Go promote yourself, New Yorkers!
Charlie went and poked the bear, so I'm going to have to add some fire to this furnace and poke back. Charlie says he's tired of the self-promoters packing the Silicon Alley 100: People's Choice ballot box with votes. He singles out Richie Hecker and Hilary Rowland because, well, they're on top.
But let's list everyone else (in order of current rank on the list) who's promoted themselves on their blog, Twitter, email list, etc, etc:
- Darren Herman (on his blog)
- Bill Sobel (on the NY:MEIG blog)
- Brett Petersel (on the Web 2.0 Meetup Facebook Group)
- Greg Verdino (on his blog and Twitter)
- Gary Vaynerchuck (on Twitter, but can't find link)
- Allen Stern (on his blog -- given it was in the review of BricaBox itself)
- the list goes on...
So first of all, I think Charlie is unfair to single out two people, in a sea of others. Richie and Hilary we just more effective than the other people listed above.
BUT THERE'S A SECOND ISSUE HERE...
Of course you should promote yourself. This is the People's Choice list!
Henry and his team at SAI will announce their list and it will most surely include Fred and Scott -- and my guess is it will also include Charlie. And the fact that the three of them have come up so far on our list, without any self promotion, speaks volumes to their influence in the community.
But Henry and Co aren't perfect. Do you really think they know exactly who the top 100 most influential people in NYC are? How could they? So that's why we have the People's Choice list. So "we" can tell "them" who they may be missing.
For instance, I never knew about Hilary. And you know what? I'm impressed. Seriously. Just because she doesn't put together a Meetup or have every startup East of the Mississippi hanging on her every word, it doesn't mean she hasn't been influential. Sure she's a self-promoter, and that's not my style (ironically, she's the only single person I've asked to vote for me), but that's her style, and it's gotten her far. Heck, maybe she's not as influential today as she was -- this is Charlie's suggestion -- but she wasn't even on my radar until she pounded the list with votes.
The point is, Silicon Alley isn't just made up of USV or DFJ people, alumni, portfolio companies, etc. Similarly, loud people like me
So yes, go vote for Scott and Fred and Charlie and Clay and Henry and Barry and all the other non-self-promoters out there.
But also, you should go promote yourself! Or at least promote those around you.