(UPDATED - HERE”S WHERE TO VOTE!) The New York Tech Meetup serves as the center of the New York Tech Scene. Each month, hundreds of people come together to see cool demos of new products and meet other innovators in our community. While the NYTM is already a great organization, I believe I could add a great deal as a member of The New York Tech Meetup’s Board of Directors.
Who am I? In my spare time, I’m a blogger for VentureBeat and an amateur rapper (see my raps about NYC startups directly below, the first one you need to endure my BRIEF campaign speech).
Watch live streaming video from nytechmeetup at livestream.com
My full-time job for the past six months has been as founder and CEO of Standard Start, a non-profit helping startups with the nuts and bolts of starting a business. In partnership with Gunderson Dettmer, we’re producing standardized legal documents from formation to financing with plain English explanations of each clause.
We’re syndicating content from bloggers like Fred Wilson, Mark Suster, and Matt Bartus and creating original materials breaking down the real life mistakes of entrepreneurs. We’re covering the stuff that is basically the same for everyone, allowing founders to easily discover and comprehend the basics of running your own business. We’re currently in private Alpha, with our full launch coming at the beginning of next year.
I funded Standard Start out of my own pockets because I don’t want anyone making the same mistakes I’ve made starting businesses. In addition to working on the site, which is now in private alpha, I’ve personally advised a number of startups in areas including legal, communications, product, and financing. I’ve dedicated the past 6 months solely to helping startups and the the tech scene as a whole expand and evolve. This is why I’m running for the NYTM board.
So what do I want to do?
1. Increase support for technologists looking to start businesses
While the New York Tech Meetup does a great job of showcasing the New York City Tech scene, I think the organization can do more to support innovators as they create businesses. I founded Standard Start to help entrepreneurs, I believe the time I’ve spent assessing the needs of entrepreneurs would help the NYTM community to better support them.
2. I want to work with the New York Tech Meetup to further increase civic engagement by the New York Tech Community.
There are so many causes that could be enhanced by the skills of NYTM members, we need to make it easier for the community to give back. I have connected members of City government with prominent members of New York’s tech ecosystem. As a member of the NYTM board, I would work with the City to expand their burgeoning efforts to work with the tech community.
3. Increase student involvement
The New York Tech Meetup’s student group has already been quite active, I think there are a number of ways we can further increase the number of NYC grads who flow into the tech community. I’m excited about the opportunity to build upon the NYTM’s and HackNY’s already stellar record here and further help NY universities expand the talent pool in the startup community.
If elected, I will work tirelessly with the other members of the board to help the New York Tech Meetup, as well as the broader tech scene, to expand and evolve. If you want to learn more about me, check out my bio here. If you’d like to vote for me, please click here and do so.
Thanks, Jacob
