Mike Bloomberg, Amit Gupta

Image via WikipediaI think I first heard about it from Anu Shukla on Facebook.

Anu Shukla Has Found The New Frontier In Advertising
I Just Became Friends With Anu Shukla
The Highlight Of My Internet Week

I am like, I know Anu Shukla, but I don't know the guy. I know of him, but I don't know him. There are many people in the NY tech ecosystem that I know of, but don't know. On the various social media platforms when you follow the people you know you end up coming across people that you don't know but you "see" so often that you end up kinda sorta knowing them. Plus, it is only a few clicks to getting to know the outlines of someone's life online, especially of those in the tech space. I learned about the guy in one paragraph. Small world.

But I am like, the guy looks fine, he is healthy. And there are a bunch of Indians out there. He will find his match. If we Indians have one thing, it is us. There are only like a billion of us.

And then the guy started popping up a few places. People were reblogging his blog post on Tumblr. The first time I saw it it had been reblogged over 6,000 times. And I am thinking, he must have already found his match.

I saw him a few different places, at a few different updates. Then I saw him in Charlie O'Donnell's events newsletter that I like to skim through on Monday mornings.

Inviting Charlie O'Donnell To A Pillow Fight
Charlie O'Donnell At His Inspiring Best
Charlie Bit My Finger

Then Tikva Morawati announced the name at Ignite NYC.

I felt shadowed.

How do all these people know I am Indian? I felt targeted. Wherever I went offline and online, the name Amit Gupta followed me.

The guy even shares last names with my childhood best friend: Gupta.

And then it happened all over again at the New York Tech MeetUp. Because Mike Bloomberg showed up - big, big surprise - and although I am pretty sure it was someone else who made the Amit Gupta - I don't even know the guy - announcement, I keep thinking that guy was a stand in, Mike Bloomberg himself made the announcement. I mean, this guy rules the city, right?

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. I am like, okay Mayor, I am showing up for the party Friday. I will do the cotton swab thing.

But what if I win the lottery? Don't you have to go under the knife or something? I was a biology major at high school. I know bone marrow is not a skin level thing. Do they use antiseptics and anesthetics these days? Because back in the days they didn't. I mean, for a guy who has never donated blood.



I'd rather Nihal Mehta went under the knife. One of the places I learned about this was also from his tweet.

Nihal Mehta: No Sellout
Nihal Mehta: Being Mysterious About Local Response

Truth be told, from minute one I have been thinking, this thing needs to be outsourced to India. If it is a one in 20,000 thing, divide a billion by 20,000 and this Gupta dude - who I do not know - ends up with more lives than a cat.

New Work City
412 Broadway, Floor 2
New York, 10013

Friday, October 14, 2011 at 9:30 PM (ET)

Brown bones? This event was put together by some white guy. You can tell.

I guess I am going. Thank Mike Bloomberg.

Amit Gupta: Scared Shitless.

Ignite NYC Premonitions

I had a few Direct Messages from Tikva this morning. Looks like I did not make it in the first round of Ignite NYC slated for Internet Week. None of the panel people I reached out to on Twitter reached out to me either. How does this work?

Excited About Internet Week

In Tikva's case she said my description of what I was going to talk about was incomplete. So I sent her an email. She wrote back. Other than the fact that you are suggesting you are a gift from God to the world I still don't have a description of what you are going to talk about.

So my newest mail goes something like this.

The first major revolution of the 21st century happened in Nepal, and
Paramendra Bhagat was the only Nepali in America working full time for
it. In April 2006, over a period of 19 days, about eight million
people out of the country's 27 million came out into the streets to
shut the country down completely to force a dictator out.

"There is a concrete mathematical theory called the butterfly effect.
A butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon forest could be the
reason a cyclone hit Bangladesh. What happened in Nepal in April 2006
was a political cyclone. I was the butterfly flapping my wings in New
York City."

http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com http://democracyforum.blogspot.com
http://technbiz.blogspot.com
@paramendra

Ignite NYC: Here I Come

Ignite, Set It On Fire
Internet Week: Going To Three Events So Far
Digital Dumbo: Here I Come
July 1 Digital Dumbo: Do Not Miss

I tried and failed to get on any Internet Week panel. But something better might happen. I just saw this in my Facebook stream, and jumped at the opportunity. I am applying for my five minutes at Ignite NYC during Internet Week. Tikva, make it happen, please.

