Here’s a response/question I posted on a thread on Nate’s blog.  There has been a lot of dialogue lately on the NYC startup scene and its potential.  I think this touches on one of the key issues at hand.

I agree that understanding programming (jargon and the whole works) is a necessity. It seems like that can be picked up in a basic CS101 book, reading the right blogs, and experiencing it firsthand. I luckily sit next to two very talented programmers who are more than willing to teach me about the different languages/uses/etc.

You began to address the primary dilemma before:
“Building a program which effectively identifies the best and brightest locked away in these industries, and providing the resources to turn their disruptive ideas into disruptive startups, is a big answer for me.”

I’m still not entirely convinced that learning code is the finite answer here. If I’m 2-3 years out of college working at the Goldman Sachs and McKinsey’s of the world and suddenly get the entrepreneurial itch, I can’t drop everything to learn to code. And even if I do, my code will never be as good or robust as that of a talented programmer who has been at it for years. Like you said, immersing oneself, eating and breathing engineering is a great way to start; however, I think there’s a lot more to it.

If the value-added of this particular demographic is not concentrated in product development, then where is it focused? How can you take the best and the brightest from the “Titan Industries” and focus their skill sets towards transforming the way startups grow? Chris Dixon also had an interesting post on this yesterday, but I’m still curious as to how and where this group fits in. I don’t think there’s one right answer, but it’s a question worth exploring in order to better understand how to leverage NYC’s competitive advantage in this area.