It's our sincere pleasure to bring you the first annual Only In The Alley calendar!
The idea for this project started as a joke we came up with during the Summit Series, a conference for young entrepreneurs that was held on a cruise ship (tough life, we know). Cliff was drinking a beer in the pool on top of a baby duck float and Chris was counting the calories in his diet soda. The libations sparked a thought: Wouldn't it be hilarious to get a bunch of NYC-based tech entrepreneurs together to have them pose for a sexy FDNY-meets-Zoolander style calendar?
Alas, after we came back to reality, we realized it might be just a tad difficult to get NYC tech's best and brightest to shed their layers, literally, for our poolside vision. Well, with this picture being the only exception. (We like to think we took one for the team. You’re welcome.)
Sexy pics aside, we knew we were on to something. The New York tech community traditionally takes a backseat to Silicon Valley, at least in the press. Yes, the Valley may have some heavy hitters, but the Alley's got its fair share, too, and the startup community here is growing faster than the valuations of social media companies. We thought it was time to give our amazing cohorts in the Big Apple a little recognition, and during a rooftop brainstorming session in NYC, a G-rated version of our calendar was born.
We had a few simple criteria for the featured entrepreneurs. Obviously, their companies had to be NYC-based. We also wanted a diverse range of companies at various stages of growth. And we certainly fulfilled our objectives. Companies like Hotlist and Classtivity find themselves in the process of raising a round of financing; Birchbox, LearnVest, and others are venture capital backed; Plum Benefits has been successfully acquired; and SNAP Interactive is publicly traded (STVI). But the single most important factor we considered was how the entrepreneurs passionately spoke to the unique opportunities and experiences that were only available to them here in NYC.
The resulting list is a phenomenal sample of NYC's startup companies and their founders, which makes us proud to be part of this smart, unique, and incredibly supportive community.
So bring it on, Silicon Valley. These companies and their experiences are Only In The Alley!
Have a great year and enjoy the calendar!
- Cliff Lerner and Chris Mirabile
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