New York’s new Silicon Valleyish tech sector might be a contributing factor to Twitter co-founders desisre to be New York’s mayor
60 Minutes recently interviewed Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. Amidst the conversations regarding Twitter and Square, it was revealed that Dorsey is somewhat ambitious to be mayor of New York one day.
Dorsey says that he prefers letter or text mediation, but doesn’t have the same degree of appreciation for them as he does for face-to-face communication. He also went on the deep end to say that he’s no expert in face to face communication. We say deep end because Jack admits clearly later in the interview that face-to-ace communication is not his “natural state”, let alone being an “expert” at it. Even in the first few minutes of the 60 Minutes interview, Dorsey admits that communication is one of his weak points. I’m not sure how well that an introvert can juggle a political position such as Mayor of New York City, but I suppose we’re just as willing as Dorsey is to find out.
So why might Dorsey truly be interested in becoming mayor of New City? Sure he says that the city is “electrifying” to him and that it’s like being in the eye of a chaotic storm where there’s a sense of peace amidst a frenzy all around you. Could there be more to Jack’s ambition to be a figure head for New York though?
A report by CNBC recently talked about how New York is perhaps becoming the next Silicon Valley.
Etsy is one of those NY startups. Etsy makes it easy to “buy and sell handmade or vintage items, art and supplies”. In 2008 Etsy’s CEO, Chad Dickerson, moved from Berkeley after having been employed by Yahoo. In comparing New york to Silicon Valley Chad says that in Silicon Valley, “everyone’s working in tech—everyone you speak with, everyone you meet is working in tech in some way. And one of the things I really like about New York that is different is that New York is much more diverse.
In Feburary, New York City started a “We are Made in NY” campaign to help further boost its tech sector developments. It’s said that more than 900 technology start-ups registered to post job postings on the campaign’s site.
None of the preceding was in any way an attempt to confirm why Jack Dorsey wants to be mayor of New York City, but I can surely see the benefits of being so coming down the line.