Saturday, March 3, 2007

cafeBricolage & the changing NYC entrepreneur scene

Anyone curious about the changing New York City entrepreneur scene should check out Nate Westheimer’s blog, Innotate. In particular, his post: cafeBricolage — The NYC Solution is a Hot-plate.

While an idea Nate had been brewing on for over year, this post is in response to an intense NextNY discussion over how to foster a better environment in NYC for web start ups. If you’re interested, you can read the original discussion here, and a follow-up discussion here.

The central tenet behind cafeBricolage is to create a physical space that creates a cultural focal point for NYC entrepreneurship. At cafeBricolage, creative people can convene, exchange ideas, and gain support from like-minded individuals. The hope is that cafeBricolage could become self-sustaining thanks to revenues for hosting events, renting out space to new start-ups, perhaps having a café, etc..

I don't have the best idea of what it is like to be an entrepreneur in NYC, but I get the sense that it can be a little isolating. People on NextNY gush about the need for a better sense of community amongst NYC technology entrepreneurs, one that entrepreneurs in SF, for example, can take for granted.

One thing I find interesting about the project is that, at least from my vantage point, it seems that the grassroots support for cafeBricolage is far and away coming from youngin entrepreneurs. This might just be a symptom of the NextNY audience (the "next generation of digital movers and shakers"), but I think it more has to do with the current breed of entrepreneurs (thanks in part to web 2.0 themes).

Regardless, it's great to see young entrepreneurs working towards defining NYC's future technology culture.

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