John Borthwick Of Betaworks Talks About Starting A Business In New York (Spoiler: It’s A Good Idea)
John Borthwick and his investment company Betaworks made news last week by acquiring Instapaper, a popular read-it-later app. However, he’s not just looking for companies that are situating themselves on the virtual plane. Instead, he recommends entrepreneurs seriously consider New York as a launch spot, especially if they’re in the media, ad, or hardware game.
Borthwick sees the value in encouraging startups to grow in the New York area but he’s not big on tax subsidies simply because it creates an unusual precedent that could, in the end, force a not-so-lean startup to realize they have run out of cash too soon once the tax bill comes.
The company also launched Open Beta, a place users can visit to see cool new products that the company is building before they’re officially launched.
