Why Upstate NY Needs Foursquare.
This article is in response to Dennis Crowley of Foursquare putting Hudson Valley on the short list for a remote engineering office. I’m writing this because I was a tech entrepreneur who founded a start up in upstate NY and left the region mostly because there was a gap a company like Foursquare could fill.
There were the beginnings of a legitimate startup tech scene in upstate NY a few years ago. However, at this time, most people gave me and other entrepreneurs pats on the back instead of putting their money where their mouth was. Having the presence of a top 10 tech giant in upstate NY would legitimize the tech scene like no one else can, increase the standard of quality in design and technology, put the area on the map for investors, and remove FOMO for tech entrepreneurs who are proud to live upstate NY.
Everyone who ever gave me and my team a pat on the back should be working their asses off to get Foursquare to launch a satellite office in Hudson Valley. Heck, encourage them open an entire campus! We need Foursquare in our circle. In my opinion, this is why:
I started my tech career at 20 by founding Ant Hill in school north of Hudson Valley in a town called Saratoga Springs. I did most of this with money I had personally saved from interning at Bridgewater and some angel investment from a seasoned entrepreneur Phil Lodico who is, in my opinion, the most legitimate investor in the area because he believes in people first, numbers of users second. I hung out with the Saratoga Tech Out crew started by Steve Wilcox, presented at Start Up Tech Valley in Troy started by Jason Kuruzovich and Hudson Valley Tech Meet Up Dennis mentioned in his Medium article. I participated in all the local business plan competitions. I hustled to became friends with all the key players, techies, and business leaders in the entire area. Soon our team grew to 5 out of sheer enthusiasm for the mission, and we launched a hacker house for Ant Hill. Our tech was solid, our growth hacking abilities lacked a bit, but we had a badass culture. That is what excited people. Now that I’ve held senior management roles, I would do anything for young people who have a ride or die mentality, even if they had nothing else. We were so proud of what we built and where we build it. We planned to make it.

We were one of the hottest, most promising start-ups in the area. Everyone wanted us to present at their meetup and to give us a pat on the back. But the money and hope of getting to the next level was not there and I knew it early on. One of the reasons was because the area lacked substantial local financial resources and a portal to nationwide tech world— a portal that Foursquare could be.
It was very difficult to find real capital in upstate NY. By real capital, I mean money from connected VCs or “exiters” — people who have experience in the upper echelon of the tech space. I’m not trying to sound elitist, but it is very clear there are only a handful people in the country who can take a start up from a group of excited kids with some solid tech and catapulted them into the Airbnb world. These guys were not looking at tech in upstate NY. I think that is slowly changing. I was once turned down for money because we didn’t have the growth we needed to land even a meager $20,000 check even though we had the idea, the tech, and the team. VCs back then were not investing in people, whereas you could go to the city and get $1MM off an idea and some accolades. Due to the nature of our product as a promoter of small town USA, it was important to me that I initially took local money. I wanted Ant Hill to be case study of what upstate NY could produce. But VC without fail told me that we needed to be in a city. Upstate NY was a dead end for me.
Most of my friends from capital region schools who also ran in these circles with start ups of their own left for NYC or SF. Remember Resumazing? Well, Kevin Lyman is now in SF and brought all his 2400 SAT, deep learning aficionado friends out there too. Max Walker choose to take Windrush to an NYC accelerator. Hunter Fortuin, who taught himself everything he knows about programming, and built Anthill is now in Brooklyn and traveling the country. The talent existed in upstate. It still does. I left as well to work for Hillary Clinton and became her youngest State Director. Imagine if we were all motivated to stayed there?
If there was a tech giant that had a presence in that area, even if it was small, a newfound sense of hope for people like my 20 year old self would exist. If Foursquare could sponsor events, provide inspiration for entrepreneurs, whose founders would have coffee with us and bring their circles to the table — things would have been different for me and, I assume, others like me.
When I was just starting Ant Hill, the potential to solve the world’s greatest problems with the big dogs was more important than money for me. But, the big dogs didn’t look at Upstate NY.
To illustrate my point further, there was a era of time where us Anthillers lacked some serious motivation because we couldn’t find substantial local money. I asked the guys at Apprenda, a VC backed start up out of RPI and one of the most successful start ups in the area, if we could come by and tour their space so my team could see what was possible. They said yes. Apprenda was always a major source of inspiration for me. I thought we could make it in upstate NY because Apprenda did, and I want to publicly thank them for always being supportive of me and us Anthillers. Those guys knew the struggle and wanted us to succeed. I swear that one hour meeting bought us a few more months of motivation. Imagine if we had more of those companies.
If Foursquare launches up there, brings their culture, a hires engineers with a silicon valley mindset to mentor young entrepreneurs, invite them into their fancy offices, and show them what they could be, more people would stay. It’s not just money that Foursquare and Dennis would attract, it is the Silicon Valley fire, a sense of urgency and inspiration they’d bring to the community that would light up tech scene.
Whether Dennis Crowley dips his toes or dives into tech scene in upstate NY, any presence of a tech giant would bring so much hope to young entrepreneurs and companies already established. I happened to randomly have lunch with Dennis a few weeks ago at a conference in NYC (It was one of those “Silicon Valley moments”). It was clear from meeting him then and reading his article today that he sees the potential in upstate NY for being a hotbed of talent, natural beauty, and a hub of innovation. This is everything my 20 year old self and many folks in my old circle would have wanted to hear.
To all my colleagues in upstate from the Ant Hill days — we all knew how excited we’d get when we talked about a big tech company opening a remote campus in upstate much like Google did in Boulder. We also know the magic that is upstate NY. Let’s fight like hell to get Foursquare in the Hudson Valley. We need them in our circle.
