By Admin on February 20, 2018

Tech Companies Thrive on the East Coast

While we love our west coast headquarters, we have a special place in our heart for the East Coast and especially for our two offices here in NYC and Boston. Both cities have a lot to offer tech companies — whether they are startups or big, established companies.

New York – Amazing Diversity & Potential

One of the coolest things about the NYC is the diversity of people and industries here. From fashion, to finance, media and commercial real estate and technology, NYC has it all. Tech especially has been growing like gangbusters. According to a Crain’s New York Business report, New York is now the second most active tech ecosystem in the United States on all key metrics.

What do entrepreneurs say they 💜NYC?

Isaac Oates, the CEO of Justworks, the easy-to-use payroll, benefits and HR support solution for businesses and a Manhattan-based company, is a big advocate of NYC, as he explained to The New York Business Journal: “The people that live here are the people that are attracted to New York City. There is an energy and enthusiasm that you get out of New Yorkers that you really can’t find anywhere else in the country. It’s an aspirational place to be and you can feel that when you walk down the street.”

The Big Apple is also becoming an enclave for digital health companies according to Buzzfeed’s senior technology reporter and expert on all things digital health, Stephanie Lee.

The reason? Cities like New York have emerged as a major hub for healthcare technology companies because they can take advantage of the area’s medical centers as investors and testing grounds, according to a report from the Center for an Urban Future.

Boston – The Hub of Fresh Minds

As the largest city in New England, Boston is known as the unofficial capital of New England for its reputation as both an intellectual and medical center with talent from more than 100 colleges and universities in the Greater Boston area.

Boston has also been growing rapidly in a number of different industries including finance, healthcare, education and manufacturing.

According to Deloitte research, “Data from January 2013 through August 2017 shows that Boston is within the top four U.S. regions for each of these four industries when it comes to the number of startups they have produced.”

For industries on the rise, why leave the Greater Boston area? This is probably why one of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s biggest regrets as a CEO was leaving the city. He said this back in 2011 at Y Combinator’s Startup School in a candid interview with Y Combinator Partner Jessica Livingston.

Unlike Zuckerberg, Akamai, a leading cloud delivery and security services provider and one of Highwire’s clients, is proud to have started and stayed in this city, especially since it is home to offices of some of the biggest and best tech giants (think Microsoft and Google).

Akamai’s CEO, Tom Leighton, wrote a column for the Boston Globe about how the company commercialized its technology in Leighton’s Boston office at MIT to incubator space in Cambridge’s Kendall Square. He said: “Our small team of mostly young whiz kids didn’t have much experience in business. But we certainly had big dreams. And after two decades of hard work, our business has grown into the world’s largest and most trusted cloud delivery platform, upon which many of the world’s best-known brands and enterprises build their digital experiences.”

Make Giant Waves in Your Respective Fields

Both the West Coast and East Coast offer different cultures and communities to those seeking out new opportunities, and this remains true for their respective tech landscapes. However, more entrepreneurs and CEOs of startups are choosing to settle down on the East Coast for the tech scene, number of resources and the diversity and talent of the people to propel their businesses ahead of their competition.

And now with several East Coast cities including Boston, New York, Newark, NJ, Northern Virginia, Montgomery County Maryland and Washington, DC on Amazon’s shortlist for a second headquarters, there are even more good things to come!

Published by Admin February 20, 2018