[apechai]

It depends what you mean by a 'start-up'.

If start ups only refer to businesses where technological innovation drives competitive advantage, then New York will have a tough time. The future Googles, Intels, Apples etc fit in this category.

But if we include businesses which are technology enabled, then I think New York has a much better chance. Companies like Gilt Group, Kickstarter and Tumblr don't rely on technology to drive their competitive advantages.

If the technology component becomes commoditized due to ease of access (rails frameworks, Heroku, mobile frameworks etc), then competitive advantages will shift to community building, branding and design.

New York has the advantage of being a dense city (good for location-based mobile apps). It has a rich history of being the entrepreneurial home of fashion, media, retail and finance. New York based start ups will have an advantage in building communities around these industries.