At this week's Breakfast Club we heard from Baris, Founder and CEO of Direct IQ, a company that creates professional email marketing campaigns. He taught us a bit about the following; the startup scene in New York, the explanation behind why the tech area in NYC is called Silicon Alley, the process by which startups get investment, the key things investors look for, the ideas that have the most success and how he sees Barcelona in terms of the tech and startup industry.

Baris explained that the startup scene in New York is following closely behind that of San Francisco and is expanding at an extraordinary rate. In 2016, there was $9.5bn in funding received by NYC based startup companies. Unbeknown to most of us here in Barcelona, the main tech area, which lies around 23rd street in Manhattan, is called Silicon Alley because it is a narrow street and a play on the name of tech hub Silicon Valley in San Fran.

In a brief but very clear and useful summary, Baris told us the 5 investment steps that any startup needs to go through; Seed Round/Incubators, Angel Round, Series A-B-C, Bridge Loans and Initial Offering (IO). He went on to explain that investors are much more likely to invest in a startup that has the right team, especially a good chief technical officer (CTO) over a good idea. TIP: find a good team to create the idea you have and the investment will come rolling in!

We learnt that the ideas that have the most success tend to relate to three categories: Convenience-First Consumer Startups, Digital Media and HealthTech and FinTech. For all those who are not so techy, fintech = financial technology!

At the end of his presentation, Baris got asked his professional opinion on the tech and startup scene in Barcelona. Baris believes that it is booming and has a little bit of catching up to do but that it will definitely do so, and at a soaring rate; words from the man himself "I wouldn't be here if I didn't think so!". One of the main contributing factors to this growth is the amount of senior tech talent available in Barcelona. Many senior developers are working or cofounding startups here in Barcelona whereas in America there is less of them available since they tend to go and work for the giants such as Google. Interesting eh?

BARIS ERGIN & THE NEW YORK STARTUP SCENE: