Gawker: valleywag, silicon alley

Laid-off Wall Street techs offered work at Silicon Alley startups

Jackson West — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Buy low, sell high, as they say on Wall Street. And right now, there's a flow tide of technical talent from shuttered financial firms flooding the New York Area available at rock-bottom prices. Fred Wilson at Union Square Ventures says why not take a pay cut and work longer hours at a Web startup? The "quant jocks" Wilson describes could also bank their savings and some unemployment checks and spend six months pitching a business plan — I bet they could convince Wilson to throw some money your way. The entrepreneurial route worked for former finance techie Jeff Bezos, an early adopter who worked at a hedge fund before hedge funds were cool. First Round Capital has a list of jobs in and around New York for those who would rather continue collecting a paycheck. Though the fund did sneak in email startup Xobni, which is on the left coast. "[H]ey, why not consider a move. The weather is better and winter is coming!!!" That said, so is Julia Allison. (Photo by AP/Mary Altaffer)

Silicon Alley 100 a bunch of old white guys

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:21:43 EST

Silicon Alley Insider decided to revive one of Jason Calacanis's oldest traditions and produce a Silicon Alley 100. In doing so, the blog run by disgraced tech stock analyst Henry Blodget just proves the thoroughgoing irrelevance of the exercise. The editors' No. 1 man in New York? Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Some other highlights among the old, the rich and the boring? AOL topper Randy Falco, IAC's Barry Diller and Jupitermedia's Alan Meckler. The closest SAI comes to someone we care about is VC blogger Fred Wilson — a moneyman, not an entrepreneur. As in Calacanis's time, New York is where ideas come to be financed, repackaged, and marketed — not invented.

CBS sets up Wi-Fi in midtown Manhattan

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:05:33 EST

Hey San Francisco, how's the free public Wi-Fi from Google coming? Oh yeah, some of the more leftist among you insist that free Wi-Fi should be a municipal utility. Let me know how that works out for you. In the meantime, over here in New York, one of our Old Media patrons, CBS, was kind enough to hook up all of midtown with free Internet access. We'll let you know how it works on an iPhone. Cheers!

Silicon Alley revealed as dank, smelly, empty space between buildings

Owen Thomas — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 13:51:04 EDT

Scott Heiferman, the organizer of the NY Tech Meetup, has canceled tonight's startup presentations, opting for a meet-and-greet instead. Why? He tells Silicon Alley Insider's Peter Kafka that he didn't want to "risk" the event "with presentations that some would find mediocre." Funny, "mediocre" seems to describe any event featuring a bunch of SoHo-dwelling, West-Chelsea-officed, Union-Square-Ventures-funded, trendy-cocktail-swilling, Prada-wearing, Balthazar-brunching, Valley-wannabe startups. On the bright side, attendees will have more time to knock elbows with Kafka and fellow filthy hack turned blogger Dan Frommer.

Crash this bash: Silicon Alley Luau

Nick Douglas — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 14:15:10 EDT

Silicon Alley readers, don't feel left out when you read all the Valleywag To-Do posts full of Bay Area events. New York City's version of the Valley is holding real parties. Here's a leaked invite to a luau — go get leied, Silicon Alley!

I received this invite from Kevin Ryan (erstwhile DoubleClick honcho). It seems to be a mass invitation since I was bcc-ed.

My first thoughts:
— A luau? Sounds like they're partying like it's 1999.
— Will [Silicon Alley Reporter founder Jason] Calacanis claim a trademark on 'Silicon Alley' and O'Reilly Ryan? Or maybe he'll attend, coconut bra on the bulldog? I'm betting the former over the latter since he seems to have ceded NYC to [Gawker Media boss] Denton.

——-Original Message——-
From: Kevin Ryan
Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2006 11:09 AM
To: [redacted]
Subject: Silicon Alley Luau

Aloha! To celebrate the start of summer and the ongoing success of the NY tech scene, ShopWiki is throwing its first-ever Silicon Alley Luau on Thursday, June 29 at the ShopWiki headquarters. Your invite is attached. If you have any questions, contact Carlos Prio Odio at [redacted].

I hope to see you there!

Best regards,

Kevin Ryan

—
Kevin P. Ryan
CEO
ShopWiki
134 Fifth Ave, 3rd Floor
New York, NY, 10011

Startup idea #2090: Buy Alleywag.com

Nick Douglas — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:07:09 EDT

Blow! Blow! The tech bubble's still not big enough! Enterprising New Yorker Paul Maiorana is selling Alleywag.com, the perfect trademark infringer for Valleywag Startup Idea #2090: A gossip site about New York City's Silicon Alley (home of DoubleClick and iVillage).

Today, Paul pitched the domain to Gawker Media boss Nick Denton and Weblogs, Inc. boss Jason Calacanis (founder of the now-defunct Silicon Alley Reporter). Jason "doesn't do gossip" and Denton's too cheap to buy another domain, so it's yours for the taking — just make an offer to PMaiorana at Gmail.

Silicon Alley [Wikipedia]

The new New York bubble

ndouglas — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 13:51:50 EST

Silicon Alley's feature coverage in this week's NYT Styles section (because it's too fun for the tech section) shows that the Alley is just like the Valley again — with all the requisite bubble signs:

Daily Candy wins "Most jackass self-evaluation" for its $100 million asking price. When the Times calls a 10-times-earnings sale price "a conservative multiple by technology industry standards," someone is either still living in the 90s or already privy to some pretty high-rolling deals.
Everyone's "learning from their mistakes" and "not getting caught in the hype" — and "seeing 37% growth a year."
Uses of "Mr.": 16. Uses of "Ms.": 1.

Alive and Well in Silicon Alley [NYT]

Silicon Alley is edgy

ndouglas — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 13:35:19 EST

Silicon Alley is back, decided the New York Times, and it's edgy. To prove it, the Times opens with the story of a dot-com poetry slam where one schlub fails to impress:

Mr. Robertson faced a barrage of withering questions and eventually slunk offstage to mocking laughter from the audience.

When New Yorkers do tech meetups, they do 'em hardcore.

Alive and Well in Silicon Alley [NYT]