Can New York City supplant Silicon Valley as the premier start-up destination? Plus, new details the iPhone 5, edible ads, and the rest of today's news.
Each day, Inc.'s reporters scour the Web for the most important and interesting news to entrepreneurs. Here's what we found today.
The move to to Silicon Alley. Is New York the next start-up capital? It could be. The New York Times reports that smaller tech start-ups are choosing the Empire State to set up shop. Within the city, start-ups are gravitating towards the Flatiron District because leasing is cheap (well, lower than Midtown) and landlords are tend to be more flexible (though it's possible they just want to be near ShakeShack). Adam Pritzker, co-founder of General Assembly notes, "There were a lot of young companies, a lot of designers and artists, and a lot of venture capitalists working in that neighborhood." Larger tech start-ups have gone further west, choosing the vast office space available in Chelsea.
The iPhone 5 to make an autumn debut. Apple junkies take note: reports are coming in that that the iPhone 5 will make its debut this September. According to Reuters, Apple suppliers will begin production of the new iPhone in July and will include a better camera. In addition, "The new smartphone will have a faster processor but will look largely similar to the current iPhone 4," the paper noted. Mashable also adds that the white version of the iPhone 4 should become available within the next few weeks. Still, Apple is notoriously vague about product release dates, and as Mashable puts it: Take it "with a grain of salt as Apple has been monolithically silent about the matter, as always."
Eat This Ad. It's nothing new to say that advertising is all around us. Now, it may well be inside us, as brands experiment with edible advertising, NPR's Marketplace reports. Using synthetic biology and genetic engineering, scientists can place ads within food products that appear only when it is cooked or consumed. Examples include an ad for pickles that appears on hamburger meat as it is being grilled, and a coupon code revealed magically in ice cream. So will consumers bite? Correspondent Sally Herships encountered skepticism, including from one interviewee (labeled "Tired Mom, Shopping After Work,") who said that the novelty and discount one might get on ad-sponsored food "isn't worth having to stare at ads at dinner."
Companies grant $400 million in value to Startup America. Startup America, a White House partnership with AOL co-founder Steve Case and the Kauffman and Case Foundations, got a big boost today. According to TechCrunch, Google, American Express, Cisco, LinkedIn, Microsoft, and several others have offered Startup America over $400 million worth of funding and services. Startup America will use these goods and services to train and mentor entrepreneurs, increase the number of high-growth firms that create quality jobs and economic growth, and inspire the greater public to go out and "build great American companies."
You'll always fail first. Imagine starting your own company, creating a life-changing, world-saving product, and pouring every dollar, minute and ounce of sanity into cultivating your business. Imagine then realizing one day that your product is in some way irrelevant or unmarketable. What do you do? Sure, you could give up. But Tom Szaky, the CEO of TerraCycle, says it's easy—just change your business model and keep going. Szaky writes in The New York Times' You're the Boss column today about how his company survived its first, second, third and fourth business models and still remains open to more changes. Because in business, there's always room for a plan D.
Unexpected performance art at the MoMA. Last month, the Inc.com editorial team took a trip to the MoMA in New York City. While we wandered among the Rothkos and Pollocks, we came across one truly enthusiastic museum-goer. We even shot a little video, which we'd like to share with you. Unfortunately, we never got his name. Who are you MoMA man?
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