<<Staten Island has more than just a 19th century startup failure. Startup scene alive and well in Staten Island. Sorry we are not as “cool” as NYC and Brooklyn.>> That’s according to Lyle Foxman, a “creative and driven web designer and online marketing professional with a passion for digital photography, the arts and technology” based in Staten Island. Lyle wrote us to complain about our little attention to his neighborhood, and he mentions Aileen Gemma Smith – “Content janitor. Collaborator, strategist. Wife, mother. Compassionate realist. CEO, Vizalytics Technology, Founder of Staten Island Counts” – and Make.SI – “a Makerspace located in Staten Island” – as examples of what’s going on in S.I.
Lyle mentions also the excellent ranking made by Staten Island Technical High School in the U.S. News & World Report’s initial list of Best High Schools for Math and Science. The New Dorp school was ranked 13th on a list of 208 in the nation — a standing that tops the dozen New York City high schools that cracked the report.
Indeed our book’s chapter about Staten Island is focused on the lessons learned from telephone inventor Meucci’s failed startup. One problem is that Lyle’s startup – and the others he mentions – are not included in the Digital Map of NYC. But we are more than happy to learn more about S.I. tech scene and share it.
