GarysGuide

What GarysGuide does

GarysGuide is a privately held, founder-owned online community and tech events listing platform headquartered in New York City. Founded in 2008 by Gary Sharma (originally as 'Silicon Alley Reporter' and rebranded within months of launch), the company aggregates and curates technology, startup, and entrepreneurship events, jobs, and deals across 12+ cities including NYC, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Austin, and London. The platform is built on a web-based architecture with email newsletter capabilities, calendar export integrations (Google Calendar, Yahoo, iCal, Outlook), user authentication via LinkedIn OAuth, and location-based event filtering by region. No mobile app is offered and no public API or SDK is available.

The platform serves a horizontal audience of startup founders, venture capitalists, angel investors, technologists, developers, designers, tech executives, and event organizers. Its primary functional value is consolidating a fragmented tech event landscape into a single searchable calendar, with a weekly newsletter reinforcing repeat engagement. The defining non-product asset is founder Gary Sharma's personal brand as 'The Guy with the Red Tie,' through which he physically attends 100+ events weekly to drive organic awareness and word-of-mouth referrals.

Monetization rests on two streams: (1) Red Tie Sponsorship, a bespoke advertising program in which companies pay for branded logo placement on Gary's signature red tie worn at events — past sponsors include Lyft, IBM Bluemix, MasterCard, PayPal, Verizon, SAP, British Consulate General, and Cornell NYC Tech — and (2) freemium event listing fees, with basic submissions free and select events marked as 'Gary Event' for premium curation. The company operates with 1-10 employees, has no disclosed institutional funding or parent company, and does not appear to deploy AI/ML capabilities in its product or operations.

Name

GarysGuide

Legal name

GarysGuide

Website

https://garysguide.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

GarysGuide is a privately held, founder-owned tech events listing platform founded in 2008, aggregating 100+ weekly events across 12+ U.S. cities for startup founders, investors, developers, and tech organizers, monetized via Red Tie Sponsorship advertising and freemium event listings.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Tech Events Discovery Platform

NAICS

Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (51929), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Local & City Guide Content Aggregators (MPACAKAJ)

Keywords

• Tech events calendar
• Startup community platform
• Event discovery listings
• Entrepreneurship networking
• Red tie sponsorship

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Red Tie Sponsorship: Companies sponsor Gary's red tie by placing logo stickers and paying for promotional mentions at tech events he attends. Targets startups, accelerators, venture funds, and companies looking to reach the influential startup and tech community.
2. Event Listing Fees: Events can be listed on the platform. Some events are marked as 'Gary Event' indicating special curation or promotion.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

GarysGuide operates a web-based events listing platform that aggregates and curates technology, startup, and entrepreneurship events across multiple major cities including New York City, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Austin, and London. The platform provides event discovery, a jobs board, deals section, and a weekly newsletter to a community of founders, investors, developers, and tech professionals. It also offers a unique Red Tie Sponsorship advertising program where sponsor logos appear on founder Gary Sharma's signature red tie at events.

Product overview

GarysGuide is a tech events listing platform offering a unified service that aggregates and curates technology, startup, and entrepreneurship events across multiple major cities including New York City, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Austin, and London. The platform consists of three core products: the Events Platform for discovering and browsing tech events, the Jobs Board for startup-related employment opportunities, and the Deals section for community discounts. Additionally, the platform offers a Weekly Newsletter for email-based event curation and a unique Red Tie Sponsorship program for advertiser visibility. GarysGuide serves a highly targeted audience of startup founders, investors, technology executives, developers, and other tech community members.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• GarysGuide Events Platform A technology and startup events listing platform that aggregates and curates tech events, meetups, conferences, and networking gatherings across 12+ cities including NYC, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Austin, and London. Free for attendees to browse, filter by city, and export to calendars.
• GarysGuide Jobs Board A job listings section featuring technology and startup-related employment opportunities for the tech community. Allows job seekers to browse startup positions and employers to post openings to a targeted tech audience.
• GarysGuide Deals A deals and discounts section offering special offers, promotions, and discounts relevant to the startup and tech community.
• Gary's Red Tie Sponsorship A unique advertising service where sponsor logos are displayed on founder Gary Sharma's signature red tie, providing walking billboard exposure to the startup and tech community at events. Past sponsors include Lyft, IBM Bluemix, MasterCard, PayPal, Verizon, and SAP. Contact-based custom sponsorship pricing.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100+ events listed weekly
• +1 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• ER AcceleratorminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNYC startup incubator partnered with GarysGuide as part of their community organization network including inSITE, Girls in Tech, New York City Venture Connection, Startup One Stop, Ultra Light Startups, and Standard Start.
• inSITEminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEntrepreneurship program partnered with ER Accelerator and GarysGuide as part of the NYC startup ecosystem network.
• Girls in TechminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal organization dedicated to empowering women in technology partnered with ER Accelerator and GarysGuide as part of the NYC startup ecosystem network.
• New York City Venture ConnectionminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNYC-focused entrepreneurship organization partnered with ER Accelerator and GarysGuide as part of the local startup ecosystem network.
• Startup One StopminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStartup support organization partnered with ER Accelerator and GarysGuide as part of the NYC startup ecosystem network.
• Ultra Light StartupsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNYC-based startup community organization partnered with ER Accelerator and GarysGuide as part of the local startup ecosystem network.
• Standard StartminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStartup support organization partnered with ER Accelerator and GarysGuide as part of the NYC startup ecosystem network.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Techmeme: Curated technology news aggregator that, like GarysGuide, surfaces the most-discussed items in the tech industry via human curation. Comparable as a community-defining media property serving founders, investors, and operators.
• Crunchbase: Premier database of startups, funding rounds, and ecosystem participants. Comparable as a discovery surface for the same investor and founder audience that GarysGuide reaches through its events.
• Hacker News: Y Combinator's community-driven tech news and discussion forum, with a strong 'Show HN' events thread tradition. Comparable as a curated, founder-centric community platform with overlapping audience of developers, founders, and investors.
• LinkedIn Events: Microsoft-owned professional network with integrated event creation and discovery features. Comparable as an event-listing surface for the same professional audience GarysGuide targets, with dramatically larger distribution.

Direct peers

• Meetup: The largest community-driven events platform in the U.S., serving many of the same tech meetup organizers and attendees as GarysGuide. Directly comparable as an event discovery and listing destination for the startup/tech ecosystem.
• Eventbrite: Major event listing and ticketing platform with deep penetration among tech conferences, meetups, and networking events. Overlaps with GarysGuide on event discovery and organizer-facing tools, but at much larger scale.
• BetaList: Early-stage startup discovery platform serving founders, investors, and tech enthusiasts. Comparable as a curated community resource for the startup ecosystem, with overlapping audience of early adopters.
• Lanyrd: Tech-conference discovery platform (now operated by Eventbrite). Was the most direct historical peer to GarysGuide in curating the global tech and startup conference calendar.

Regional players

• Built In NYC: NYC tech hub covering startups, jobs, and events with a content-and-community model. Comparable as a regional platform aggregating NYC tech events, jobs, and ecosystem news — a broader portfolio but same local audience.
• AlleyWatch: NYC-focused media outlet covering the local startup ecosystem with event listings and founder profiles. Directly comparable as a regional curator of NYC tech content and community.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/garysguide
• Xx.com/garysguide

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about GarysGuide