To the New Jersey Tech Community:

It’s been one year since I formally launched NJTechWeekly.com, and I wanted to thank you for your help and support.

I think NJTechWeekly.com fills a coverage gap that used to exist in the Garden State. Until I began publishing, there was no single place the tech community and those who serve it could go to find out what was happening in tech and green tech throughout New Jersey.

Now all that has changed. NJTechWeekly.com and its representatives get to as many tech events as we can, no matter where in N.J. they are held. We cover the venture and angel community; research at N.J. universities; N.J. senators and representatives; the governor and lieutenant governor; the state legislature; the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA); N.J. town and city mayors, who have some say in tech; private economic development organizations; and anyone trying to give the N.J. tech industry a boost.

NJTechWeekly.com covers large and small companies, startups, Fortune 500 firms, privately held and very public companies, coworking spaces, incubators and accelerators. Our website reports on important issues for the tech community, such as startup funding, jobs, the app economy, grants, regulations, immigration and workforce training.

I continue to be amazed by the depth and variety of N.J. tech life and have enjoyed working with and talking to so very many of you over the past year.

Here are some facts:

• Our website’s first story was about one of its earliest supporters, Data Inc., whose executives spoke about the pros and cons of doing business in N.J.
• The first conference we covered was the New Jersey Technology Council (NJTC) 2011 annual meeting. Then, as now, companies were discussing how to find specialized tech talent in N.J.
• The first meetup we reported on was NJ Tech Meetup number 17 in Hoboken, where superangel Fabrice Grinda discussed his investment philosophy.
• Our first in-depth conversation with a startup founder profiled ConnectYard’s Donald Doane, the CEO of a Wayne-based educational technology company.
• During the past year, NJTechWeekly.com published words of wisdom from at least 35 angels and VCs speaking at Venture Association of New Jersey (VANJ), New Jersey Entrepreneurial Network (NJEN) and NJTC meetups and meetings. In addition, I’ve been to many startup pitch sessions at venues like VANJ, NJTC, NJEN and NJIT’s Startupalooza.
• When I had a look, I learned NJTechWeekly.com had mentioned, interviewed or reported on at least 50 N.J. startups, some of which went on to obtain funding in the course of the year. 

The site’s most popular story this year continues to be the speech at the Rothman Institute at Fairleigh Dickinson given by Cognizant’s Francisco D’Souza. However, it is followed closely by our article about a Jersey Shore Tech Meetup discussion on the emergence of location-aware apps. A panel on mobile payment technology options at the NJTC was our third most popular story.

During this first year, our Around New Jersey section has covered tech in N.J. communities, with stories ranging from police installing license plate scanners to schools implementing curricula on iPads. I also wrote about some mentoring and other good work our tech corporate citizens are doing, mostly by encouraging and sponsoring Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) activities.

In addition, NJTechWeekly.com recently launched an Opinion section and encourages submissions.

So what are my goals for the coming year? Frankly, NJTechWeekly.com needs more advertising on the site; we are bootstrapping and running in the red. I constantly strive to serve the N.J. tech community’s needs, and I ask for your support in return by advertising here. Second, I anticipate an exciting redesign of the website to make it easier to use. Finally, I hope to offer a weekly newsletter.

Please let us know what you think of these plans. Also, feel free to contact me with story ideas or improvements you’d like to see. My email is ehsurden@gmail.com, and you can talk to me on Twitter @njtechwkly, or talk back to us on Facebook or on Google+.

Once again, thank you for reading and for your support. I hope you will recommend NJTechWeekly.com to other N.J. tech community members as we work together to make tech even more important in the Garden State.

Sincerely,

Esther Surden

Editor & Publisher