Member Spotlight is a series that showcases the entrepreneurs behind emerging companies. In this edition, we recently chatted with Neil St. Clair of AlleyWire.
AlleyWire is a video-centered media outlet and discovery platform. They’ve showcased over 250 innovative startups and founders in New York City since September 2013 in the form of short informative video stories. The idea is tell stories of “real people, not insiders”.
The former broadcast journalist turned founder shares how he got into video and how his father inspired him to take a leap into entrepreneurship.
I was hooked after my first time on-air. In high school, I had a deep Barry White voice that probably sounded strange coming from a 13-year-old. When auditions for my high school’s sports program “Panther Power Plays” came around, I decided to put my natural talent to use.
Broadcast journalism was always a passion of mine. After graduating from Boston University, I worked for News10Now (now YNN) in Binghamton. Eventually I got promoted to work at NY1 after I covered a mass shooting and worked there for a couple months focusing on Staten Island coverage. But due to some family reasons, I left my gig at the news station.
After taking some time off, I worked in financial research and studied for a graduate degree at Yale. During this time, I decided to found a company called UnBuyThat, a p2p marketplace for buying and selling service (i.e. a hotel room you can no longer use).
Like most first-time entrepreneurs, I learned a lot about what not to do after starting my own business. I know what type of people I should probably never work with again and what could be assets or liabilities. But it also taught me the basics of starting a business — from forming an LLC to writing out financial statements.
At AlleyWire, we’re always thinking video first, and we’re NYC focused. So far, we’ve produced around 250 pieces of original content, and this is from a team of 40 correspondents, producers, editors, and videographers. Our content is targeted to consumers, not insiders of Silicon Alley.
My motivation for becoming a founder comes from my father. He had a very successful career in advertising, but his one regret was that he always worked for someone else. If this amazing man only regrets this one thing, then I can’t live my life the same way.
Yes, being an entrepreneur is risky, but it’s also fun. It’s a chance to see your ideas come to life — how cool is that! Whether AlleyWire makes $1 or $1 billion, I don’t much mind because I just love what I’m doing, and I believe that it’s important.
