Your Startup Sucks

January 4, 2012 8:53 pm

A Moment for Reflection

When I started this blog two years ago, I set out to capture a side of the tech world that I felt was being overlooked: the people behind the scenes — and the sense of community that binds them together.

“Your Startup Sucks”, though silly, was imagined as a good guy’s travelog — a personal narrative probing the winding corridors of NYC’s business world. Its thesis was simple: dogs may eat dogs elsewhere but in NYC, we help each other out. That’s what makes us special. That’s what makes us important.

Over these past two years, I’ve been fortunate enough to meet thousands of people: founders, hackers, investors, writers, students, and leaders. Some among them sought success in business; others sought learning and fellowship. Most understood that the two weren’t so different.

Along the way, I’ve come to see starting up as being a bit like falling in love: passionate words whispered over drinks, late nights that turn into long weekends, fleeting moments of absolute (and terrifying) clarity… followed by the harrowing awareness that things will, in all likelihood, not work out in the long run. What then?

As it is with relationships, so it is with startups: the best and only balm for a broken heart is friendship and family. In this game of numbers, one cannot afford to wallow in “failure”; we must rely on one another to help us through the disappointments so that we can dust ourselves off and try again.

Economists are fond of saying that “a rising tide lifts all ships”; it is humbling to belong to a community that so brilliantly embodies this aphorism. We work together, we play together, and we learn together. We share in the good and the bad and we understand this: the journey is everything.

In this new year, I look forward to continuing our journey together — to see what we’ll build and what we’ll say, who we’ll meet and what we’ll do. Most of all, I look forward to sharing another year of ups, downs, ANDs, ORs, and NOTs with you.

Have a happy and healthy 2012!

December 19, 2011 12:50 pm

We Need Someone to Bridge the Gap

trevorowens:

It’s 48 hours before elections close for the NYTM Board. Last year I outlined my reasons for voting for Evan Korth of NYU/HackNY and here I’d like to explain the reasoning behind my vote for this year.

Let’s start by asking: What’s missing from the NYTM Board?

Take a look at the Board and you’ll see a cast of accomplished and inspiring people. Dawn Barber, Scott Heiferman, Esther Dyson, David Rose, etc.

It’s great to have them on the Board because they bring influence and credibility to the NYTM, which is now the largest meetup in the world and the center of gravity for the startup community in NYC.

The Board’s job is to steer the direction of the organization through empathy with its members’ needs, and also manage relationships with other important bodies (the city, stakeholders, etc).

Think about the former for a minute and you’ll realize the opportunity I’d like to get across. While the membership is composed of mostly first-time founders—the hackers & hustlers who are trying to figure everything out—the Board are far past that stage.

The NYTM has been built up to an incredible scale and influence, and now it’s time for it to execute on fulfilling the needs, hopes and dreams of its members.

Because of this I believe that we need someone to bridge the gap between the membership and the Board. And I think the best person to do that is Brandon Diamond.

If you’ve been to the NYTM, you know Brandon.

He’s the young nerdy-looking co-organizer of NYTM that also runs the Hacker Union, a close-knit meetup for NYC’s developer community. Brandon’s incredibly active in the tech community, and he’s a first-time founder himself.

As co-organizer, Brandon does the heavy lifting of throwing the monthly event (which he’s done for the past two years) without much say into the vision/direction of NYTM. Electing him to the Board will give him that say.

Since Brandon knows the Board members and NYTM intimately, not only can he empathize, but he can also translate.

One of my favorite quotes goes, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s there are few.” There’s so many directions the membership want to go with the NYTM that have not been addressed or given attention by the Board. Brandon makes a specific mention to address this in his campaign page because he knows better than anyone what’s going on.

As an example, consider the Student NYTM, a subset of the NYTM that connects like-minded students in the community and gives them free tickets to the monthly meetup. Brandon spent significant time brainstorming and helping the group launch because he recognized the importance of the student pipeline. What did the Board do? Well, they’re not involved.

Another example is Hack of the Month, which Brandon created to get more hackers involved in the meetup. This adds a ton of value to the NYTM and is something that only Brandon could pull-off.

Not only does Brandon have empathy for the community, but also he has vision and the dedication to execute it. He won’t just be an important member of the Board, he’ll become one of the most important leaders in our community.

For these reasons, I hope you will consider the importance of casting your vote for Brandon.

Go here to vote: vote.nytm.org/polls/3

The opportunity to submit or modify your vote ends Tuesday, December 20th at 11:59pm.

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