New York, a city not normally given to humility, is oddly self-effacing in identifying itself as a center for technology. Perhaps it's the effect of growing up in the shadow of Wall Street, like a child forever eclipsed by an impossibly successful, if occasionally louche, parent.
Yet by certain measures the high-tech scene here is, as the song says, A-number-one. By employment, the New York metropolitan area is by far the largest technology zone in the United States, far surpassing other regional high-tech magnets such as Boston and even Silicon Valley. According to the Industrial and Technology Assistance Group, a New York-based not-for-profit economic development group, as of 2004 (the last full year for which figures were available) there were roughly 620,000 high-tech jobs in the New York metro area, compared with 484,000 in the Los Angeles region, the second-largest employment market, and 377,000 around Washington. The San Jose, Calif., area ranked only No. 6, with 251,000 tech jobs.
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Startup StoriesThese numbers tell only half the story, of course. Silicon Valley justifiably retains its title as startup central, the place where tech entrepreneurs and financial capital most visibly intersect. Yet New York's startup scene, which virtually disappeared after Sept. 11, is bubbling again in its own right.
This Tech Confidential special report profiles five New York entrepreneurs and their startups. Some, such as iVillage Inc. co-founder Robert Levitan, who hopes to do for online video what Napster and other audio-sharing services once did for digital music, are seasoned entrepreneurs. Others, such as Etsy Inc. founder and CEO Rob Kalin, are greener, although possessing the same moxie required to turn an idea into commerce. As a group, drawn from the worlds of media, entertainment, energy, financial software and even the arts, they reflect some of the key industries that keep New York top of the heap.
- Alain Sherter is editor of Tech Confidential.
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