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NYC Entrepreneurs Will Be Central to Nation's Economic Recovery

NYC Entrepreneurs Will Be Central to Nation’s Economic Recovery

 

By: Brendan McGee

Many observers recognize that entrepreneurs will be central to the economic recovery of New York City. One needs to look no further than our current Mayor Bloomberg for walking proof that in every downturn, great opportunity exists. In the early 1980s, after having parted ways with Salomon Brothers, Bloomberg rented 90 square feet of office space in an NYC executive office center and launched a startup that would eventually become Bloomberg LP. He is a prime example of the inherent grit, hustle and determination of most New Yorkers—traits that, conveniently enough, also happen to be the chief qualities of the entrepreneur.

 

It is also telling to follow the career choices of one of the pre-eminent entrepreneurs of the past five years, wonder-kid Facebook co-founder, Chris Hughes. After launching Facebook out of his Harvard dorm room, and jetting to Silicon Valley on his weekends to build the company, followed by a successful stint with the Obama presidential campaign, Hughes recently made a compelling choice. He chose to live out Sinatra’s mantra of “if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere,” in reverse. He’s already made it anywhere—and now he’s trying to make it here in New York. He’s turned down a job with the Obama administration, and he is not content to sit in Silicon Valley and live off his largesse. Instead, he’s recently moved to Brooklyn, and is committed to spending time picking the entrepreneurial brains of students at New York City’s elite universities with the hopes of mentoring them and offering invaluable advice to the Facebook masterminds of tomorrow. Like Mayor Bloomberg before him, Hughes realizes that New York City is where the brightest lights shine.

 

In recent years, the entrepreneurial community of NYC has sometimes lagged behind university-endowed Boston or the venture capital-backed Silicon Valley; and the city was frequently viewed by emerging entrepreneurs as too competitive, too cut-throat, and too expensive. However, the decentralization of business that has occurred has been drastic, with former pillars of the New York City economy crumbling and giving the city a chance to hit the reset button and rebrand this old image. Despite this conflux of change, one critical fact remains: New York City is still the business capital of the world.

 

We must rebrand NYC as an entrepreneur-friendly environment in order to turn the city’s economic tide and raise all of our boats. Despite claims that the Internet would flatten the world, location still matters, and people still flock to our island.

 

While these are certainly nervous times, they are also exciting times for the entrepreneurs and small businesses of New York. Their brains and brawn will help lead the way out of the current economic malaise, and the rest of the country, and eventually the world, will hitch their wagons to our shining entrepreneurial stars.

 

About the Author: Brendan Mcgee is a founding member of the Coalition of Office Space Providers nonprofit (www.cospnyc.com) and the Regional Manager for alternative office space provider, TechSpace, Inc. (www.techspace.com), which both cater to the unique needs of entrepreneurs and startup companies.

Post on July 02 ,2009 at 02:33 am