Events: November 29 - December 10

Scott Contrarian Heiferman Does It Again

Image by jdlasica via Flickr

Scott blew it last night at the NY Tech MeetUp. There were some great demos for sure including one with a HTML 5 inkling: Thumbplay. And it was great to see Tikva Morawati's KnowMore.com up there. I told her last night I will be at Ignite NYC tonight, but I can't be: something came up that will have me tied to 10 PM. Nate showed up in formal attire last night: that was a letdown for me personally. His trademark jeans and shirt with the cut on the sides, the curve cuts look better, I think. But I am all for trying out new looks. Iterate.

So Scott Heiferman smashed Dawn Barber's iPad with a sledgehammer. I ran into Dawn later.

"Are you guys still friends?" I asked her.

Scott was offering the 2010 version of that famous 1984 ad, of course.




Scott presented MeetUp Everywhere.

And then he introduced ThePoint.com guy. Ends up that site did not take off. So they launched a side project that did take off: GroupOn.

"I started out wanting to change the world," he lamented." And I have been reduced to dealing with coupons."

Most startups fail, but the trick is to rise from the ashes.

At one point Scott called AVC.com "a stupid blog." Then he whispered, "I should not say that. He is one of my investors."

The Highlight Of My Internet Week
Not MeetUp
Women In Tech-Media Event At JP Morgan: Internet Week
Meeting Fred Wilson In Person
Internet Week: Going To Three Events So Far
The Biggest NY Tech MeetUp Ever?
Social Media Week: The Best NY Tech MeetUp Ever

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Ignite, Set It On Fire

I almost missed out Social Media Week, but I got in a few days late, and I was not able to go to some choice events I would have liked to go to. I bumped into its webpage through social media browsing. You know how you go from people to people, link to link, update to update. And I am so glad I was able to do 14 events during Social Media Week. (Social Media Week: The Best NY Tech MeetUp Ever)

And now I am being introduced to Ignite. My friend Adam Carson (@adamkcarson) sent me an email a few days back. He forwarded me this blog post: Global Ignite Week: Starts Monday with 65 Cities, 6 Continents, 500 Speakers over 5 Days. If he figured I might like it, he figured right.

This guy said somewhere online he was 30,000 miles above ground and the update went viral, looks like. Virgin Galactic anyone? He meant 30,000 feet. He was so psyched about having wifi up there, he went from feet to miles. To the @ and # symbols, Twitter should add emoticons. So less people get carried away.

Adam is a good friend of Mark Peter Davis (@markpeterdavis) who you can meet at every NY Tech MeetUp unfailingly. Nate always calls on him at the very beginning. "Is anyone from DFJ Gotham here? Mark? You there?"

"We go back a long time," Mark once said to me about Adam. Mark has a wonderful, wonderful blog. He has practically written a book on venture capital at his blog.

Entrepreneur's Guide To Raising Venture Capital
Entrepreneur's Guide To Starting A Company
Entrepreneur's Library
Entrepreneur's Social Fabric
Entrepreneur's Toolkit

Adam is up in Hanover finishing up his MBA at Tuck with his wonderful wife Anna. And he sends me this email.

New York City needs its own South By South West. New York City needs its own Burning Man. What would be the urban version? Modifying Dennis Crowley's (@dens) Pac Manhattan might be a start. For now Ignite might be it. But let's shoot for a non-sexist name.

Galapagos Art Space Dumbo
16 Main Street
Brooklyn NY

Thursday, March 04, 2010 from 6:30 PM - 11:55 PM (ET)

@ignitenyc
@tikkers - Ignite NYC Director; Curator
@sandhyaX - Site Design; Content Management
@Laureado - Event Production; Sponsorships
@jonathanpberger - Design Advisor; PowerPoint Guru

• Speakers
• Events

My tweet to the organizers: See you @ Ignite. Guess 2 late 2 be Speaker. Or no? Would like to talk revolution.

My tweets to some others who are listed as attending: Tweet 1, Tweet 2, Tweet 3, Tweet 4, Tweet 5, Tweet 6, Tweet 7.






It might be too late for me to get my five minutes on stage, but I think it is going to be a perfect evening to meet a ton of interesting people. It is amazing to be part of the tech ecosystem in this city. It is early stage and it is gelling.

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