Wow! Look what I found. Haha… #nyc #election #obama #romney

@quinntonharris, ladies and gentlemen. #style #art #LES #NYC (Taken with Instagram)

I can take #panoramic pictures now. Look closely… isn’t that ill? #train #nyc #photos #city #life (Taken with instagram)

The other day I stumbled upon a post by Naveen Selvadurai of foursquare entitled “being in the right place at the right time.” It inspired me to write, as it helped me to connect my professional interests and my musings on the relationship between location and “destiny.”

Here’s a quote from Naveen’s post:

“No matter whether you believe in fate or free will, they both affect many paths in life: from the college we go to, to where we live, to the jobs we take and to the people we run into and with whom we become friends and lovers. but i think the most powerful of these factors is location – where we are now and where we choose to live. i think that location, more than anything else, is a powerful determinant of which path one will take in life.”
- Naveen Selvadurai

For some time now I have been reflecting on the significance of location in our everyday lives. On the micro level, I am enamored with how mobile location-based services are revolutionizing the way people interact.

I love the thrill of discovering, navigating, and sharing my adventures with the world. Mobile apps like Instagram, foursquare, Path, and Sonar delight me, as they connect me with others around the unexpectedly remarkable moments I experience from day to day. While Sonar empowers us to meet the people around us who are most socially relevant, Path and Instagram allow us to capture and coyly share intimate glimpses of our lives.

Because the confluence of “occurrence” and “location” creates a unique event that will never happen again in the same manner,  it seems of utmost importance to capture special moments when and where they happen.

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My Dilemma
–

On a greater scale, location plays a big factor in who we are and who we will become. At times I wonder, “Do I need to stay in NYC long-term to pursue my startup dreams in the mobile / location space? Would I be just as well poised to do so if I moved to Austin, TX, where my girlfriend wants to move, and where I’d be closer to my family?”

Now, there’s something very special about NYC… everyone knows that. The feverish bustle, the density of consumers and businesses and the 24/7 grind that goes on here seems to be the perfect agar for my petri dish.

But my girlfriend is quickly losing interest in the fast-paced life, and both my immediate family and her family live in Texas - quite a ways from New York City.  Austin, as an alternative, is considered by many to be a tech mecca of the South, with events like SXSW, and the offices of giants such as Google, Facebook and Apple. However, despite these boons I’ve heard from various sources that Austin may be a challenging place to start certain types of companies.

Forecast is a fun and simple way for friends to share where they are going.

Rene J. Pinnell, CEO of Forecast, an Austin-based mobile startup that allows friends to share where they’re going, once told me that while Austin is very beautiful and vibrant, it may not be the best place for early-stage social media tech startups. Its cultural differences and the type of investors it attracts are a few reasons why many Austin-based startups find themselves relocating to San Francisco or NYC.

Additionally, Austin does not have the same urban density / media profile that New York does – a factor that potentially made Gowalla less competitive with foursquare. Such a spatial difference would certainly affect users’ behavioral patterns – but to a detrimental extent?

In the end, I try to trust God to help me make these types of decisions, but I can’t help but wonder the role that my location will play in my professional future. I do know, however, that while I am here, no matter how long or short this may be, I plan to take advantage of New York with the fierce urgency of now.

Can’t stop the #hustle.

After studying international development in Latin America, undergoing a number of various corporate experiences and graduating from college, I have officially launched myself into the NYC tech startup scene. Thanks to my dear friend John Exley(@johnexley), a fellow startup geek and Hashable (@hashable) intern, I am now working at YouNow (@younow), a new social platform for user-generated live video that allows users to broadcast live and curate content in a fun, game-like fashion. As Operations Manager at YouNow, I work alongside our CEO Adi Sideman, and am able to touch all non-technical parts of the business – which is to say, everything but the physical product itself. It’s a tremendous experience, and is preparing me to launch my own startup one day… but I’m missing one thing:

PROGRAMMING.

