Tejpaul Bhatia Testimony for City Council Hearing on Technology Startups

Good afternoon. My name is Tejpaul Bhatia and I am the CEO and founder of
MediaMerx, a New York City technology startup. MediaMerx, is focused on helping
media companies reach international audiences through the use of online video. The bulk
of the MediaMerx founding team came from ESPN, where we developed an online video
product called ESPN360 and launched it in the US, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Europe.

I left ESPN in 2006 to pursue my dream of starting an international media company that
leverages new technology and the growth of the internet in emerging markets. When I
began speaking with experts in the startup space and telling them my international media
dreams, many of them told me that I was starting my company in the wrong city and that
I should pick up and move to San Francisco or Boston. I was a bit confused. Didn’t
these people just listen to me pontificate about being an international media mogul? How
could New York City be the wrong city for that? But I kept hearing it over and over
again and from many well established and smart business leaders.

I only came to realize what they were talking about once we began raising money.
Raising our seed round took a very long time. We were fortunate to find very supportive
angel investors, but it took us nearly 1.5 years just to raise our seed investment. In that
time, the world markets changed and we were forced to adapt our business and scale
down our vision given the challenge we would face trying to raise the next round of
venture capital. In comparison, some of my peers who did move to California were able
to raise venture capital as their first round of investment and were able to do it in a matter
of a few months. As a startup, time and speed are very important, and I believe we were
disadvantaged by the fund raising process we went through.

I still stand by my decision to keep the company in New York though because many of
our clients and partners are here. I have access to all the major media companies and
many international companies with offices here.

In addition, there are many services that we have benefited from. A few are:
- The JumpStart program
- Columbia University’s Blue Venture Community
- The Hatchery
- NYC BigApps competition

What my company needs now is help growing our business through increased revenue
opportunities. Any thing the city can do to help me reach new customers and bid on new
projects is very valuable to my company. I need to build an established business now.

Thank you for your time today.