Esther Surden from NJ Tech Weekly recently posted this article exploring the trend of NJ-bred tech talent (i.e. Princeton, Stevens, Rutgers, NJIT) fleeing the state for NYC and the Valley among others. Why is this and what is it going to take to keep them?

We need to continue to build out the technology ecosystem here in NJ. While the state is known for innovation in other industries, technology hubs are beginning to formulate in Hoboken, Red Bank, Asbury Park, Princeton, etc. We need a few wins to keep people here, otherwise they will seek opportunities out of the state.

NYC is about the lifestyle. You can walk to places, there are good restaurants, there are things to do at night. No rush hour traffic - there are subways. NJ is "raise a family". NYC is a place where people all over the world want to live and work. So directly competing isn't the answer.

pick one town and get all effort on incentivizing investment there: meaningful tax incentives (unlike uez), condos/apartments, restaurants, local large tech companies, etc. Create a theme. Pr blitz. All wood behind one arrow. Succeed in one place then move to others.

Also direct funding of a nj university to open a satellite tech lab and get Alcatel, at&t, etc to sponsor and work w students. Academia works for Boston, Austin, palo alto, NYC.

NJ has potential for a creating a vibrant tech community, and you could argue that it already has one. There professionals that reside here, but many end making the commute to NYC.

I resisted the commute for years. I worked in Red Bank and loved the area and the people. I already commuted an hour and didn't want to add to it. But an opportunity came up that was too good to pass up.

What it came down to for me was opportunity. And I think that's a true for a lot of people. There are a lot of places in NJ to do tech based work. But there is much more of the high caliber work that tech professionals are looking to do in the city. And often that comes at NYC rates that many NJ Tech based companies can't compete with.

Like Alex, I've lived and worked on both sides of the Hudson and in some ways, I see similarities between the current state of tech in NJ and how things were in NYC a couple of years ago. As the tech scene started to emerge in NYC, there was a seemingly overwhelming view that NYC had to be like Silicon Valley. Or that NYC had to compete against Silicon Valley. People were running around beating their chests about how we could be better than the Valley. This view was utterly wrong.

It became clear that the NYC tech scene should focus on being the NYC tech scene - and that's what has made it great and something that I'm super proud to be a part of. The NYC tech scene is uniquely awesome for a couple of reasons:

1) The NYC community is dense and concentrated. Of course this is the benefit of geography and being one of the largest cities in the world, however it's resulting in a community that is very tight-knit. People are in it together, everyone is willing to help each other, and people see each other regularly as there are more events each night than there are cabs in the city. Of course the massive population helps, but my point here is that it's concentrated and focused, like the point that Alex made above.

2) The NYC community is focused on the strengths and resources that are native to the city. It's why a company like foursquare was founded in NYC and not anywhere else. It's why you see the leading fashion and commerce startups being founded in NYC, like Gilt, Etsy, Fab, Birchbox, and more. The tech scene has embraced the uniqueness of what makes NYC the great city that it is and is focused on leveraging that unique heritage and culture and not trying to copy Silicon Valley.

3) The support infrastructure in NYC is now established. Obviously the mayor has made the tech industry a huge priority in recent years and has dedicated resources towards evolving NYC into a world-class tech industry. But there are also the other important enablers of a healthy ecosystem, such as a strong pool of tech talent and established tech companies brining more into the fray, top angel investors and venture capital, proven entrepreneurs serving as mentors, and some great exits from local companies.

As NJ's tech scene has started to crystallize a bit around hubs like Hoboken, Princeton, and Asbury Park, I've heard a lot of talk about how NJ needs to compete with NYC for talent - and it eerily similar to the talk in NYC a few years ago and it's view on the Valley. Like NYC turned it's focus to its unique strengths to establish it's solid tech scene, NJ needs to do the same. Some thoughts:

1) Focus down on one (or maybe) hubs. It's great that there's a lot of enthusiasm around creating tech hubs across the state, but the talent pool is way too sparse. The NYC scene has just started developing a sustainable community in Brooklyn and that's only in the past year. The focus was squarely on making Manhattan solid from the start.

2) Don't forget the roots of NJ tech. NJ was at the center of high-tech industries like telecommunications and life sciences and although we've seen a bunch of the large companies flee the state for various reasons, there's there are still awesome pools of talent in these areas. There's incredible work being done at places like Rutgers' WINLAB and NJ should look for ways to better complement NYC's software-focused community with its rich heritage in telecommunications and hardware to solver bigger problems.

3) Complement what's going on in places like NYC and Philly. NJ tech hubs can be a great complement to these larger communities and should look for ways to bring things to the table instead of viewing them as competition. Look at the relationship between SF and Silicon Valley as an example. Figure out ways to help NJ universities better participate in the NYC ecosystem.

