Don’t be scared of meeting complete strangers because they might be just the people you need to meet.
Why? Well, for one, you get to see what cool new things people with similar interests to you are doing. From getting to attend cool seminars to meeting potential leaders in your field, you’ll find so many opportunities here. Clearly, meetups are the place to be.
We, at Fueled, found some of the best meetups in NYC. Ready to go?
NY Tech Meetup
NY Tech Meetup was founded in 2004 by Meetup’s founder Scott Heiferman and became an independent nonprofit in 2010. Boasting 32,000 members, their aim is to connect members of the tech community so they can help each other create successful and sustainable companies. They provide resources and work with policy makers to develop policies that are beneficial to all. They aim to foster innovation with cutting edge ideas and new technology.
They are best known for their monthly demo nights, where up to 10 chosen companies have a chance to showcase what they do at the Skirball Theatre.
TechCrunch’s New York Meetup
TechCrunch’s New York Meetup features a pitch-off event where entrepreneurs have a chance to wow the judges there in less than 60 seconds. And they give out free beer, what’s cooler than that?
The pitch-off generally last for an hour, then afters interviews the participants. Next, the winners are announced and a networking event follows. This year it’ll be hosted at the Santos Party House on Lafayette.
If you want to participate in the pitch-off, your products must be in private or stealth beta. The first place winner gets a table at in the Start Up Alley during TechCrunch’s Disrupt NY event.
The Hatchery
This event is perfect if you’re a business that’s just starting out and would like to attract more investors, as well as get some valuable feedback from various experts. The people behind The Hatchery understood when they started the company that entrepreneurs might not have the connections they need to draw in investors or people to fund their project. In turn, investors who are interested in putting money into startups might not even have access or know about the countless companies that are looking for funding.
The Hatchery does, what they call, the Gauntlet where entrepreneurs are given seven minutes to present their business models to different investors. After that, there is a panel that holds a Q&A session.
NYC Data Science
Though a relatively new, NYC Data Science is gaining a lot of attention. This group prides itself on continuously building a community of super smart and talented individuals. NYC Data Science was created as a space to display what data scientists were working on and help them meet one another.
The meetup welcomes anyone in the tech community, including software engineers, hackers, statisticians, and data scientists. They have different events, ranging from novice to advanced. The aim is to give members new ideas, tools, and concepts in order to help them solve whatever conundrum they may be facing.
Advocates for this meetup include Hilary Mason, John Myles White, Jake Porway, and Drew Conway. Some similar meetups, if you can’t make this one, include DataKind and DataGotham.
By Ilan Nass
Written by the editors at Fueled. We develop iPhone and Android apps.
Image Credit: thenextweb.com
