Startup Newsletter: May 31

Startup Newsletter: May 31

May 31, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Welcome! If we haven’t had the chance to meet yet, I’m Jason Clark, the new executive director of Tech:NYC. I'm excited for what the future holds for our community. The growth of the tech sector — especially during the pandemic — has been incredible, due in no small part to the explosion of dynamic startups choosing to set up shop right here in NYC. At Tech:NYC, we’re committed to ensuring each of you have the guidance and resources needed to achieve your goals. In short, your success is our success.   

Since joining Tech:NYC and carrying the torch forward from our founder, Julie Samuels, I’ve worked with our incredible staff to further our  commitment in prioritizing startups. Most recently, we hosted  the Closing Ceremony to wrap up our inaugural NYC Recovery Challenge. Created in partnership with Google for Startups, Cornell Tech, and Silicon Valley Bank, the NYC Recovery Challenge provided funding, resources, and mentorship to ten amazing startup founders accelerating NYC’s economic recovery..We also officially launched Tech Year NYC, an initiative aimed at creating the next generation of tech and startup leaders. Tech Year NYC has committed to providing 1,000 internships to New York City students at Tech:NYC member companies — if you’d like to be involved in the pilot program this summer, can learn more below.

In the meantime, our team is also creating a fresh  pool of benefits and services exclusively for startup members, as well as this newsletter, a dedicated resource for early-stage companies in New York.  You’ll start hearing from us on a regular basis, but we hope you think of your membership as a two-way street — we’re always eager to get rolling updates on your work and how we can best support you. To that end,  we’re hosting what will become a recurring Startup Member Meetup on June 15th, in person, at 10:30am. The team and I would love to see you there!

Continued success,

Jason

Tech:NYC, together with Google for Startups andCornell Tech,  wrapped its inaugural NYC Recovery Challenge. Ten early-stage NYC founders received up to $100,000 in non-dilutive funding, mentorship, and other resources to power their ideas to accelerate NYC’s economic recovery. Learn more about the winners here.  

Tech:NYC is partnering with the Mayor's Office of Youth Employment on an ambitious program called Tech Year NYC that broadens access and exposure to the tech sector for youth from groups typically underrepresented at startups. We’re recruiting tech companies to lead virtual workplace challenges for a cohort of 10-12 students from July 11 – August 12.

Some of the opportunities your company can engage and be involved are:

  • Leading a student cohort in a workplace challenge (time estimate: 20 hours total,  2 hours/week for 5 weeks)

  • Participatinge in a virtual resume review or storytelling workshop (time estimate: 4 hours total, 2 hours of prep, and 2 hours of the workshop)

Read the full curriculum here and register your interest here.If you have any questions, reach out to Bethany Crystal here.

For the latest edition of Companies to Watch, Tech:NYC spoke with five founders building tech solutions to support a more climate-conscious, sustainable city. Read our interviews here, and head over to our blog to see previous Companies to Watch profiles. 

Coming Soon: The New York Tech Jobs Board! Tech:NYC is launching the first centralized jobs board focused specifically on tech jobs in NYC. As a member company, your job openings are automatically included on the board! We’re excited to launch this project that not only amplifies  job postings, but other curated resources for both job seekers and employers, alike. Visit our FAQ page for more information about the jobs board.

If you’d prefer not to have your job openings listed, let us know by completing our opt out form here.

Grow with Google/Google scholarships - From small businesses to enterprise organizations, Google is offering access to up to 500 Google Career Certificate scholarships for any U.S small business. These businesses will gain access to industry-recognized, self-paced, online training for their employees in data analytics, digital marketing and e-commerce, IT support, project management and UX design.

Yext Ad Credits - Enjoy up to $35,000 in Yext credits to create a best-in-class AI search experience when you are accepted into the Yext Startup Program. With Yext, you can build:

  • Search Experiences like Site Search, Support Search, Application Search, Intranet Search & more

  • Web Experiences like FAQ pages, Location Pages, Product Pages, and more

  • Knowledge Graph index to store all of your startups information (Apply)

  • June 7: Virtual: Thriving in the New Normal, with Audible CFO Cynthia Chu, Flex CFO Paul Lundstrom, Accenture CFO KC McClure, and others. Hosted by Bloomberg. Register here.

  • June 9: Virtual: Assessing the gaps in your company’s family benefits, with Maven SVP of People Karsten Vagner and Director of Global Health Equity Dawn Godbolt. Hosted by Maven. Register here.

  • June 15: In-person: Tech:NYC Startup Member Meetup Join Tech:NYC and other new startup members as we connect over coffee and pastries. RSVP here.

A warm welcome to our newest members: 

  • Willdom - Willdom NY specializes in connecting top near shore software developers with the most challenging US projects. We accomplish this in a fast and efficient way thanks to our value-sharing model and our focus on managing and visualizing internal and external information through our proprietary platform.

  • My Robin Inc. - Robin empowers the entire school community — connecting students, educators and families with live coaching and real world skill-building to support mental health and social-emotional growth. 

  • Poom Inc. - 'Airbnb' for baked goods, Poom, empowers bakers to create and maintain one-of-a-kind online home bakeries to sell and gift bread to their neighbors. We create a visual directory for consumers to locate bakers, provide an easy-to-use dashboard for bakers to operate their businesses, and create a system of offering free giveaways as a way to serve neighbors in need. We want to see neighbors feed neighbors. This will encourage connection within local communities while introducing healthy, unique, and wildly creative artistic creations by talented bakers.

  • Ultrapass Identity - Ultrapass Identity Corp is a Public Benefit Corp founded in NYC. 

  • Their mission is to simplify and accelerate civic engagement while preserving and protect data privacy. Ultrapass is at the intersection of crypto/web3 and real life.

  • Matchery - We let charitable donors amplify their impact through matching donations and other novel giving technologies. We're completely nonprofit and completely free to use.

  • Secret Sauce - Secret Sauce is a dynamic team of human-centered designers, crafting harmonious digital experiences for global start ups in a variety of industries. We’ve created a leading-edge process for designing and developing websites that scale as our clients grow.

  • ShiftUp - ShiftUp provides job training & upskilling for in-demand digital skills -- at no cost to employers. We will be placing ~300 in the next year in the NYC region. Please reach out directly if interested in a talent pipeline.

  • Forage - Third-party processor (TPP) and pin provider that helps merchants and platforms accept EBT online.

  • Nutral - A one-stop safe space to empower you with information and help track your personal wellness goals from concept to completion.

  • Food is Good -  FIG will help you find thousands of products that fit your unique needs and check ingredient labels instantly!

If you’ve been thinking about joining Tech:NYC as a member, now’s the time. Check out our membership page, and let us know if you have any questions.