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Fresh from his victory at the polls, NY Tech Meetup organizer-elect Nate Westheimer dropped by Tech Confidential to share his plans with us in a Behind the Money video interview.
Westheimer, who is entrepreneur in residence at Rose Tech Ventures LLC, beat eight contenders to lead NY Tech Meetup, which boasts 7,500-plus members and is best known for monthly meetings that feature brief presentations by local entrepreneurs.
"We need an Organizer more able than me to better serve this community -- especially as Mad Ave, Wall St, and media crumble, and internet/tech must save NYC," wrote Scott Heiferman, the CEO of Meetup Inc. who had been the group's organizer in a November blog post explaining his decision to step down after serving four years. Heiferman no doubt wants to focus on running Meetup, which received backing from Union Square Ventures in July.
Meanwhile Westheimer, 25, who is known as @innonate on Twitter and is pictured here in a graphic created by Michael Galpert using Aviary.com., already boasts a significant following in the New York tech community, gaining support for his bid to lead NY Tech Meetup from NextNY organizer Charlie O'Donnell and David S. Rose, founder of Rose Tech and the chairman of New York Angels Inc.
Westheimer recently served in the campaign for President-elect Obama as a deputy field organizer stationed in Clermont County, Ohio, where Westheimer grew up. His work on the Obama campaign brought home the value of leveraging existing groups when trying to bring together a community.
"In the Obama campaign, we were so well organized that it made more sense for unions and other groups to just show up to our headquarters to be put to work rather than work separately," Westheimer tells Tech Confidential. "In less organized campaigns, these groups had to organize in isolation, often times creating redundancy in some areas and leaving other areas neglected. With the help of these groups, great organizing on our side created less work in the long run."
Westheimer campaigned for NY Tech Meetup organizer with a similar platform. "Organizer focus should be on organizing the entire NY tech ecosystem, leveraging existing community groups and constituencies," says Westheimer. --Mary Kathleen Flynn
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