The Tech Power 50

Always a hub for innovation, recent events in New York have created a new era of influencers.

Jelena Kovacenic, Fred Wilson and Desiree Gruber.

Jelena Kovacenic, Fred Wilson and Desiree Gruber. Photos courtesy NYU Tandon School of Engineering; Kmeron; Submitted/Photo illustration by Alex Law

Industry insiders will tell you that New York has always been a hub for technological innovation and enterprise, but a string of recent events – a planned Amazon office complex in Queens, Google’s $1 billion expansion in Manhattan, new regulations on the ride-hailing industry – have turned heads from the West Coast to the East Coast, making this the perfect time to release City & State’s first Tech Power 50 list.

Power is a hard thing to define in any field, but being a key player in the tech world is to have the other foot in any number of other worlds – whether that’s finance, health, security or design. Perhaps you coined a pithy expression that is now driving the national debate over maintaining an open internet. Maybe you’re tackling the challenge of directing public policy for New York’s most visible startups. You might be drawing from a wealth of experience to take on the even tougher challenge of correcting gender and race inequities in tech.

We reached out to insiders and experts to compile this list, ranking each person based on their achievements, their business savvy, their interplay with state and federal government, and their sway with powerful politicians. Since we cover elected officials on a day-to-day basis, we limited this list to those who are not strictly in government but instead influence it from the outside.

The next time you hear New York called a tech hub, you’ll know the key power players behind its successes.


1. Fred Wilson

Partner, Union Square Ventures

Fred Wilson
Photo courtesy Kmeron

Ask New York’s tech influencers to identify the most powerful people in the industry and one name comes up again and again: Fred Wilson. The veteran financier has been called “a spokesperson for New York City’s digital entrepreneurs” and “the dean of New York’s venture capital community.”

A venture capital investor since 1987, Wilson is known as an early backer of companies like Twitter, Etsy, Tumbler, Twilio and MongoDB (founded by No. 5 Kevin Ryan). His firm, Union Square Ventures, has raised $1.4 billion and invested in 261 companies since 2004. His wildly popular blog, AVC (“where everyone is welcome and the conversation is civil and lively”) is a frequent online stop for investors, startup founders and anyone who wants to understand New York’s tech ecosystem. Wilson is active on Twitter as well, where he has amassed more than 650,000 followers. He is a co-chairman of Tech:NYC’s board of directors, a position he shares with No. 2 Tim Armstrong.

2. Tim Armstrong

Co-chairman, Tech:NYC

Tim Armstrong
Photo by Albert H. Teich/Shutterstock

From Google to AOL to Verizon Communications Inc., Tim Armstrong’s career over the past couple decades has touched some of the biggest names in the media and tech universe. After an early job leading sales efforts at Google – where he built its advertising business from $700,000 annually to billions per quarter – he left the internet giant to take on an assignment as the chairman and CEO of AOL in 2009, helping the fading juggernaut pivot and remake itself. AOL was eventually acquired by Verizon for $4.4 billion. More recently he was the CEO of Oath Inc. – a Verizon-owned media company created in 2017 after the AOL-Yahoo merger – Armstrong announced in September he was stepping down.

In New York’s tech community, the co-chairman of Tech:NYC (run by No. 9, Julie Samuels) is a mover and a shaker. He’s an investor in betaworks (run by John Borthwick, No. 43) and has made angel investments in several early startups.

3. Jenny Fielding

Managing Director, Techstars

Jenny Fielding
Photo by Dan Dennison/Shutterstock

As both the managing director of a top New York accelerator, Techstars, and as a co-founder of The Fund, an early-stage venture capital fund, Jenny Fielding is extremely plugged in and well-respected in New York. “When I started at Techstars, I was the only female managing director – now we have eight or so,” Fielding tells Forbes. “It has an impact on our classes.” She takes over a program that started as a shoestring operation in Boulder, Colorado, offering investments in the mere thousands of dollars to participating startups. Techstars has since expanded worldwide and provides $120,000 plus a rigorous product development program and networking opportunities. It has discovered and graduated New York startups like ClassPass, Plated and Timehop.

Last year, Fielding pooled her network and expertise with three other entrepreneurs to create The Fund, a New York City-based venture capital fund that now boasts nearly 80 members. A former lawyer who previously worked at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and founded VoIP company Switch-Mobile, Fielding also teaches a class on startups and entrepreneurship at Columbia University.

4. Bradley Tusk

Founder and CEO, Tusk Holdings

Bradley Tusk
Photo by Charlie Gross

Bradley Tusk’s new book, “The Fixer: My Adventures Saving Startups from Death by Politics,” reveals how the political strategist who worked for then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg put his political experience to work helping startups, including Uber, FanDuel and Tesla, work with lawmakers to survive what he calls the “clutches of politics.” Tusk’s work with Uber in 2011 cemented his reputation when he agreed to help the then-unknown ride-hailing startup navigate New York’s taxi regulations in exchange for shares of the company. It was a good deal – with those shares now thought to be worth $100 million.

Venture capital and political strategy firm Tusk Ventures, which raised $36 million for its first fund and is seeking $70 million for its second fund, says it “protects startups from politics.” Before he became known as “Silicon Valley’s favorite political fixer,” Tusk also worked for then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer. He was co-executive director of the New York City Charter Revision Commission under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and went on to manage the former mayor’s re-election campaign.

5. Kevin Ryan

Co-founder and Chairman, AlleyCorp

Kevin Ryan
Photo courtesy AlleyCorp

Kevin Ryan, who has been called “the godfather of NYC tech” and the city’s “$1 billion tech kingpin,” hit startup gold a few times during his career. Among the internet entrepreneur’s successes are DoubleClick (bought by Google in 2007 for more than $3 billion), Gilt Groupe (bought by Hudson’s Bay Co. in 2016 for $250 million), Business Insider (bought by German media conglomerate Axel Springer in 2015 at a valuation of $442 million) and MongoDB, which had an initial public offering in 2017 at a $1.18 billion valuation. Ryan’s latest project, NoMad Health, raised a nontrivial $12 million last year.

Ryan is busy outside of the tech industry as well. He is vice chairman of the Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit that invests in businesses and projects designed to spur economic development in New York City. Ryan sat on the Yale University board of trustees from 2012 through 2018 and is a former board member of Human Rights Watch.

NEXT STORY: The New York 50 Over 50

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.