50 NYC tech influencers to follow on Twitter

by Fergal Gallagher
November 30, 2015

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Jared Hecht

Follow @jaredhecht//

Fundera

Co-founder and CEO

Finance

Twitter profile: 

@fundera co-founder. formerly@groupme and @tumblr.

The 7 Stages of Starting a Business, as Illustrated by GIFs http://t.co/ihZmJ7mDrH

— Jared Hecht (@jaredhecht) October 5, 2015

 

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Charlie O'Donnell

Follow @ceonyc

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures

Founder and Partner

Venture Capital

Twitter profile: 

I'm an ordinary guy with nothing to lose. VC at Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. These are my initials, btw. Mets fan, triathlete, softball, kayaker. Brooklynbridge.vc

Whenever you ask for a reference for someone and the response is "Call me" that's really all the reference you ever need.

— Charlie O'Donnell (@ceonyc) October 2, 2015
 

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Rafat Ali

Follow @rafat

Skift

Founder and CEO

Media

Twitter profile: 

CEO/Founder, Skift (@skift). Founder, paidContent. New Yorker. Global Soul. Travel pics: http://500px.com/rafat . Blog: http://rafat.org 

So there are people who build media companies for valuation, other build media brands for value. Understand the difference.

— Rafat Ali (@rafat) October 2, 2015
 

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Rachel Haot

Follow @rachelhaot

NY State

Chief Development Officer

Government

Twitter profile: 

Former CDO for mayor bloomberg. Now CDO for NY State governor Cuomo

Tremendous potential at intersection of tech and government. https://t.co/Ye3U8RMDti

— Rachel Haot (@rachelhaot) September 25, 2015

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Gary Vaynerchuk

Follow @garyvee

Winelibrary, Vaynermedia

Founder CEO

Digital Agency

Twitter profile: 

Family 1st! but after that, Businessman. CEO of @vaynermedia. Host of #AskGaryVee show and a dude who Loves the Hustle, @Winelibrary & the @NYJets

6 MINS FOR THE NEXT 60 YEARS OF YOUR LIFE - A RANT https://t.co/UcZkUwmFOt

— Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) October 6, 2015

 


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Scott Belsky

Follow @scottbelsky

Behance

VP Adobe

Publishing

Twitter profile: 

Leading @Behance to connect and empower the creative world; Publisher of @99U; VP Products & Community @Adobe; Author of Making Ideas Happen; Investor/Advisor

"The few times I got off track were when I started to think there was THE way, THE process." -@bazluhrmann There's no right playbook.

— Scott Belsky (@scottbelsky) October 6, 2015
 
 

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Jessica Lawrence

Follow @jessicalawrence

NY Tech Meetup

Executive Director

Networking

Twitter profile: 

Executive Director of @NYTM, Co-Organizer @workrev, writer, speaker, Seth Godin FeMBA grad. Tweets are my own.

Innovation begins with personal disruption - Whitney Johnson #DisruptYourself! http://t.co/3yEqJpIuBq http://t.co/tqNfzI8N6a

— Jessica Lawrence (@jessicalawrence) October 5, 2015
 
 

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Brian O'Kelley

Follow @bokelley

AppNexus

CEO

Advertising

Twitter profile: 

Tweeting about the best offerings in the world of adtech.

"So there are people who build media companies for valuation, other build media brands for value. Understand the difference."

We need talent, we need it now, and we simply cannot find enough. #CS4All @billdeblasio https://t.co/RgUOfde1fv

— Brian O'Kelley (@bokelley) September 17, 2015

 


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Rex Sorgatz

Follow @fimoculous

Kinda Sorta Media

 

Twitter profile: 

Media collector, product strategist, creative technologist, culture hacker, writer, designer, advisor, and consultant. [email protected]

Man, you gotta admit, it takes a lot of guts to SELL and ad blocker.

— Rex Sorgatz (@fimoculous) September 17, 2015

 


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Bre Pettis

Follow @bre

Bold Machines

Founder and CEO

Maker

Twitter profile: 

Former CEO and co-founder of Makerbot.

 

My vote for president will go to the candidate who is most likely to increase the R&D budget.

— bre (@bre) September 26, 2015
 

 


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Fred Wilson

Follow @fredwilson

Union Square Ventures

Partner

Venture Capital

Twitter profile: 

I am a VC.

