[jval]

This is a great post, thanks for the insight. I notice you work with writers and the press, most of whom I imagine would be living in NYC if not the East Coast cities. Do you think there's an advantage to being closer to that? Or do you think that any advantage you get from being closer to those you work with is outweighed by the skepticism you get from other people around you?

I was watching an interview where the Airbnb guys said they were constantly flying to NYC because many of their early customers were there and I was wondering why they didn't simply relocate together, although perhaps the positivity and accessibility of expertise outweighs the burden of travelling.

Also - in your opinion, do you think New York could ever replicate the SV mentality, even just in its own tech scene silo (obviously Wall St bankers will never adopt it), or do you think this is bound to fail?

[zmitri]

We've talked about this, and we decided it makes more sense for us to be removed from traditional media companies.

My co-founder Adrian asked the AirBnB founders that question believe it or not! They said they always planned on staying in SF and that's where the heart of the company was. New York was just where it took off first and they thought that if they could nail the model there, they could do it anywhere. Turns out they were right.

It felt far away from it when I was there, but I believe it could become more ingrained with time though. I think it's very clear that there are great investors (USV is world class) and companies/founders at various stages (eg. Kickstarter, RapGenius) in New York, but there's still a bunch of missing pieces in the ecosystem that SV has nailed down.

[AndrewKemendo]

>there's still a bunch of missing pieces in the ecosystem that SV has nailed down

Can you expand on this point? Is there something that you can point to that is structurally different in SV that cannot be replicated elsewhere eg. infrastructure, legal environment etc...?

[zmitri]

By nailed down, I meant "done right" and functioning smoothly -- not nailed down as in impossible to duplicate else where.

For example there is nothing very early stage in New York that wields the respect and track record of YCombinator or SV Angel. Both of those have become institutions in SV and are very important as connectors and seed stage investors.

The Stanford ecosystem is another example that is well oiled. The Cornell Tech campus in NYC has tons of potential, but it's still quite new.