Scott Heiferman wrote some strong words about the New York tech scene in response to John Heilemann’s NY Mag piece. Scott says that if he could do it all over again, he would have initially moved to Silicon Valley instead on New York:

If I was 22 today, in Iowa, making [the decision between New York and Silicon Valley], I’d probably choose Silicon Valley. It’s a shame because New York really is a great place to live. Thankfully, you can escape New York’s finance-media-advertising obsession. The Bay Area & technology is like LA & entertainment: Inescapable.

However, he couches this statement by saying the Silicon Valley companies don’t succeed because of where they are located; they succeed because they serve a vital purpose to millions of people and can exist anywhere.

Silicon Valley Companies succeed because of who they are, how they are, why they are… not where they are. It’s just been a coincidence. The non-SV companies haven’t had the right who/how/why. A company that NEEDS to exist — a company with a vital purpose to serve millions of people’s real needs — will attract the people to bring it to life — and it can exist anywhere. [emphasis added]

I appreciate Scott’s honest feelings, and I like his pragmatic approach to this discussion. New York should have a chip on their shoulder when comparing themselves to Silicon Valley because no massively impressive internet company has been built in New York to date. Doubleclick was close, but at the end of their long history, they exited to a more impressive Silicon Valley company.

That said, I believe there are tech companies in New York striving towards Scott’s lofty expectations. There are web services here that will serve a vital purpose to millions of people in any location. Scott’s own company Meetup is one of the ones on that trajectory. The goal of this post is not to single out which are the best tech companies in NY, so I’ll refrain from further examples.

Instead, the purpose of this post is to highlight the importance of aiming HIGH. With every tech company I meet, I hope the entrepreneur aspires to be an indispensable resource to his or her customers. When it becomes obvious to me that’s not the goal… when the entrepreneur is actually looking for the quick flip to [insert Silicon Valley giant], you can hear this incredibly powerful sucking sound that implodes all the energy in the room. There are many green fields on the internet, many opportunities to build big businesses. But, those opportunities require thinking equally as big, and turning down some tempting checks. Based on the people I’ve met over the last year, I have confidence a New York company will get there.