This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of GarysGuide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.
A couple of months ago, while attending the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, I had the opportunity to chat with a ton of upcoming startups, and I noticed a surprisingly higher-than-usual number of enterprise-focused companies. Yesterday Union Square Ventures' Fred Wilson wrote an interesting post highlighting how the consumer web might be entering a stage of maturation as the action shifts from the desktop to mobile, where it's becoming increasingly harder to reach scale. 500 Startups' Dave McClure has an excellent rebuttal post on the topic.
Another one of my favorite tech bloggers Y Combinator's Paul Graham wrote a terrific must-read essay last week on startup ideas. Quoting PG: "The way to get startup ideas is not to try to think of startup ideas. It's to look for problems, preferably problems you have yourself" and "Live in the future and build what seems interesting."
In other cool news, City24/7 is turning a bunch of pay-phones across the city into touchscreen smartscreen kiosks. This is the first experiment of its kind in the country, and they'll be rolling out 250 of these in a pilot project. Down in Nolita, 3D printer startup MakerBot just opened their first MakerBot Store at 298 Mulberry where you'll be able to get your hands on the printers, filaments, pre-made items 'n more. Nice!
ERA Accelerator's Winter 2013 application deadline is this Friday (November 30).
Don't miss TechDrinkup this Thursday, where folks from Bravo will be in the house doing an open casting call for the NYC edition of their show Startups. That's right. Reality TV stardom is within your grasp!
Also a couple of Sandy fundraisers / benefits this week: Goodnik and New Work City are hosting the 'Mustache-Sandy' event on Friday, and then there is the #NYTechResponds hackathon benefit on Saturday. And coming up next week are TEDxSiliconAlley: Rise of the Machines with guest Ray Kurzweil on December 3 and the AlleyNYC Holiday Party on December 6.
And now let's see whats going down in the Alley this week...
Business Insider: Ignition - Future Of Digital
With Dr. Mehmet Oz (The Dr. Oz Show), Jill Abramson (The New York Times), Jeffrey Bewkes (Time Warner), Don Graham (The Washington Post Company), Jeff Weiner (LinkedIn), Bradley Horowitz (Google) and more.
Tuesday (Nov. 27), 9 a.m. @ Time Warner Center, 10 on the Park, 60 W. 60th Street
Media Preview 2013
Panelists include Saul Hansell (Founder, Sii and former New York Times tech correspondent), Reed Phillips (media investment banker, DeSilva + Phillips), Emily Steele (media and advertising correspondent, Financial Times) and Lee Stimmel (head of creative agency, Columbia Records).
Tuesday (Nov. 27), 6 p.m. @ Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, 488 Madison Avenue
NYC Gaming November: Demo Night
Demos by Joshua DeBonis (Meriwether), Scott Rapp (Instreamia), Greg Irwin (BigTwist), Eric Schwertzel (Garfield's Collectibles), John Nguyen (Super Bunny Breakout) and Ien Cheng (Grasshopper).
Tuesday (Nov. 27), 6:30 p.m. @ Microsoft, 1290 Avenue of the Americas
MakeIt NYC: Secrets of Kickstarter Panel
With CW&T (creators of the Pen Type-A), Bitbanger Labs (creators of Remee, the REM-enhancing lucid dreaming mask), Hickies, Josh & Eric (creators of the Mason Shaker) and Yury & Joel (creators of the Pulse Sensor).
Tuesday (Nov. 27), 7 p.m. @ University Settlement - Speyer Hall, 184 Eldridge Street
Ultra Light / NY Angels Novemberfest Showcase
A startup showcase and free beer provided by local beer entrepreneurs such as Kelso, Bronx, Rockaway, Harlem and Brooklyn Brewery.
Wednesday (Nov. 28), 6 p.m. @ Alley NYC, 500 7th Ave, 17th Fl.
NYU Founders Showcase
Three startups from the NYU-Poly incubators and three student startups will pitch. Judges include Peter Flint (general partner, Polaris Ventures) and Jorge Torres (VP, Silas Capital).
Wednesday (Nov. 28), 6 p.m. @ Varick Street Incubator , 137 Varick Street , 2nd Fl.
Ad Age & Food Network Present: Brand Hacks
Hacking the food category. Six finalists pitch their concepts and the grand prize winner is revealed.
