Overview

Founded in 2004, NY Tech Meetup is the largest meetup group in the world and a non-profit organization representing professionals from all parts of the New York technology community. Led by Executive Director Jessica Lawrence, NYTM builds programs and partnerships to support the growth and diversification of the city’s technology industry. 

NY Tech Meetup has worked with the Association for a Better New York, Citi, and Google to create “The New York City Tech Ecosystem” report; Control Group and Girl Develop It to form Women in Tech NYC; Gust to organize the annual NY Tech Meetup: Austin event at SXSW; more than 600 tech companies based in NYC to create the Made in NYC List; many prominent candidates in the 2013 NYC Mayoral Elections, including current Mayor Bill De Blasio, to conduct and record Q&As on tech policy; the Red Cross, FEMA, the City of New York, Recovers.org, CrisisCommons, Hurricane Hackers, and local elected officials to provide tech relief after Hurricane Sandy struck New York; and prominent speakers such as authors Clay Shirky and John Perry Barlow, Alexis Ohanian of Reddit, Andrew McLaughlin of Tumblr, Eli Pariser of MoveOn.org, and more to protest the now-defeated Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA).

NYTM also hosts a perennially sold-out monthly event where members gather to watch emerging companies demo new ideas, hear leading-edge thinking on technology topics, and build their networks to develop their businesses. The event have been integral in the growth of New York’s technology sector, with nearly every notable new company, including Foursquare and Tumblr, making their debut at a NY Tech Meetup demo event.

NYTM is a community-led organization supported by its members, who range from students banging out code in their dorm rooms, to entrepreneurs looking to become the next Steve Jobs, to investors in search of the next big thing, to established CEOs at some of New York’s top companies. NYTM is also sponsored by Gotham Ventures and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the organization’s Founding Sponsors, and Google, Microsoft, Bloomberg, Tumblr, MLBAM, Tekserve, American Express, Thomson Reuters, Morgan Stanley, The Flatiron School, and Facebook, the organization’s Annual Sustaining Sponsors.

NY Tech Meetup was founded by meetup.com founder Scott Heiferman and co-founded by Dawn Barber. Its current Board President is Nate Westheimer and Chair of the Board is Andrew Rasiej.