I don’t know how much a piece of content will be worth to me, so I am not willing to pay for it until I have read it http://t.co/ic0i1bLYOq

— Fred Wilson (@fredwilson) September 18, 2015
 

 


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Tina Roth Eisenberg

Follow @swissmiss

Tattly, Creative Mornings

Partner

E-commerce

Twitter profile: 

I believe in labors of love. Mine are @creativemorning, @tattly, @teuxdeux, @friendsworkhere. Here's my story: http://99u.com/videos/28625/tina-roth-eisenberg-5-rules-for-making-an-impact …

Make *thoughtful* (both side approved) introductions or none at all.

— Tina Roth Eisenberg (@swissmiss) October 5, 2015
 

 


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Andrew Rasiej

Follow @Rasiej

Personal Democracy Media

Civic Entrepreneur

Twitter profile: 

Civic Entrepreneur, Founder of Personal Democracy Media, Civic Hall, Senior Advisor to the Sunlight Foundation, Chairman of NY TechMeetup

Great new platform called Project Callisto to fight sexual assault Demo'd @NYTM. Great example of why #NYTech has empathy in our blood

— Andrew Rasiej (@Rasiej) November 4, 2015

 


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Alex Iskold

Follow @alexiskold

Techstars

Managing Director

Accelerator

Twitter profile: 

CEntrepreneur/Investor. Managing Director @ Techstars, NYC. 2x Founder: GetGlue and Info Lab. Tech startups, UX, VC, running, yoga, lots of pushups.

New Post: 8 things you need to know about raising venture capital: http://t.co/SH8NaDwdg5

— Alex Iskold (@alexiskold) July 14, 2015
 

 


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Jesse Middleton

Follow @srcasm

Co-Founder WeWorkLabs, VP WeWork

Coworking

Twitter profile: 

VP @WeWork. Co-founder @WeWorkLabs & @GetBackstory. Investor @SquirTech, @JackPocket, @classpass, @ThunderclapIt, @JoinTheRukkus, @UseBenny & @inDinero.

The difference in experience between @uber drivers in NYC and Philly is staggers. Philly cars are dirtier, drivers are less knowledgeable.

— Jesse Middleton (@srcasm) October 4, 2015
 

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Henrik Werdelin

Follow @werdelin

Prehype

Founder

Venture Development

Twitter profile: 

I enjoy working with good people and turning small ventures into big ones. Started venture dev firm: @prehype and dogs favorite online place: @BarkBox

 

How to use office interior design to promote your startup brand values http://t.co/xUU9bf4IRX pic.twitter.com/j9BEIfBblL

— Henrik Werdelin (@werdelin) September 30, 2015

 


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Toby Daniels

Follow @tobyd

Social Media Week, Crowdcentric

Founder

Events

Twitter profile: 

runner of marathons/triathlons, nyc based brit, co-founder & ceo of @crowdcentric & founder of @socialmediaweek.

Redditor Gives A Marketing Reality Check on The Age Old Facebook Question: Why is Organic Reach Declining? https://t.co/xfRBjeNVns

— Toby Daniels (@tobyd) November 5, 2015

 

 


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David Tisch

Follow @davetisch

Box Group, Spring

Managing Partner

Angel Investment

Twitter profile: 

Managing Partner at Angel Investment company BoxGroup and Co-Founder of delivery app Spring

Great development for NYC - NYU's Tandon School of Engineering... Tech infrastructure continues to be built... http://t.co/GDmk5bz1UG

— David Tisch (@davetisch) October 5, 2015
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Murat Aktihanoglu

Follow @muratny

Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator

Founder and MD

Accelerators

Twitter profile: 

Managing Director at Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, Entrepreneur, Software Engineer, Author (Location Aware Applications) http://muratak.com

Goal-Driven Growth and Growth Hacking http://t.co/2NMiL1JQNu @ERoundtable

— Murat Aktihanoglu (@muratny) March 10, 2015

 


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Steve Schlafman

Follow @schlaf

RRE Ventures

Principal

Venture Capital

Twitter profile: 

VC @RRE. Married to @TheSill. My values guide me: intellectual curiosity, hard work, honesty, humility, empathy, and transparency. Excited about the future.

"In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety.” — Abraham Maslow.

