New York has surpassed Boston as a tech hub for internet companies says Howard Morgan, Partner at First Round Capital. It looks like the story has changed with NYC edging out Boston since these 2010 numbers were published. Watch the complete replay of Howard’s recent fire side chat with Startup Grind Toronto here.
According to Morgan liquidity, i.e. strong exits for risk takers working with startups, who then have both the experience and the capital to try something again on their own, has been the most important factor in New York’s emergence, not government funding or programs. The message to Startup Grind Chapters everywhere is clear.
“The key to creating the entrepreneurial ecosystem that works, has been successful startups that grew and sold.” says Morgan. He highlighted DoubleClick, the great New York presence for Yahoo! Finance, Google with Google AdSense.
“Google had sent Tim Anderson to New York and told him to sell ads.” said Morgan. “Tim built the AdSense technology, which made money for Google. By the time Google went public, there were hundreds of Google employees in New York – it was a huge ecosystem and all of the employees made money through the (Google’s) IPO (initial public offering), so they could all leave and become entrepreneurs themselves.”
FIRST ROUND INVESTING IN ONTARIO STARTUPS
When I asked whether Howard was ready to make another (First Round recently participated in a $3.75-million round in Toronto based Influitive) investment in Ontario, he gave a firm “yes”.
The next morning, he followed up on this interest by meeting with 12 of the region’s hottest companies. Input for selections made by Howard was provided by MaRS Mentor network and the Cdling community of 500 investors, mentors and Founders. Morgan ranked 12th in 2011′s list of the the world’s top 30 most trusted venture capitalists, co-founded New York Angels and has been investing in startups all over North America for more than 40 years.
See highlights of Morgan’s visit to Toronto in six minutes, with live sketches created by PlayThink:
[...] First Round Capital Partner Howard Morgan talks to Startup Grind about how “New York has surpassed Boston as a tech hub,” and his plans to invest in more companies based in Ontario. [...]