In my opinion, it is the single most significant thing holding me back from starting my own company. There are obviously many elements that go into building a successful business, but in an increasingly technological world, having negligible technicalunderstanding will make you practically insignificant.

I recently came upon a post by Fred Wilson (@fredwilson) of Union Square Ventureswhich encapsulates the feelings I’ve been having pretty well. It is entitled: “Program or be Programmed.”

For some reason “Program or be Programmed” makes me think of Vladimir Putin… lol

Fred’s post takes inspiration from Douglas Rushkoff‘s latest book “Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age”, postulating that “in the emerging, highly programmed landscape ahead, [one] will either create the software or will be the software.” Didactically, and with less of an alarmist tone, Fred encourages the nontechnical to get technical.

I think this quote pretty much sums it up:

“Dennis Crowley claims to be a terrible programmer. And yet he and Naveen built the first version of Foursquare together. Their third team member was Harry and Harry’s first job was to rewrite all of Dennis’ code. Dennis is the kind of technical I’m talking about. Learn how to hack something together so that you can get people interested in your idea, your project, your startup. If you can do that, then you have a better chance of success.”
- Fred Wilson, AVC

Dennis Crowley of foursquare

Fred’s thoughts only further confirmed for me the feelings I had already been having. You see, I’m an idea guy… always have been. I’m someone who lies awake at night, feverishly excited about the possibility of creating something that can change the world. Inspiration has never been my problem, fortunately.

Unfortunately, however, inspiration in and of itself simply isn’t enough to make one’s world-changing idea a living, breathing thing. My problem is my uncertainty… I’ve always seen the value of learning new things, but because I am unsure of which path I will take, and am constantly inspired by new things, I find myself unwilling to focus on mastery, instead caught up in another whimsical dream of what could be. For this reason I have resolved to learn how to code, as a means of making my startup ideas come to life.

While the hard skills I will acquire from programming will be a tremendous catalyst to realizing my aspirations, my determination to learn how to code is much deeper than that.

It is about:

1. Discipline
Instead of being spontaneously capricious, being assiduously dedicated to accomplishing my goals.

2. Persistence
Enduring and pushing to achieve success, rather than navigating to another “possibility” of success when perceiving potential failure.

3. Conviction
Having enough certainty and self-confidence to trust myself and believe that my dreams are worthy of pursuing whole-heartedly.

4. Creating
Turning possibilities into realities.

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Apart from being a dreamer, I am also someone who is capable of great output once I put my heart and mind to something. Knowing this… I guess it’s time to just buckle down and GIT UR DUN.

On that note… I will stop writing and proceed to learn the beginnings of Ruby.

We (@younow) are about to demo at #NYTM. #tech #meetup #NYC #startups (Taken with instagram)

Found this random pair of #boots by the #trash can… #WTH? #midtown #NYC #city #life #random #shoes (Taken with instagram)

@YouNow Team Dinner!!! Apparently #Basquiat painted here in the basement. #Bohemian #LES #NYC #restaurant #food #style #art (Taken with Instagram at Bohemian)

I walk by this everyday on my way to work. #store #front #vintage #character #city #life #nyc (Taken with instagram)

#sidewalk #chalk #drawings #art #people #perspective #faces #union #square #NYC (Taken with Instagram at Union Square Park)

#squirrel #nut #scurry #hustle #storage #fall #perch #park #union #square #nyc (Taken with instagram)

Last night I witnessed a woman unabashedly empty her bladder on a subway platform floor. I found myself in shock when I realized she was urinating through her sweatpants. She stoically squatted in the open, disregarding the people to her left and right. And when she was finished, she measuredly rose and sauntered to rest on a subway bench. I’ve seen much worse in my life, however this was a simple reminder of how blessed I am to have a roof over my head and a place to sleep at night. The next time you find yourself complaining about your life being “so hard” or something menial… remember how fortunate you are. (Taken with instagram)