Guide to the New York Startup Scene

Table of Contents

Section One: About New York Emerging Tech Hub – Background on the history of the city and information as it

relates to the tech community here.

Section Two: Notable Startups A who’s who guide to the growing NY startup scene. Find out who they are

and why they’re successful.

Section Three: Where NYC Startups Live Info on where startups are growing their businesses and how they’re doing it.

Section Four: How to Attract Funding Marketing strategies on showing “velocity” to potential venture capital firms.

Section Five: You’re Ready for Funding. What Now? A non-exhaustive list of VCs for all stages of funding.

About New York – Emerging Tech Hub

Section One: About New York

Why New York?

New York is the media capital of the world with four major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC) in addition to a variety of print companies.

As the digital space has grown, so too has New York’s grasp on online media.


Why New York?

The Big Apple is also famous for its fashion and art. As a result, retailers are also riding the digital wave by trying to improve the commerce experience.


Innovation in New York

The Big Apple is a natural fit for tech as home to two of the “big four” global ad agency holding companies. (Omnicom and Interpublic Group)

NYC stretched its true digital muscle with the creation of digital content companies like Vice Media, Buzzfeed, Vox Media and Outbrain.


New York Bursts onto the Tech Scene

In 1993, Prodigy provided access to the internet via dial-up and NY-based companies such as Razorfish, DoubleClick and The Mining Company (About.com) were soon created and became leaders of the dot.com bubble.

In 2003, David S. Rose led a group of Investors to revitalize the New York Angels group. Learn more about Rose here.

All this earned NY the nickname “Silicon Alley” playing off California’s Silicon Valley.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_S._Rose

Quotes on “Silicon Alley’s” Impact

“New York City has surpassed [Silicon Valley] in startup funding requests. The tech ecosystem here provides nearly 300,000 jobs and generates over $30 billion in wages annually.” – NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio



“New York offers an unmatched opportunity for emerging companies looking to innovate and grow their business.” – AppNexus CEO Brian O’Kelley



“You have skills that come from finance, from food, so they’re not only tech people, but they come into the tech scene and I think that brings a fresh perspective.” – Ayah Bdeir, CEO of LittleBits



“[Startups] match our DNA perfectly. We are the city of risk takers, of a million choices and cutthroat competition.” – Alex Iskold, Managing Director of Techstars NYC


History of New York Startups

1993-99: Dot.com startups made their way onto the NY tech scene and many of them went public. Eventually the tech bubble burst and Silicon Alley went with it.

2002-05: Silicon Alley went through a revival thanks to blogging and new media centered around tech. Sites like Engadget, Gizmodo and BuzzFeed all gained popularity. Eventually, NYC’s other staple industries such as fashion, finance and retail followed suit.

2005-10: Retail tech and e-commerce startups exploded in popularity with brands such as Etsy, Birchbox and Warby Parker creating jobs and bringing in new investments.

2014-present: Mayor Bill de Blasio created a digital platform called Digital.NYC to help startups accelerate growth. Today, the city is outgrowing Silicon Valley in jobs, funding requests and the tech scene’s diversity.


Market Overview

Highlights

3 unicorn exits in consecutive years since 2013

69 tech startups have gone public

7,000+ startups call New York home

Funding

200% increase in VC capital between 2009-13

$6.7 billion in funding in 9 of the last 10 quarters

Job growth

4x more tech jobs in NYC than Silicon Valley since 2009

20% of all startup employees are minorities

40% are women


Notable NY-Based Startups

Section Two: Notable Startups

New York Unicorns


Unicorn Case Studies

Enterprise social media management platform founded in 2009and has nearly 800 of the top Fortune 1000 companies.

Most recent funding was $46M Series E to tap into paid social.

Has at least 20k fans/followers per social channel and honored as one of LRG Marketing’s “3 B2B New York startups killing it on social.”


http://lrgmarketing.com/blog/3-b2b-new-york-start-ups-killing-it-on-social


Cloud-based software platform that enables and optimizes programmatic online advertising.