— Steve Schlafman (@schlaf) October 3, 2015

 


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Chad Dickerson

Follow @chaddickerson

Etsy

CEO

E-commerce

Twitter profile: 

CEO of one of New York's most successful tech startups tweets about Etsy events and gives some tips for entrepreneurs

Nobel prize winning scientists 2.85x more likely than avg scientist to have artistic or crafty hobby: http://t.co/uETmEgtbDg

— Chad Dickerson (@chaddickerson) September 27, 2015

 


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Andrea Wilkis Wilson

Follow @AWilkisWilson

Gilt, Glamsquad

Co-founder

E-commerce

Twitter profile: 

@GlamSquadCo-Founder & CEO. @Gilt Co-Founder. Author of NYTimes bestselling book: By Invitation Only.

So incredible seeing @eholmes2003 @theranos accept @glamourmag Woman of the Year Award! #pioneer #entrepreneur #GlamourWOTY25 #womenintech

— Alexandra W. Wilson (@AWilkisWilson) November 10, 2015

 


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Bradford Shellhammer

Follow @youngbradford

Fab, Bezar

Co-founder

E-commerce

Twitter profile: 

Founder & CEO of http://Bezar.com & formerly founded http://Fab.com , http://Shellhammer.co , &http://Queerty.com . Big heart. King of Quirk.

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I just backed Growing New Roots on @Kickstarter http://t.co/48qGMKX54F

— Bradford Shellhammer (@youngbradford) October 6, 2015

 


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Soraya Darabi

Follow @sorayadarabi

Zady

Co-founder

E-commerce

Twitter profile: 

Co-founder of @Zady | @WEF Young Global Leader | Early Stage Venture #NYC | Idea enthusiast. Formerly New York Times.

"Ellen Pao: Silicon Valley sexism IS getting better." An important read on https://t.co/bpNrYFDMOv

— Soraya Darabi (@sorayadarabi) November 10, 2015

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Jessica Singleton

Follow @jessay286

City Hall

Chief Digital Officer

Government

Twitter profile: 

Chief Digital Officer @nycgov, Mayor @billdeblasio. @barackobama alum. also: avocados, mixtapes, skiing, & southernisms.

.@GirlsWhoCode demoing tonight @BronxTechMeetUp underscore importance of @BilldeBlasio's #CS4All commitment. pic.twitter.com/3xuBXhA5dm

— Jessica Singleton (@jessay286) September 24, 2015

 

 


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Haithem Elembaby

Follow @haithemnyc

Katalyst Live

CEO Co-founder

Events

Twitter profile: 

Co-Founder & CEO @KatalystLive, MBA @NYUStern, Advisor, Tech enthusiast, Prev. @AlleyNYC, Knicks fan 4 life #

Join @2020Shift as they bring out 100 millennials to see the inside of Silicon Alley's top tech companies/startups. https://t.co/7TCavenUy5

— haithem (@haithemnyc) November 9, 2015

 


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Kathryn Minshew

Follow @kmin

Daily Muse

Founder and CEO

Media

Twitter profile: 

Founder @DailyMuse, WSJ & HBR contributor, globe trotter. Forbes 30-under-30 & INC 15 women to watch in tech. YC alum. I get things done.

Great post on "Raising Capital as a First-time Founder" by @eileenmcarey @Glassbreakersco https://t.co/7XQbeT50CF

— Kathryn Minshew (@kmin) September 23, 2015

 


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Jason Salzman

Follow @SaltzmanJason

Alley NYC

Founder and CEO

Coworking space

Twitter profile: 

Entrepreneur Columnist, CEO AlleyNYC. I love innovation through collaboration, disruptive technology and chicken lo mein.

I am educated by the University of Failure.

— Jason Saltzman (@SaltzmanJason) September 21, 2015

 


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Mark Birch

Follow @marksbirch

Angel Investor

Twitter profile: 

NYC sales pro, investor & entrepreneur; founder of the @Enterprise_Sale meetup; author Strong Opinions blog; heavy metal acoustic guitarist; dumpling aficionado.

Coining new term "Uniphoenix", unicorn startup that goes corpse, then rises from the ashes. Hasn't happened, just getting ahead of trend...

— Mark Birch (@marksbirch) September 10, 2015

 


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Kelly Hoey

Follow @jkhoey

Speaker, Mentor and Strategist. Angel investor, LP @LacoiniaCapital, columnist @Inc.

Twitter profile: 

Invest in the change you'd like to see in the world.