4) Make technical training and education and top priority for the state. Yes, people being educated in state are and will still decide to go elsewhere, however the single biggest issue facing the NJ tech scene isn't the above 3 issues, but it's the general lack of supply of tech talent. People who can dig in and build things. People that can develop software. People that can design circuit boards. And so on. NJ needs more affordable and accessible education options that produce builders.

I find it ironic that, to Chris' point, NJ has deep roots in technology yet is not known as a tech corridor. Products that shaped the modern world were invented here like the lightbulb (among many, many of Thomas Edison's inventions in Menlo Park/Edison, NJ) and the transistor (Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ).

Here is what would move the needle. Chris Christie declares one or more hubs as tech innovation centers and institutes a 3-year NJ income-tax free zones for tech companies and allocates funding to local colleges for technology (like scholarships, outreach programs, etc).

Chris/Alex - you both raise excellent points. another is funding. NYC has many prominent angels and VCs. We need to funding to flow here in NJ too. As I mentioned in my earlier post, NJ needs a few high profile wins (innovations or successful exits) and this will lay the foundation. Compared to others, NJ is a small state but geographically dispersed. The hub approach can work but it will take time. Hoboken's proximity to NYC has many advantages, and Princeton, Asbury Park and Red Bank can be the satellites and provide infill. The table is set with several accelerators and incubators. Hopefully the economy will get moving to help underpin the growth we are expecting.

Tax breaks and funding would be great, of course - but don't you guys think things are a little too dispersed? Silicon Valley didn't work because it was made up of Santa Rosa, Oakland, Palo Alto and Santa Cruz. It worked because it was a bunch of towns nearby all along the 101 and 280. I'd also argue this is why NYC has worked as well and just recently is expanding to Brooklyn. It seems like focusing the collective efforts on making one community successful first might increase the chance for success?

Yes, I agree. It has to be proven in one community. It's hard to do it the way it's in silicon valley because there isn't a continuity of towns with so many tech companies - like along 101.

In thinking more about this Hoboken is not the place, despite the near perfect infrastructure (nightlife, Stevens, housing). The residents are primarily in finance or a service sector related to finance. And it's isolated from the rest of the state - almost like an island that is near another island which is manhattan.

New Brunswick - due to Rutgers, Red Bank - few large tech companies in holmdel/Middletown, and Princeton due to the University. Don't know about Asbury Park...would be great bc of the beach angle but no big tech companies nearby.

I think the technical exodus has a lot less to with technical talent than it does with the necessary supporting infrastructure around a technical company namely sales and marketing. With the lack of software companies in the area there is no incubator to bring those supporting roles into the vertical and with Madison Ave so close, the top flight marketing talent is drawn to the city. Its much different selling and marketing to a technical audience than it is to other verticals, and locally we're not learning that the way other areas are. The tech teams in the State can produce some of the best products but if there is no one local capable of selling it and driving revenue, either the team moves or dies.

All, nice to meet you. To further this conversation, I think it's important to focus on the idea of a startup community. Specifically, why should we create one in the first place and what can be different about ours?

As Chris noted, locating a startup in NYC has advantages that arise from both the entirety of its entrepreneurial ecosystem and the specific sectors that have large footprints - media, advertising, finance, etc. The ecosystem has a series of foci.

Rather than competing with existing entrepreneurial hubs, why can't NJ find its own focus and run with it? Instead of competing with thoroughly entrenched ecosystems, NJ can strike its own path and lead the charge for the next wave of tech innovation.

From this, the conversation centers around what is New Jersey good at. Healthcare IT? Telecommunications? Supply chain management? Agricultural technology? Where else can we, as members of the NJ entrepreneurial ecosystem, lead the charge on innovation rather than follow thoroughly entrenched packs?

1) Great discussion above. It's a huge question when you start to think through it.

So, I thought about this for awhile today and I kept coming back to what we are currently doing with Asbury Agile and the Jersey Shore Tech meetup, and how those two grew from concept to successful community events and how those basic concepts lend themselves to growing tech communities and hopefully keeping talent in the state.

What I’ve found out with Asbury Agile and JSTM is that there are a lot of people creating great products/services in all of these communities already without the presence of meetups or events. It’s amazing once you start meeting people in the community what businesses they have already built, or are currently building.

2) So it’s really about bringing these people together to begin building these communities into something greater. It’s not one event that created the product/business - it’s the event that brings these people together.

I believe the success for the future of tech in NJ is a continued effort to build out these various tech communities in Princeton, New Brunswick, Asbury Park, Hoboken, Newark, etc. Some have universities in their backyard, some have Philadelphia or NYC a short subway/train ride away, and others have beaches. That's what makes NJ so special. Each will grow and mature in their own way, with their own personalities, but it'll take a community effort to sustain them and keep them vibrant.

