NYC is proving to be one of this decade’s biggest Tech success stories. Venture-backed start-ups in the greater NYC area raised more than $52 billion in 2021 (more than double the $20.2 billion raised in 2020). The city is now home to 9,000 tech start-up’s, with 25 scale up’s alone raising $100m or more so far this year.
NYC is a fantastic location for any tech company to accelerate, from start-up through to hypergrowth. Without finance, a business can’t thrive, and the New York state capital is luring venture investors in record numbers. In 2021, funding more than doubled, with NYC attracting the 2nd highest amount of early-stage investment in the world, only behind Silicon Valley.
And, as the number of completed transactions rises, so does the average transaction size, with the top 25 deals each exceeding $100 million.
There has been a clear shift of investors away from major West Coast tech hubs such as the Bay Area towards New York City, cementing it’s status as one of the country’s innovation hotspots, with investment opportunities to match. Lerer Hippeau is New York’s most active VC firm when it comes to making investments, with 287 deals concluded in NYC MSA since 2010.
Set up in NYC and you’ll have access to a significant amount of talent due to the rise of a highly trained workforce, lured to the city by its economic prospects and vibrant lifestyle. Unfortunately, so will your competitors!
As you begin to scale, your workforce requirements will evolve. Whilst gradual expansion may have been manageable in the past and something the Founders could look after alongside their day jobs, once you acquire funding and shift into accelerated growth, your investors will expect you to move swiftly, bringing in the best talent at short notice. You’re going to require a talent acquisition plan. In fact, demonstrating that plan will frequently be a requirement for obtaining funding in the first place.
Let’s talk about money. Pre-seed money is often self-funded by entrepreneurs, but this is rarely a long-term sustainable strategy. Consequently, seed funding is sought to expedite product development. Typically, venture investors supply this, when they believe in your concept, see potential, and are prepared to take calculated risks.
Founders should be gathering expertise around them at this early stage; selecting and engaging with experienced advisors to assist in laying the groundwork for the acceleration into sustainable growth. Because of the availability of venture capital in NYC, initial investment may be simpler to come by right now, so long as your pitch and operating strategy are convincing!
When pitching VC’s, you’ll have a greater chance of securing funding if you can demonstrate a properly designed growth strategy, replete with a clear message of the brand and proposition, fit for purpose assessment and selection processes, and an equity-backed staff retention scheme.
Our goal at Morpheus is to assist NYC based Tech Founders in overcoming these early hurdles, by ensuring you have clear plans in place to help you acquire funding and clarity on how to activate the optimal talent acquisition strategy. Then, once your idea is funded, our team will work with you every step of the way to ensure you execute your plan with speed and precision, assisting you in attracting, securing, and retaining the critical talent your company will require at each stage of growth.
In our experience, partnering with a talent consulting expert who understands the essential growth levers for scale up’s during the pre- funding stage, significantly improves your chances of receiving seed investment and will give your company a competitive advantage.
The right partner will enable you to pipeline, attract, and onboard the top software engineers and sales professionals in the domestic US market and beyond, putting you on the front foot when it comes to winning the war for talent.
Whatever stage of funding your business has reached, it’s critical not to lose sight of the most vital factor in every start-up’s success: timely access to talent. From product design to answering the phone, you and a small group of co-workers were in charge at first. Now, while it’s critical to have access to the right skills at every growth phase, it cannot primarily remain the responsibility of the founders, or else you risk becoming a handbrake to your acceleration.
In the city that never sleeps, but where competition for talent is intense (Amazon, Google and Apple collectively employed over 22,000 people in NYC in 2020), partnering with an experienced talent consulting and solutions provider is a sure-fire way to ensure timely and on demand access to the right skills. For Founders who are too preoccupied with running a rapidly expanding company to think about hiring, Morpheus provides the surety of the expert talent solution you are going to need.
Whether you’re just getting started and looking for your first round of investment, or you’re ready to scale quickly, our team can help. To help obtain the finance and land the crucial talent you’ll need to make your firm a success in New York’s vibrant economy, contact Morpheus today to schedule a discovery session on the talent acquisition strategy you should be thinking about right now.
“Finding, selecting, and onboarding great talent is critical to a company’s success, especially for an early-stage startup like ours, where the limits of time and money are acutely felt.
As we expanded from nine to fifty in 12-months, Morpheus has been a critical growth partner, sourcing and introducing candidates to our vision, values,
and brand, whilst also providing essential onboarding to allow new team members to be productive on their first day. Their involvement has allowed us to focus our efforts on culture and nurturing the team”
Chaz Perera, Co-Founder & CEO, Roots Automation,
NYC, Feb 22
