Modern New York tech has a tumultuous history, with its beginnings marked by a huge boom and larger bust. After the tech bubble burst in 1999, it took a while for life to come back into Silicon Alley. Today, tech is permeating every major industry in New York City, from media to finance to real estate. In New York, venture capital is flowing, women entrepreneurs are leading the charge and founders around the world are setting up shop here.
There have been a number of notable individuals who have worked at the helm of New York’s tech industry — through its highs and lows. And as we prepare for a weekend of celebrating our nation’s founding fathers, we decided to pay homage to modern New York tech’s founding fathers (and mothers), who have all largely helped make Silicon Alley what it is today.
Michael Bloomberg, co-founder and CEO, Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg is the founder, CEO and owner of Bloomberg L.P., a global financial software, data and media company, which is largely used by investors everywhere. The company was founded in 1981, and now works to provide financial software tools to financial companies and organizations. Bloomberg L.P.’s media arm includes Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. Bloomberg also served as the 108th Mayor of New York City for three consecutive terms beginning in 2001. In 2015, Bloomberg donated $100 million to Cornell Tech, Cornell University’s giant new campus on Roosevelt Island.
Steve Case, co-founder and former CEO, AOL
Steve Case is the co-founder and former CEO of AOL. In 1985, Case was working for a company called Quantum Computer Services as the vice president of marketing. In 1991, Case became the CEO of the company, and changed the company name to America Online, merging Apple and PC services under the new company name. By 1994, American Online reached one million subscribers, focusing on forums, chatrooms and instant messaging as forms of communication. AOL essentially pioneered the concept of social media in the early 1990s, making online services available and accessible to the masses.
Scott Heiferman and Dawn Barber, co-founders, NY Tech Meetup
Heiferman and Barber co-founded NY Tech Meetup in 2004. The nonprofit, community-driven organization brings together professionals from all different parts of New York's tech community.
Now, NY Tech Meetup represents over 50,000 members, and centers around a monthly event where members gather to demo new ideas, discuss relevant technology topics and network. Many major technology players, including Foursquare and Tumblr, have made their debut at NY Tech Meetup demos.
Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief, The Huffington Post
Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, which launched in 2005 as a left-leaning blog. In 2011, AOL acquired The Huffington Post for $315 million. In 2012, the blog became the first commercially run digital media outlet to win a Pulitzer Prize. Huffington was named to Forbes' first-ever list of the ‘Most Influential Women in Media’ in 2009 and then later named to their list of the most powerful women in the world in 2014. Now, Huffington is launching a new venture — a health and wellness startup slated to launch later this year.
Jonah Peretti, co-founder, BuzzFeed
Jonah Peretti is a leader in the new media space, having co-founded both The Huffington Post and BuzzFeed. In 2005, Peretti helped to create The Huffington Post with Kenneth Lerer and Arianna Huffington, and left the company after it was bought by AOL for $315 million 2011. In 2006, Peretti founded BuzzFeed, which originally centered around memes and lists, and subsequently caught the internet’s attention. To date, the company has raised over $246.3 million in funding, acquired six companies and served as a model for many media publications as they shift into a digital industry.
Kevin Ryan, co-founder, Gilt Groupe, Business Insider, Zola Registry and MongoDB and DoubleClick
Kevin Ryan is the founder of several New York tech companies, including Gilt Groupe, Business Insider, Zola Registry and MongoDB. He also helped build DoubleClick, one of New York tech’s original dot-com companies, in 1996-2005. Ryan grew DoubleClick from a 20-person startup to a full-fledged corporation with over 1,500 employees. The company was sold in 2005 for $1.1 billion to Hellman and Friedman LLC, and then later for $3.1 billion to Google in 2008.
Fred Wilson, Managing Partner, Union Square Ventures
Fred Wilson co-founded Flatiron Partners, an investment fund focused primarily on follow-on investing, with Jerry Colonna in 1996. The firm invested in notable internet companies in the early dot-com bubble, including Alacra, comScore Networks, Yoyodyne, Geocities, New York Times Digital, PlanetOut and Starmedia, to name a few. In 2001, the pair shut down Flatiron Partners and Wilson went on to create Union Square Ventures with Brad Burnham in 2004. Union Square Ventures has invested in major tech companies including Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare and Meetup.
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