{"id":1530,"date":"2013-08-06T20:32:50","date_gmt":"2013-08-06T20:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benbansal.me\/?p=1530"},"modified":"2013-08-06T20:33:08","modified_gmt":"2013-08-06T20:33:08","slug":"some-ny-startups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/?p=1530","title":{"rendered":"Some NY startups"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New York is a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/ben-cole\/new-york-startups_b_2681804.html\">veritable Silicon Valley rival<\/a>. I stumbled upon this <a href=\"http:\/\/nytm.org\/made-in-nyc\/\">great list<\/a> of about 600 NY-based startups. To get a feel for what&#8217;s happening in my new home I clicked through all of their websites. Herewith some of the tabs I kept open.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Finance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kapitall.com\/\">Kapitall<\/a> is a venture that attempts to break down the barriers to investing. It uses simple and intuitive interfaces that make investing in the stock market accessible to those normally left out. Its <a href=\"http:\/\/backstage.kapitall.com\/our-mission\/\">mission<\/a>\u00a0is simple, it aims to cut out the complexity (e.g. make investing as simple as drag and drop) while still allowing for intelligent investing. In the end, there&#8217;s a clear business case as well &#8211; Kapitall has an attached brokerage.<\/p>\n<p><em id=\"__mceDel\"> <iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5DZBrCUiXJs\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em id=\"__mceDel\"><!--more--><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sumzero.com\/\">SumZero<\/a> is a collaborative research platform focusing on investment ideas from buyside professionals. It&#8217;s a bit like a filesharing platform &#8211; you need to contribute original research yourself in order to harness the power of the network. Their info video is quite cool and as a former buyside analyst myself I can see the idea&#8217;s appeal of cutting out the sellside.<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"http:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/49475440\" height=\"326\" width=\"580\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>New <a href=\"http:\/\/mashable.com\/2012\/04\/05\/jobs-act-signed\/\">crowdfunding laws<\/a> in the US have allowed startups to sell equity to a large and dispersed pool of investors. While Kickstarter has ruled out the use of its platform to this end, other websites have sprung up. One of them is NY-based\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/gust.com\/\">Gust<\/a>. Startups can also benefit from having access to standardised legal agreements without the jargon and expensive lawyer fees. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.docracy.com\/\">Docracy<\/a> attempts to do just that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Freelance life<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Some curated co-working spaces that may be interesting to check out when looking for a space beyond one&#8217;s isolated desk: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.projective.co\/\">Projective Space<\/a>\u00a0with two Manhattan locations, and <a href=\"http:\/\/nwc.co\/\">New Work City<\/a>, are just two of the many Hub-like offices catering to the modern freelancers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/generalassemb.ly\/\">General Assembly<\/a> equips those wishing to make a career transition with tangible skills in all sorts of things from business strategy to web development, all along with interesting case studies and events around the world.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.freelancersunion.org\/\">Freelancers Union<\/a> is the one-stop-shop for all legal\/insurance related issues that independent workers may have.<\/p>\n<p><strong>New York life<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I will take up running again when in town next week, and will possibly try <a href=\"http:\/\/www.getyog.com\/\">Yog<\/a>, an app that lets you find running buddies that can motivate you and vice versa. I haven&#8217;t signed up to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sidetour.com\/\">Sidetour<\/a> but am curious to see whether there are any urban discovery tours behind the gates.<\/p>\n<p>Interesting, yet not specifically a NY-only project, is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicstuff.com\/\">Public Stuff<\/a>, a website that lets you report damages, nuisances, etc. in public spaces. With a bit of luck you&#8217;ll be heard by the authorities and the stuff gets fixed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Randoms<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are two companies on the list producing 3D-printers. You can shop the affordable <a href=\"http:\/\/store.solidoodle.com\/\">Solidoodle<\/a> 2nd generation for $499, while the more versatile <a href=\"http:\/\/makerbot.com\/\">MakerBot<\/a> is yours for just under $3,000.<\/p>\n<p>When looking through these startup sites, I came across dozens of image films. One company making these professionally caught my attention and it&#8217;s called\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mindbugstudios.com\/about\/\">Mindbug Studios<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8CW7XX6MRTQ\" height=\"360\" width=\"480\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Lastly, of the myriad digital design agencies, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fiftythree.com\/\">this one<\/a> had the most appealing website \/ product and is thus the only one whose tab I kept open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York is a veritable Silicon Valley rival. I stumbled upon this great list of about 600 NY-based startups. To get a feel for what&#8217;s happening in my new home I clicked through all of their websites. Herewith some of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/?p=1530\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-future-ideas","category-new-york"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1530"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1535,"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1530\/revisions\/1535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}