As the founder of the NJ Tech Meetup, I feel compelled to respond to the recent Fast Company and BetaBeat articles about the NJ Tech Meetup.
The commentary in these articles reminds me of something I’ve noticed in my travels: People frequently proclaim New York City as the best city in the world, implying that the rest of world’s cities don’t stack up against it. I love NYC too. It’s beautiful, exciting, vibrant, energetic, chaotic, inspiring and so much more.
But Paris is pretty cool. And Sydney is sweet. And so are Quito, Shanghai, San Fran, Ho Chi Minh City, and Marrakech. That doesn’t make NYC any less good. But I know that tourism brings with it a lot of money, so tourism boards see these other places as the competition. You and I - we just like to travel.
I’m reminded of this when I see some of the exchanges on Fast Company and BetaBeat. They have great things to say about Hoboken and the NJ Tech Meetup - and for that I’m grateful - but they clearly feel the need to put Hoboken down in the process. They need to sell ads around content - I get that. I understand that a little controversy helps. But wouldn’t it have been great for them to take a different approach and go with, “Hey, nyc tech people - there’s a hidden gem right across the river.” It might have been less exciting, but that’s actually the hidden truth of both stories. And that truth is something I’m proud of: We have an amazing community in the NJ Tech Meetup and get a very big draw from all around the region at our sellout events. We’ve even had some international representation at several recent meetups including attendees from Germany, Ecuador, and Croatia, some of whom planned their trips around the event.
I started the NJ Tech Meetup because I care about inspiring people to start companies and supporting those who do. What I don’t care about is east coast/west coast, NYC/NJ, or any other divisive narrative. Great companies and great people live in many places. This isn’t sports - there isn’t just one winner in entrepreneurship. Your company can get bought and so can mine.
That’s why I’m pleased to have sat down recently with many local players, including the NY Tech Meetup and several politicians in the area. I can tell you that we share common goals: we all want to make it easier to start a company and build an amazing team. You’ll start to see more from us about that soon.
I hope that Shane at Fast Company and Adrianne and her peers from BetaBeat will continue to cover the NJ Tech Meetup. Maybe next time they will take our mission of Inspiring Ideas, Sparking Connections, a little more seriously. Because we certainly do.
But you know, as long as we’re talking Hoboken vs NYC: I live on the water. I have a big backyard. I have a bbq. Come on over sometime and we can toast to entrepreneurship over a beer and a burger and talk about your startup.
my double rainbow view from hoboken
