Silicon Alley Turns 30

Fred told me about an event that will be taking place this year to acknowledge 30 years of Silicon Alley.  A name I never really liked as if all tech communities need to have Silicon in their title. That name seems to have ebbed but here we are

A group of people are leading the charge. One of the things they are doing is interviewing people who were there at the beginning.  

Admittedly I love talking about that time period. There was an energy among everyone involved that was exhilarating.  

I was interviewed last week. The interviewer was extremely well informed and I could have talked for hours. We talked about Silicon Valley Reporter where I had the pleasure of meeting everyone and anyone. Chairing MOUSE.  First investment in Curbed. Angel investing.  Women’s Entrepreneur Festival. And then today Frame Home and Gotham and giving back to NYC

There are so many crazy stories and I met some amazing people, some that I am still bffs with. He asked how did you know this thing called the Internet wasn’t a flash in the pan and remember many did.  My one claim to fame is I began the side letter. A legal document that allowed me to keep my pro-rata share forever, as long as I continued to put capital in at each round. Also if there was a cram down, or something else, I was able to put capital back in at the same percentage. It was and probably still is a game changer. So many lawyers wanted me to make it null and void by the series B, and I absolutely refused to. Hello, that was the point of the letter.

I gave him a few stories on that but one of my favorites is the day AOL chat launched

I had come into the city, as I did once a week, when we were living in the burbs (gasp) to meet and greet. Jason Calacanis (founder of Silicon Valley Reporter – where I was his right hand and first hire although freelance). 

I was at Fred’s office on a computer and had launched the chat. Jason popped up, and we went back and forth even though we were meeting for lunch soon.  I remember writing in the chat how crazy it was that we could do this. It was a fantastic feeling seeing the future.  Now we get pissed when people don’t respond to a text quickly.  

I am interested what they will present.  It was tough for women back then.  Few women were in web 1.0.  Many more jumped in the game in web 2.0 but still hard and I saw that first hand focusing on investing in women. Not always so pretty

I hope there is a nod to the women and most who are not known, as always.  This generation is getting better, much better, but we can always get better and we must.