Welcome to UpstartCity

BER18 at The Conference Board on Sep. 13, 2016. Top row from left: Yueqi Yang, Paula Seligson, Yinan Che, Britt Martin, economist Ken Goldstein of The Conference Board, Wolfie Zhao, Mike Juang. Second row from left: Phyllis Lam, Aaron Coleman, James Thorne, Jane Yi Zhang, Yifan Yu, Nayla Al-Mamlouk. Not pictured: Adam Penenberg, Xin Hu, Charles Rollet. (UpstartCity/Adam Penenberg)

Each week, we bring you news about New York City startups and business, giving insight and context into topics that are often overlooked — even in a city full of journalists.

For our first week, we profiled 14 startups. Referred to somewhat tongue-in-cheek as “Silicon Alley,” New York’s diverse startup scene produces new companies every year that focus on different goals, business models and industries, especially finance, technology, media and marketing. What happens to a content company that doesn’t pay its writers but makes it big? Why is a group of NYC doctors now consulting with patients in China? We also take you into the world of a one-woman crusade to produce and distribute natto, a fermented soybean food from Japan. And we examine how a new local brewery deals with the winter doldrums after the summer beer season wraps up.

Here’s something meta for you: in a city with so many startups, we now have startups that help other startups. How do startups find financing? We look at a new company that sped up the loan process to 48 hours. Where do startups go when they need help developing their business? We spoke with two incubators — one traditional and one for non-profits — about their roles in helping startups develop.

There’s more to come. Every week we pick a different focus, posting new stories nearly every day from now through mid-December with a rotating group of editors. Plus we’ll be covering the elections.

Any questions? Concerns? Complaints? (Encouragement?) Tweet at us or send us a message on Facebook, or contact any of our writers via Medium.

Our reporters are the 18th cohort of the NYU Business and Economic graduate reporting program. The 14 of us come from different backgrounds and walks of life. We hail from the southern, northeastern and western United States, as well as China, Hong Kong, Canada, France and Syria. Some of us come to the program with professional journalism experience while others with a background in finance industries including banking and insurance, and all of us are committed to understanding the world of business and in turn communicating what we learn to you, our reader.