Some lingering thoughts from our trip to NYC last week:
- I love Locanda Verde. One of my favorite new restaurants. Partly owned by Robert DeNiro, my favorite actor. Even better.
- Some of SV Angel’s biggest “winners” will come from NYC. But I wouldn’t be surprised if our biggest winner in the next few years hails from NYC or Brooklyn.
- It will be interesting to watch how Manhattan absorbs fast-growing companies like foursquare, Buzzfeed, ZocDoc and others.
- How they deal with issues like real estate expansion, taxes, etc. could be a blueprint for other cities.
- I learned what DUMBO means.
- If I lived in NYC, I wouldn’t need to exercise (which I don’t do, anyway). I ate like a horse but didn’t gain a pound since I walked everywhere.
- Anyone who is doing anything in commerce should visit a Warby Parker showroom. They do everything right. Sorry for the insufferable fawning.
- I used to think that “serious” engineers don’t like cities. I don’t think that anymore. I think it’s a generational thing and the change is inexorable.
- If you’re in Manhattan, hop on the N/R and go to Rucola in Brooklyn. Have the veal. Trust me.
- Shana Fisher is quietly one of the most imaginative and successful seed investors out there. She doesn’t follow the herd. She thinks differently. Look at her portfolio as evidence. Disclaimer that she’s a good friend. Her husband isn’t half bad either.
- I love the Bay Area but am envious of folks living in NYC. There’s less of an echo chamber. Not everything is about technology and startups. But it also feels like the “hacker way” is influencing different walks of life – fashion, retail, finance, etc. I was talking to a software developer who started a restaurant – he said he thought about starting and running it like a tech startup. There are more outlets for that type of creativity in NYC, in my opinion. I don’t want to glamorize it too much. But you could see this “Hacker Society” disrupting many different industries – software eating the world in action.