Cultural Entrepreneurship in NYC

An immersive field course co-founded with Tom Eisenmann of Harvard Business School, exploring how new creative ventures launch and how NYC’s rich ecosystem of established companies, investors, universities, foundations, trade press, and industry associations influences venture development.

The course emerged from challenging the assumption that startups must relocate to Silicon Valley for success. A preliminary field study identified distinct startup patterns across the Bay Area, NYC, and Boston regions.

NYC’s startup ecosystem concentrates heavily in creative industries — fashion, food, fine arts, performing arts, music, video entertainment, and literary fiction. Founders in these sectors typically pursue partnerships with established institutions rather than disruptive models common to Bay Area ventures.