Why We Chose NYC: Lawrence Lenihan (FirstMark Capital) and Charlie Kim (CEO Next Jump)

“New york is the land of milk and honey, it’s always 75 degrees and sunny …” - While Lawrence Lenihan, the Founder of FirstMark Capital, was rhyming for fun, he was serious about convincing the Boston area engineering students on how great a place NYC is for startups and technology. I was able to film these two segements by Lawrence and then by Next Jump CEO Charlie Kim, both providing factual and experiential support for why startups and engineering students should consider NYC as their prime locale. They are both short, between 3-4 minutes each - listen to their talk to find out why they believe in NYC.

Charlie, in particular, tells of his story of Next Jump’s quiet rise, with $45m in angel funding, going from 150 employees to 4 people to the 300 people they have now. Ram Shriram, one of the original Google investors, made his largest investment in Next Jump, but also insisting that they move their HQ to Silicon Valley. Charlie insisted on staying and now, as a result, has one of the largest startup technology companies in NYC.