It's Monday - get pitching but get the story right! My latest on @inc - A Guide For Entrepreneurs Pitching The Media http://t.co/YEHUZ3PsSA

— Kelly Hoey (@jkhoey) October 5, 2015

 


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Jalak Jobanputra

Follow @jalak

FuturePerfect Ventures

Partner

Venture Capital

Twitter profile: 

VC since 99. Global Nomad. x Ballerina. Regularly tweets about women and diversity in tech

In honor of #ganeshchaturthi today, from the archive: What the Elephant God Can Teach Tech Entrepreneurs http://t.co/lxmwPpZRfL

— jalak jobanputra (@jalak) September 17, 2015

 


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Barry Silbert

Follow @barrysilbert

Digital Currency Group, Second Market, Bitcoin Investment Trust

Founder

Finance

Twitter profile: 

Founder & CEO, Digital Currency Group (@DCGco), Founder @SecondMarket, Creator @BitcoinTrust

It is unclear to me why about 520 of these digital currencies even exist: http://t.co/zOAqi4pSap

— Barry Silbert (@barrysilbert) September 22, 2015

 


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Neil Blumenthal

Follow @NeilBlumenthal

Warby Parker

CEO and co-founder

E-commerce, Retail

Twitter profile: 

VLoves helping people see - co-founder & co-ceo of @WarbyParker, former director of @VisionSpring, husband of @CricketsCircle.

Of 30K tech startups a year, 10 will make up 97% of the total value and 1 will be worth all the others combined http://t.co/Q4NWuLLgfa

— Neil Blumenthal (@NeilBlumenthal) October 8, 2015

 


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Jukay Hsu

Follow @JukayHsu

Coalition for Queens

Founder

Social Tech

Twitter profile: 

Tech, economic opportunity, urban development Founder @C4QNYC // Veteran, Fmr Army Captain @227Wolfhounds // Board @StuyvesantHigh @queenslibrary @nycgo

Very excited for tomorrow's speech by @BilldeBlasio CS edu for all NYers @jessay286 @kristentitus @minervatweet http://t.co/CJUfTUpKyT

— Jukay Hsu (@JukayHsu) September 15, 2015

 


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Andrew Young

Follow @overworkedasian

Swill, StartupWeekend

CTO and co-founder

E-commerce, Events

Twitter profile: 

The adventures of the oveworkedasian | CTO/CoFounder of @getswill | Reddit NYC | Manager of @nycsw NY Startup Weekend | @wework Ambassador | Syracuse Alum/p>"

Join us tonight for Startup Weekend Pitch Karaoke Food Edition! RSVP here: http://t.co/I7cnCu9lG5 #nyc #startups pic.twitter.com/Ot9ZRr2vbY

— Andrew Young (@overworkedasian) September 30, 2015

 


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Natalia Oberti Noguera

Follow @nakisnakis

Pipeline Angels

CEO and founder

Angel Investor

Twitter profile: 

@PipelineAngels Founder & CEO. Tweet about #socent, #LGBTQ,#languagematters, #morevoices,#changetheratio, pop culture, healthcare, & gadgets. Two last names.

Women get called girls even after we become adults whereas boys get called men while they're still kids. #languagematters #leanintogether

— NataliaObertiNoguera (@nakisnakis) March 21, 2015

 


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Anil Dash

Follow @anildash

Entrepreneur, writer and geek living in New York City, obsessed with the way technology shapes and transforms society, media, government and culture.

Twitter profile: 

Cofounder @makerbase @thinkup @activateinc • Board @stackoverflow @NYTM @datasociety @girlsclubny • Contributor @message • (it's pronounced ଅନଲ.)

Geeks are skeptical about whether devs will re-embrace building on Twitter. But Twitter's treated devs better than any big social platform.

— Anil Dash (@anildash) October 5, 2015

 


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Brooke Hammerling

Follow @brooke

BrewPR

Founder

PR

Twitter profile: 

I work at @BrewPR, I love cheese & I am a supporter of @charitywater.

If you start the conversation with "I am the founder of a unicorn" to me I will punch you in your face. Or at least visualize it.

— Brooke Hammerling (@brooke) October 6, 2015

 


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Joanna Stern

Follow @joannastern

Wall Street Journal

Tech journalist

Media

Twitter profile: 

I've got a one tech mind. WSJ Personal Technology Columnist.

Microsoft better have some big news. They closed a city sidewalk for this and there are some very angry New Yorkers.