Wednesday (Nov. 28), 6 p.m. @ The Darby, 244 W 14th Street
Dwolla + Derby Jackpot Party!
Bet on horses. Booze on alcohol.
Wednesday (Nov. 28), 7 p.m. @ Tavern on Third, 380 3rd Avenue
Is Curation an Art or a Science?
A discussion with Techmeme's Gabe Rivera.
Wednesday (Nov. 28), 7 p.m. @ Outbrain HQ, 39 W. 13th Street, 3rd Fl.
MITEF: Investing in Aerospace Entrepreneurship: Air Traffic Management, Unmanned Systems
Stuart A. Auerbach (Ampersand Capital Partners), Mark Cherry (Aurora Flight Sciences), Courtney Graham (NASA), Adam Harris (SpaceX), Don Thoma (Aireon) and Laurence Vigeant-Langlois (Sikorsky Innovations).
Thursday (Nov. 29), 5:30 p.m. @ Holland & Knight, 31 W. 52nd Street
Digital Cocktails: The Investment Landscape-Seeds, Angels and Incubators
Panelists include Phin Barnes (First Round Capital), Tony Bacigalupo (New Work City), Gordon Crovitz (Former Publisher, Wall Street Journal), Micah Kotch (NYC Accelerator for a Clean and Renewable Economy) and Jeffrey Silverman (Laconia Ventures).
Thursday (Nov. 29), 6 p.m. @ The Wix Lounge, 10 W. 18th Street
#techdrinkup - NY Tech Holiday Party
A party for NYC's brightest and savviest people in tech. Oh, and folks from Bravo will be in the house, doing an open casting call for the NYC edition of their show Startups. Yup.
Thursday (Nov. 29), 7 p.m. @ Ava Lounge @ Dream Hotel, 210 W. 55th Street.
Mashable Media Summit 2012
With David Carey (president, Hearst Magazines), Alexis Ohanian (cofounder, Reddit), Kay Matadi (head of entertainment & media, Facebook), Jason Seikin (SVP, PBS Interactive), Bonita Stewart (VP partner business solutions, Google), Raman Kia (exec director digital strategy, Condé Nast) and others.
Friday (Nov. 30), 9 a.m. @ The TimesCenter, 242 W. 41st Street
GIVE GOOD Market
Organized by the New York Women Social Entrepreneurs (NYWSE). The goal of the market is to provide a highly-curated event that promotes successful women-owned businesses that produce supremely crafted sustainable fashion and goods this holiday season.
Friday (Nov. 30), 11 a.m. @ Starrett Lehigh Building, 601 W. 26th Street
Goodnik & New Work City Movember / Sandy Relief Fundraiser
Raising money for Movember and Sandy Relief Efforts. This 'Mustache-Sandy' event will include beer & wine, a shaving station, photobooth, faux mustaches for anyone who didn't grow one and maybe even a Burt Reynolds movie.
Friday (Nov. 30), 7 p.m. @ New Work City, 412 Broadway, 2nd Fl.
Sanitation Hackathon NYC
In partnership with the World Bank's Water Practice and ICT units, mobilizing an unprecedented level of collaboration from sanitation & water experts, designers, software developers, engineers, health professionals & students to develop breakthrough innovations for improving access to sanitation for the world's poor.
Friday (Nov. 30), 7 p.m. @ Alley NYC, 500 7th Avenue, 17th Fl.
More events on the horizon...
TEDxSiliconAlley 2012 on Dec. 3 @ Terminal 5
Founders@Fail: The Dos & Donts of Pitching Ad Agencies on Dec. 3 @ General Assembly
December 2012 NY Tech Meetup on Dec. 4 @ NYU Skirball Center For The Performing Arts
Vator Splash NY 2012 on Dec. 5 @ Le Poisson Rouge
Designers + Geeks on Dec. 6 @ General Assembly
Celebrate the Arts with AlleyNYC (Holiday Party!) on Dec. 6 @ AlleyNYC
FashInvest 2012 Capital Conference on Dec. 11 @ Fashion Institute of Technology
Ultra Light Startups: Investor Feedback Forum on Dec. 13 @ Microsoft
Until next week. Stay thirsty social, my friends! ;)