NY Spotlight: Lunch 2.0 Recap

Brett Petersel co-ordinated the first Lunch 2.0 in NYC today. The event was held at TheLadders offices in Manhattan and the crowd was hot. I anticipated about 50 or so attendees but from my informal count, there were over 125. TheLadders is way more massive in terms of employee size than I thought. They currently have 175 on board (adding approximately 6 new staff each week) with a goal of reaching 220 total by year-end. Check out the pictures below for their work environment - I drooled - each person has at least 40" of monitor space some with 65"+. Has an agency creative feel to the space overall and reminds me of my time at CKS in the mid-90s.

There appeared to be about a 65/35 men/women ratio which was nice to see and everyone was deep in conversation throughout the event. They also seem to have TONS of snacks for their employees - keep em fed and they will always be happy :)

I asked various attendees for their thoughts on the current NY tech scene and here are their replies:

• "Getting better - seeing more companies succeed"
• "Would like to see more NY stories"
• "Lots of talent here"
• "There is an air of excitement and exposure"
• "I didn't know there was a NY tech scene"
• "Big buzz but some hesitancy on movement"
• "Great products being introduced from NY companies"
• "Very tight and competitive job market"
• "Vibrant and alive"
• "Scene is fragmented"
• "Looking for visibility"
• "Belief is that people infrastructure is lacking"
• "We don't have a collective technology center"
• "Not enough government involvement in creating tech hubs"
• "Healthy startup environment"
• "Need more reaction to market"

It's always great to meet CN readers and to introduce CN to a new group of people. Best comment I heard was, "CenterNetworks is the TechCrunch of the East." That made my day. I appreciate all of the feedback about what you like about CN and areas for improvement.

I have one Ladders/Lunch 2.0 tshirt in size large. First one to contact (worldwide is fine) gets it. (gone)

Hats off to Brett on setting this up and thanks to TheLadders for hosting! Here are my photos (click for larger version):