Recently completed a $63M Series F funding.

Has nearly 20k Twitter followers, and over 21k on LinkedIn.



Social news and entertainment company that has recently moved into B2B by using content-driven publishing technology to sell advertising to Fortune 500 companies.

Received $200M in PE funding from NBC Universal.

Has nearly 3 million followers on Twitter and 6.5 million Facebook fans.


Key Insights

While the media landscape is changing, the industry is getting bigger than ever in New York.


Key Insights

Investors are funding startups that naturally produce a lot of content and demonstrate thought leadership in their industry.


Key Insights

B2B startups are producing a lot of content quickly and investing heavily in follower building to increase their audience at a low cost. This is also becoming one of many indicators VCs use to judge a company’s trajectory.


NY Companies on the Rise


Why They Stand Out

Offer disruptive technology (usually a SaaS service) in an older industry or an FMA brand taking advantage of underutilized tech.


Why They Stand Out

Market with large potential that is mostly untapped or a problem the competition hasn’t yet solved.


Why They Stand Out

Are heavily invested in creating compelling content and are creative, even pushing the envelope on digital channels.


Why They Stand Out

Heavy focus on being an industry thought leader by offering helpful resources rather than pushing sales.


Where NYC Startups Live

Section Three: Where NYC Startups Live

Neighborhoods

The New York tech scene currently sits in three areas:

Silicon Alley DUMBO Long Island City


Why Silicon Alley?

Online advertising and tech media startups first launched here and Google opened an office in 2006.

Influenced by David S. Rose for a wide variety of angel investments.

Defined as Flatiron District, parts of Midtown and Lower Manhattan.

Home to startup staples TechStars, WeWork and Flatiron School.

Eight Unicorns located between Canal and 35th street including BuzzFeed, Sprinklr and FanDuel.


Why DUMBO?

Strategic area for startups as it’s an easy subway ride to Silicon Alley, but real estate is more affordable.

Etsy originally set up shop there because of its cheap real-estate.

Neighbors VICE Media’s office in Williamsburg, which was the first start-up in Brooklyn.

WeWork recently opened an office.


Why Long Island City?Became a hub after Songza founders moved there based on cheap real estate compared to Manhattan and has a revitalized waterfront that has scenic views.

Other startups followed in the e-commerce, media and food tech space.

Bigger businesses (such as Citigroup, JetBlue Airways, MetLife and Steve Madden) have moved to LIC, which creates an even bigger incentive for startups to work there.

Google acquired Songza and recently folded it into Google Play.


Co-Working Spaces

What they are: All-inclusive office spaces at a relatively low cost that offer furnished offices, conference rooms and a wide variety of other amenities.

Why they matter: Provide a networking space for startups to collaborate and are ideal for smaller teams.

Where they are: Mainly in the three startup hubs – Silicon Alley, DUMBO and Long Island City. However, they’re available all over New York.


Co-Working Spaces

These are excellent for startups to collaborate on their ideas and have inexpensive office space. With high real-estate costs, there are an abundance of co-working spots in NYC.


Meet-Up Groups

• Startup Weekend

• NYC Tech Talks

• Tech in Motion: New York City

• NY Tech Women

• #STARTUP

• Inside Startups Club

• Startup Grind

• Be Social Change

• New York Entrepreneurs & Startup Network

• NYC Startup Community

• NYC Technology Startups

• NY Tech Meetup

• NYEdTech

• New York Silicon Alley

• Brooklyn Tech Meetup

Looking to meet other startups or venture capital firms? These groups are perfect for you. Whether you’re new, or just looking for someone to partner with, these meetups are extremely valuable.


