General

By Lauren Keyson You know the famous cartoon where the entrepreneur sits across from the investor and says, “With my brains and your money, we have nothing to lose other than your money.” It takes me to the premise of this post which is that entrepreneurs make poor investors and investors make poor entrepreneurs. But why? After all, it’s about making money and everyone who has made money has been tenacious, courageous and confident. “The role of an entrepreneur is to mak

Ed "Skip" Mclaughlin wants to eliminate the mystery of becoming an entrepreneur. He explains how to fund and grow your startup and focus you on generating a profit from the get-go.

By Lauren Keyson and Bárbara Gesteira Asad Ramzanali, is the FS Manager at the Center for Financial Services Innovation, a company that looks to build a more robust financial services marketplace. Give him a FinTech problem, and he’ll solve it! Lauren Keyson:- What does the Center for Financial Services Innovation mean and what do you do for them? Asad Ramzanali:- The Center for Financial Services Innovation, CFSI, is a non-profit that leads a network of financial service

On the evening of Feb 3rd, 2015 a Metro North Train struck a SUV at a grade crossing near Valhalla killing six people. Here is the video of Alan Brody husband of Ellen Brody, one of the victims of the tragic accident.

Glen DaSilva has a scandalous story to tell – how he got involved in the 2002 Breeder’s Cup betting fraud. The incident was the largest betting scandal to take place in the United States in a century. It exposed serious security flaws in the system used to collect bets for horse races. Today he has redeemed himself and works at DreamPlay Media , an award-winning film, media and creative brand agency. He also helps members of NY Tech Meetup on the discussion email list by answ

By Ed “Skip” McLaughlin You can’t wait to start your own business. Yet, fear of failure continues to hold you back from venturing out on your own. Here’s what you need: The Big 3! #1 – YOUR SUPPORT SYSTEM A strong support system means your significant other is equally committed to your business vision. This takes time and in-depth discussion to figure out. If your partner is pressing you to spend time together away from the business, you may have the prescription for failu

While the foldable screens may seem extremely futuristic, the time is ripe for mind-bending technology. The mobile phone industry believes that the commercialization of foldable smartphones will be possible in 2016. And this is not science fiction -- the technology already exists to make flexible screens. “Ideally, users would be able to fold the bendable smartphone in half and stuff it in their pockets. It’s not quite the Post-It note sized foldable smartphone of the dista

Apple Watch to Offer Fashion Advice Now that the Apple Watch is truly and finally out, details about this wearable tech as a fashion accessory have emerged. In addition to stats, power and design, Apple employees have been told to offer fashion advice for their watch. “ Apple Inc. is technology’s luxury brand. Now it is crossing into high-end fashion, with a smartwatch that blurs the lines between jewelry and gadgetry,” said Daisuke Wakabayashi , the technology and Apple

What Industries Are Hot Right Now? By Lauren Keyson and Dana Stevens Lauren Keyson: We are here at Joe Rubin’s Angel & VC Conference at The Players Club, in Gramercy Park S. He is the managing director and co-founder of FundingPost. What industries are the VC’s looking at these days? What are people interested in this year? What’s hot? Joe Rubin: I guess it depends on what kind of investor you are and what types of deals you invest in. However, at this specific con

Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at Microsoft Times Square: http://www.meetup.com/Disruptive-Technologists-in-NYC/events/219435847/ Dot-comers don’t HAVE to be sexy to be profitable. In the late 90s the dot-com boom was in full swing. It seemed that everyone was jumping on the Internet bandwagon to ride the electronic highway to untold fortune and fame. Legendary VC Harry Edelson will join panelists at Disruptive Technologists in NYC April 1 event and set the record straight. Edel

By Bruce Crawford March 19th Entrepreneur Forum Event: Likely the biggest hurdle new companies face is raising outside capital. Only a small portion of those who embark on a search are successful, since investors are highly selective given the risks of the sector. To have a chance at success, owners and managers of new firms must devote considerable time and energy to understanding and mastering the funding process. The panel consists of three investors whose groups have fu