3) When Bret and I sat in a local pizza shop discussing the idea of a web conference in Asbury Park (the 1st and only web industry conference in NJ that I'm aware of) JSTM was only getting maybe 20 attendees a month. It was almost a crazy idea to think we'd have enough interest for a full-day web conference.

Asbury Agile has sold out it’s first and now second year.

It was a community effort first and foremost - the local community's support which all stemmed from the Jersey Shore Tech meetup but led to the other Jersey tech communities helping spread the word and support our efforts.

And it was also the city of Asbury Park— a unique shore community with it’s own culture and appeal.

4) So we’re back to location and community, the same thing that makes NYC and the Valley so inviting will be the same thing that keeps people in NJ.

From there it will take a few true believers, a few "crazy ones", to invest in the potential, to set camp and stay put in NJ... I think there’s a few of those people already here in this discussion, and it’s already happening in these locations we’re discussing.

It's great to see an open discussion happening here - I know I've spoken to/with many of you about my thoughts and feelings on the role NJ (and Asbury Park) currently plays and can play in the NY/NJ tech "scene".

While I do agree with Ester (and I also know others share the sentiment) we do lose a lot of great talent to NY/SF/SV and I don't know if there's a way that we can change that - the fact of the matter is that there are very well established communities (and $$) outside of the state of NJ. I don't think we can ever truly compete with that and we should, in turn, focus internally and leverage them as needed.

We also need to remember that just because we lose talent doesn't mean we lose ALL talent. As Kevin mentioned above, the two of us have been truly amazed at some of the startups, established companies, and thought leaders "coming out of the woodwork" operating right in our backyards. While new to us, in reality, many have operating under all of our radars for years. And this leads me to the importance of community.

I come from a music background and have played in and been around bands for well over half my life. I've seen mediocre bands become huge and great bands never really develop a following. What determined the success was not, unfortunately, talent, but their ability to build a community around their efforts. Bands like this were able to "rally the troops" and get their fans to go recruit their friends and build upon the movement. I've been fortunate enough to experience this a few times over the years and it's truly magical to watch them to reach that critical mass and go from playing in front of 50 people in a basement to 50,000 at MSG in just a few short years.

And this is where I see NJ/Tech going - but first we need to continue to build our community.

There are currently communities rallying in Hoboken, Princeton, Red Bank, Newark, New Brunswick, and Asbury Park and as they grow and develop their identities, it's going to be important to rally around and support these groups and "watch the magic" happen.

This list is by no means comprehensive but here are a few ways these communities can grow, influence, and come together moving forward.

1) If you're a meet up organizer, continue to meet regularly - This is probably the most important thing we can do as community leaders. It seems obvious but we're all busy and when driving any sort of message across you need to provide consistency.

2) Attend each others meet ups and events and if your schedule prohibits it, at least reach out to other organizers regularly and keep in touch.

3) We should work on developing a monthly (or bi-monthly) "Round Table" for regional leaders to meet, discuss our mission, and pool our resources.

4) Support NJ based accelerators such as Tigerlabs & Techlaunch - lets make sure the companies coming out of them know theres a network of resources for them to fall back on - they're born (or growing up in NJ) lets help them STAY in NJ.

5) Work with the state, universities, and established entities such as the NJTC, Jumpstart, etc on a much closer level.

6) Continue to support events such as Asbury Agile, NJ Spark Summit and other Jersey based conference or - better yet - start your own!!

If anyone is interested in working on any of the above I'd be more than happy to get the ball rolling… Feel free to email me at bret@cowerking.com

cheers!
bret

I *love* Bret's idea #3 above - killer idea to better align all of the awesome enthusiasm popping up in all parts of the state.

Great points Bret and Kevin. Meetups have helped create communities and opened the doors for me to personally meet almost every one of you on this branch (is that correct terminology?).

Geography can certainly foster collaboration but the virtual infrastructure of meetup.com and social media enables us to connect without boundaries. I am looking forward to seeing all of these hubs grow and welcome the opportunity for roundtable discussions.

A question that comes to mind -> Is there a massive goal? I think the communities that currently exist - thanks to people like Bret and Kevin - are the heart and soul of a grass roots effort to bring tech people in NJ together. Clearly, they have been successful.

If we're talking about something on a national scale that draws tech companies and people to (and keeps them from leaving) NJ then this needs to be viewed at a macro level. One centralized, concerted effort is needed - whether its financed and supported by the state government or a private, non-profit entity - to create awareness and set some sort of incentives and policies.