Business Insider Chris Dixon
Onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt on Tuesday, Dixon predicted that 10 Silicon Alley companies will be worth $1 billion or more in the coming three to five years.
On the heels of Etsy's successful IPO, this statement doesn't come as much of a surprise. And there already are a few New York tech companies that have reached billion-dollar valuations, like coworking startup WeWork and MongoDB.
But it's still some positive words for a tech market that's often criticized for being smaller than Silicon Valley.
In New York, "There's a certain minimum critical mass you need, and I think we're getting there," Dixon said. "It just takes time. I think of it as, Silicon Valley has had over 50 years of developing, and the other cities that are most relevant right now are New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle."
Besides talking about the potential of New York's tech scene, Dixon also talked about his investment thesis.
He says that the best way to figure out what the new trends in tech are is to look at what hobbyists and developers are excited about. "What the smartest people do on the weekends is what the rest of people will do in 10 years for work," he said, referring to things like bitcoin, virtual reality, drones, and 3D printing. "They're smart and gravitate toward interesting things. That has historically been a very good indicator of where the future's going."
Disclosure: Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, is an investor in Business Insider.