helpful to each other than what I experienced in SF. This won’t last forever but for the next 3-5 years, it should be a lot of fun.

As New York looks to reinvent itself into a different version of Silicon Valley, there are still big advantages to being in SF. More VC dollars, and more talent in particular but you can’t beat the startup culture in NYC. It has been an exciting two and half years and the next two and half should see even more growth in talent availability and venture dollars, making NYC a great place to be for tech for the next five years. Then who knows, maybe back to Kansas City as the Silicon Prairie starts to take off 🙂