— Joanna Stern (@JoannaStern) October 6, 2015

 


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Joel Spolsky

Follow @spolsky

StackOverlfow, Trello

CEO/Developer

Coding

Twitter profile: 

CEO of Stack Overflow, co-founder of Fog Creek Software (FogBugz, Kiln), and creator of Trello. Member of NYC gay startup mafia.

"You Suck at Excel" (video, 54m) in which I try to teach my team a bare minimum of non-incompetence at spreadsheets https://t.co/D7nxEMeGhp

— Joel Spolsky (@spolsky) September 8, 2015

 


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John Resig

Follow @jeresig

Khan Academy

Developer

Education

Twitter profile: 

Creator of @jquery, JavaScript programmer, author, Japanese woodblock nerd (http://ukiyo-e.org ), work at @khanacademy.

Such an important call for Code of Conducts by @rachelnabors: http://t.co/L6gKepRb7x Everyone should refuse to speak at confs with no Code.

— John Resig (@jeresig) September 3, 2015

 

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Peter Kafka

Follow @pkafka

Re/code

Senior Editor

Media

Twitter profile: 

Verbose, concise. Monkey via @andybyday

"

Twitter Moments, Snapchat Live Stories share the same concept -- and content http://t.co/5LOyaH7R41 via @pkafka

— Peter Kafka (@pkafka) October 6, 2015

 


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Cindy Gallop

Follow @cindygallop

Make Love not Porn, If We Ran The World

Founder

Women's Rights

Twitter profile: 

I like to blow shit up. I am the Michael Bay of business.

"Not only is VC mostly white and male, a big chunk is past the age where VC partners have done their best deals" https://t.co/bB8lgqyXLh

— Cindy Gallop (@cindygallop) October 7, 2015

 


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Jesse Podell

Follow @jessepod

Startupbootcamp

New York MD

Accelerator

Twitter profile: 

MD @SBCFintech True net worth is how you treat other people.

Wonderful engaged bright students @whartonfintech this afternoon. You are lucky to have one another thanks @alphafishing for having me today

— Jesse Podell (@Jessepod) November 18, 2015

 


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Shaun Johnson

Follow @idealexit

Startup Institute

Founder and NYC director

Accelerator

Twitter profile: 

@StartupInst cofounder. Fmr @TechStars Associate. @Georgetown Hoya & Entrepreneur-in-Residence. @JohnsHopkins alum. Technologist on a mission.

From #Bschool to @Airbnb: Why MBAs should consider working for startups http://t.co/yO7nFUzgeC

— Shaun Johnson (@idealexit) October 4, 2015

 


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Scott Heiferman

Follow @heif

Meetup

CEO

Meetup Groups

Twitter profile: 

Meetup.com CEO. Writes his blog at heif.tumblr.com

while others split their time on VR, space lasers, ads & the rest of their biz, we'll keep focused on cracking the code for real community

— Scott Heiferman (@heif) October 7, 2015

 


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Unity Stoakes

Follow @unitystoakes

Startup Health

Cofounder

Accelerator

Twitter profile:

Co-founder of StartUp Health, Entrepreneur, Healthcare Transformer...

Change in the way we pay for healthcare is 'coming fast and furious' via @FortuneMagazine http://t.co/vNA6OQerGw

— Unity Stoakes (@unitystoakes) October 6, 2015

 


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Naveen Selvaduri

Follow @naveen

Expa

Partner

Startup Studio

Twitter profile: 

partner, @expa. co-founder, @foursquare. photographs. code. cities. adventures.

I'm looking for a great Head of Content & Community (for something coming out soon soon soon A++++++!) know anyone? http://t.co/9tBwQFrCR0

— naveen (@naveen) October 2, 2015

 


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John Borthwick

Follow @Borthwick

Betaworks

CEO

Startup Studio

Twitter profile: 

Tweeting an interesting mix of NYC tech news, new startups and a little about his homeland in the UK

Thoughts on the changing media landscape + whether tech is eating media https://t.co/3jZabszunV

— John Borthwick (@Borthwick) November 12, 2015

 


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Perry Chen

Follow @perrychen

Kickstarter

Founder

Crowdfunding

Twitter profile: 

Left Kickstarter in 2013, but still very much part on the NYC tech scene http://www.perrychenstudio.com/

Thrilled to announce Kickstarter Inc has reincorporated as Kickstarter PBC, a Public Benefit Corporation. About us: https://t.co/IdvQDZ23n1

— perry chen (@perrychen) September 21, 2015

 


 

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