http://www.meetup.com/Startup-Weekend-NYC/

http://www.meetup.com/NYC-Tech-Talks/

http://www.meetup.com/techinmotionnyc/

http://techwomen.co/

http://www.meetup.com/Premium-Startup-Conference-for-Entrepreneurs-Investors/

http://www.meetup.com/insidestartupsclub/

http://www.meetup.com/Startup-Grind-NYC/

http://besocialchange.org/

http://www.meetup.com/New-York-Entrepreneurs-and-Startup-Network/

http://www.meetup.com/Intro-to-the-NYC-Startup-Community/

http://www.meetup.com/NYC-Technology-Startups/

http://www.meetup.com/ny-tech/

https://nytm.org/

http://www.meetup.com/New-York-Silicon-Alley/

http://www.meetup.com/BKtechmeetup/

Startup Education

• General Assembly – Graduate school type program to improve skills in design, marketing, tech and big data.

• Full Stack Academy – Specializes in teaching JavaScript and database fluency within SQL, NoSQL and ORM languages.

• Flatiron School – Program that focuses on iOS mobile app development and web development within Ruby and JavaScript. Also offers an extremely competitive fellowship for non-college graduates.

• Dev Bootcamp – Intensive 19-week program that teaches Ruby, JavaScript, HTML and CSS.

• App Academy – Software development bootcamp that doesn’t charge money until students are hired.

• Startup Institute – Eight-week program that provides the skills to work in anything from web design to account management at a startup.

• Recurse – Free 12-week “retreat” that helps programmers improve their coding skills.

• Byte Academy – Python coding school specialized for FinTech, Big Data and MedTech industries.

• Turn to Tech – Coding bootcamp focused on iOS and Android development to get students ready for working at startups.

While many startup founders hail from the likes of Columbia and NYU, the education space is also witnessing disruption with institutions like these making six-figure salaries more accessible than ever before.


https://generalassemb.ly/

http://www.fullstackacademy.com/

http://flatironschool.com/

http://devbootcamp.com/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=NYC+Metro+-+Branded&utm_content=Branded+-+Dev+Bootcamp&utm_term=dev%20bootcamp%20nyc

http://www.appacademy.io/

https://www.startupinstitute.com/

https://www.recurse.com/

http://www.byteacademy.co/

http://turntotech.io/

Incubators

Here are a few incubators in New York who can help your company accelerate and build in its early stages. Most companies offer a combination of funding, mentoring and work space.


How to Attract Funding

Section Four: How to Attract Funding

What do VCs Want in a Startup?

Team – Having the right people and leadership in place that knows how to grow the company is crucial to impressing VCs.

Unique idea, huge opportunity – Pitches must show they have an original idea that’s hard to replicate and prove that there is a huge market for it.

Business model – There needs to be a viable strategy for making money in addition to a possible exit strategy.

Velocity – Upwards trajectory that shows the company is gaining interest among its audience.


How to Show Velocity

• Increase in users• Sales• Web traffic• Conversions• Anything that proves your solution is here to

stay and won’t fizzle out

From our point of view, showing velocity is the most compelling way to attract funding and is also ambiguous. How does a startup show velocity?


Integrated Marketing Creates Velocity

By investing in an integrated PR, social and digital marketing strategy, startups can reach these metrics and attract funding.

We compiled strategies within these three disciplines that help you get there, but success is based on these working congruently.


PR Strategies for Showing Velocity

Establish relationships: Identify target influencers and reporters in your market early on and engage them every step of the way.

Designate a thought leader: Find a person who will be the voice of your company and have them (or a ghost-writer) write contributed articles on industry pain-points.

Get third-party validation: Reviews and demos are an effective way to prove to VCs that your product or service is legit. Reviews offer the social proof investors look for before investing.

Newsjacking: Look for news events relevant to your brand and have your expert ready to provide thoughtful commentary.


Get to Know These Publications

Consider these publications to be the gold standard in getting your startup out there. Depending on your vertical, there will be additional valuable trade publications to note.


Digital Strategies for Showing Velocity

Make your website user friendly – If your website doesn’t steer your audience the way you want it to, all other strategies are moot. Your website should be both aesthetically pleasing and functional with clear calls to action.

