GreenBkk.com Tech | Is Silicon Alley here to stay?

Is Silicon Alley here to stay?

By Laurie Segall @CNNMoneyTech May 24, 2011: 4:20 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- In the past year, the New York tech scene has thrived. Startups are popping up all over Silicon Alley. But all the bubble talk has some people wondering if it will last.

Still, investors attending TechCrunch Disrupt 2011 in New York seemed to think that Big Apple entrepreneurs have nothing to worry about yet.

Lerer Venture's Eric Hippeau cited a well-integrated angel investing community as well as established venture capital firms as reasons the Alley will survive.

"Even if there's a bit of a hiccup, the financial structure support system will stay," he said Tuesday.

Hippeau attributes part of the fast growing tech sector to the economic crisis.

"The big competition to a startup is high paying jobs -- finance and media -- two industries that have been completely jolted in the last couple years," he said, adding that many people that might have opted for jobs on Wall Street are now starting their owns firms instead.

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But even though the financial sector is starting to rebound, other investors said they did not think that would slow the pace of new startups.

"Once they see and understand as an entrepreneur you can actually dream and build something," Betawork's John Borthwick said, "repackaging financial products is not that interesting."

SV Angel's Ron Conway also pointed out that more and more New York startups are being led by people who've successfully launched other companies before. That's a good sign for Silicon Alley's longevity.

"Seven of the last New York investments that we've made have been founders that previously started a company in New York -- adding more credence to the fact that there is organic entrepreneurship happening in New York," he said.

Credit: CNN (www.cnn.com)