By Dana Stevens Groovy ideas are not enough. Getting money for your startup requires a service or product that is interesting to your funders, a compelling business case, and trustworthy leaders. Then, aside from the weird exceptions, the expectation is that your startup will become profitable. At some point. At the next Disruptive Technologists Meetup on Wednesday, April 1 st , in New York City there will be a panel discussion on Balancing a Cool Idea with Profitability

Erik Mumford of Piiku: Disrupting Content Access Models Erik Mumford, the co-founder and CEO of Piiku, created his company on the fact that the consumer shift from print media to digital has created the need for publishers to pursue paid access models. As a result consumers respond by initially abandoning sites over 90% of the time when asked to register or pay. Lauren Keyson: Can you tell me more about that? Mumford: Analogue media is going away and digital content provid

Machinio’s co-founder and CEO Dmitriy Rokhfeld and his partner Dan Pinto filled that need by creating a massive search engine for industrial machinery. The market was ready – it’s a $200B highly fragmented global market that is extremely old school and ripe for the picking. “I saw huge information discovery meeting a problem. The inventory is out there,” he said. “It’s scattered among tens of thousands of individual seller websites. So we aggregate all that so then when bu

By Lauren Keyson and Altynay Demeubayeva Jack Levine , CEO of Electric Objects , is building a computer for display art, along with partner Bill Colles . They attended a 2014 NY Tech Meetup at NYU to demo their first prototype. “We are hardware, we are software, we are lots of different things.” He said that his computer is disruptive because it is a way to elevate internet art on the walls in homes. He explains that there are all of these beautiful works on the Internet, bu

November, 2014 Events 1. ISOC-NY* Event: What infrastructure is needed for positively disruptive technology? Description: The exploration of innovative funding methods for projects using digital currencies. When: November 11, 2014 at 10:00AM – 8:00PM Where: Brooklyn Law School Fell Hall, 205 State Street Brooklyn, New York http://www.meetup.com/isoc-ny/events/216549492/ 2. FundingPost * Event: Real Estate Investing & Crowdfunding Conference When: November 13 Where: The Pla

by Danielle Brody Disruptive Technologists hosted a panel, “NYC Social infrastructure & Tech Ecosystem: Are we at an inflection point?” at the NY Institute of Technology on October 27, 2014. Panelists talked about how society has shifted from discouraging entrepreneurs to embracing them and what still needs to change to support this type of economy. There are now more than 15,000 startups in NYC, making it the #1 ecosystem for entrepreneurs, said David Rose, CEO of Gust. Wit

MX Digital Banking Framework Disrupts the Banking Industry At Fall Finovate 2014, MX/MoneyDesktop’s founder and CEO Ryan Caldwell presented Helios, the new cross-platform digital banking framework that is deployable on any device from any plan. At The New York Hilton Midtown, a record-setting crowd of 1500 attendees joined the conference to watch as 70 companies unveiled their latest and greatest financial technology. It might seem easy to create disruption in banking, an i

On Monday, October 27, 2014 Disruptive Technologists in NYC will hold a panel discussion moderated by Bruce Bachenheimer, Professor & Director, Entrepreneurship Lab at Pace University, NYC Pace professor and Entrepreneur Lab director Bruce Bachenheimer moderated Disruptive Technologists October 2014 event on “NYC Social Infrastructure & Tech Ecosystem: Are We At An Inflection Point?” He was joined by David Rose, VC Serial Entrepreneur, New York Angels, Gust.com and Chaz Mee,

NEW Disruptive Event: Finding Positive Social Infrastructure for Disruptive Technologists Monday, October 27, 2014 Where: 6:15 PM to 8:15 PM New York Institute of Technology: 16 West 61st Street, 11th Floor at the crossing of Broadway and 61st York RSVP: http://www.meetup.com/Disruptive-Technologists-in-NYC/events/207242512/ Partnering with the Internet Society of NY, this event will focus on "What positive infrastructure do Disruptive Technologists need?" This will be m