Content, content, content – Startups, especially in the SaaS space, can gain mindshare by regularly producing blog posts, white papers and other types of resources that guide your customers towards your solution.


Digital Strategies for Showing Velocity

Invest in PPC – A good PPC strategy will ultimately drive traffic to your website and get you closer to user adoption through conversions.

Don’t forget organic search – All of these strategies should feed into ensuring customers can easily find you on Google. SEO is no longer about optimizing for single keywords, rather it’s about understanding which search phrases customers are most likely to use in order to find you.


Social Media Strategies for Showing Velocity

“Friend” your Facebook presence – While B2B companies are typically hesitant to engage on Facebook with low organic reach, startups can get downloads for an app or white paper at a low cost and get instant feedback through people’s reactions.

Publish on LinkedIn – By publishing long-form content on LinkedIn, you can establish thought leadership, increase brand awareness and let your network know what your brand is up to. Read our blog post to further learn about the benefits to publishing on LinkedIn.


http://lrgmarketing.com/blog/why-b2b-execs-should-publish-on-linkedin

Social Media Strategies for Showing Velocity

Invest in paid social across platforms – Looking at social media as if it’s owned media is an outdated strategy. In order to get the shared aspect you want in your social media program, it involves taking advantage of this one-of-a-kind opportunity. You can even use our guide to it if you’re not sure where to get started.

Empower your team – If your employees truly stand behind your vision, there’s no better place to leverage that than on social media. Ask them to consider their LinkedIn profile as a blend of who they are personally and professionally so investors and customers get a better feel for what your brand stands for. Sharing PR placements on Twitter is another way to accomplish this as well.


http://lrgmarketing.com/blog/paid-social-and-its-impact-on-b2b-brands

Integrating PR, Digital and Social

Many of the current B2B decision-makers skew younger, and will be looking at your brand through multiple touch points.

An integrated strategy is needed to create social traction and to demonstrate it to your investors.

Use case: You write a byline in a tier-one publication with links back to your website and the article generates thousands of social shares. With strategic media outreach, you now have accomplished results across PR, social and digital. That’s only the beginning.


You’re Ready for Funding. What Now?

Section Five: You’re Ready for Funding. What Now?

Early Stage Funding*When you’re just starting and need some backing for your idea, this non-exhaustive list contains many firms who helped today’s hottest NYC startups at their early stages.

*Unclear how startup financing works? Check out this resource from Startup Factory.


http://www.startupfactory.co/pdf/SUF_capital_fin.pdf

Mid-Stage FundingMany of these firms qualify somewhere between late-seed and Series B. If you’ve got a successful business model and want to scale but still are developing, here are some good bets.


Late-Stage Funding

At this point, your startup is probably booming and you’re almost ready for an exit or IPO, but need one last push. These companies will help you get there. Think Series C or higher.


Thank YouA big thank you to several sources used for compiling the information in this presentation including:

CNET, Built in NYC, Tech.CO, Digital.NYC, CrunchBase, Founders Grid, Under 30 CEO, AlleyWatch, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Startup Factory and Crain’s

About Us

• Social Media Manager at LRG Marketing

• Built community for brand acquired by SAP

• Startup experience: SaaS, cybersecurity, retail tech, mobile apps and cleantech

• B.A. Journalism, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

• President at LRG Marketing

• Created agency integrated marketing practice

• Specializes in growth-hacking for non-visual brands

• Startup experience: Consumer tech, med tech and security

Adam Miller@ajmil0

Diana Wolff@di_wo

Vince Galdi@vgaldi

• Chief Creative Officer at LRG Marketing

• Agency founder

• Currently an investor for a small tech company

• Created marketing campaignsthat led to acquisitions

Questions?

Vince at [email protected]

Diana at [email protected]

Adam at [email protected]

Learn more about us by visiting our website LRGMarketing.com.

mailto:[email protected]



http://lrgmarketing.com/

Guide to the New York Startup Scene

Small Business & Entrepreneurship

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