$22 Million New York City Entrepreneur Fund Created for Starting Businesses in New York City

An article on BusinessWeek.com by Henry Goldman reports that New York City and FirstMark Capital LLC, a private equity firm, created a $22 million fund for entrepreneurs who want to start a business in New York City.  The funds are a joint effort of both FirstMark Capital LLC (contributing $19 million) and the City of New York (contributing $3 million) to help entrepreneurs who want to open a business in New York City by providing them with early stage capital. 

The first New York City start-up company to receive funds was MyCityWay, which creates applications for iPhone, Androids and iPads.  The company received $300,000 in start-up funds and will be using the money to move their business from Jersey City, New Jersey to Manhattan; add two employees; extend applications to new markets and make the applications available to more mobile devices. 

In the current economic and political climate, a pro-business initiative promoting entrepreneurship is critical.  However, more effort is needed and while this initiative may be "promising", lets hope that its implementation serves a purpose that goes beyond "political window-dressing".  How about, pro-business and entrepreneurship tax cuts.  How about the abolition of New York States oppressive MTA tax that burdens and punishes the small business "employers" located in NYC?