We refer to East Coast Silicon Valley as not just Trenton, but the greater Mercer County region. This includes Hamiltion, Ewing, Princeton, and Robbinsville.

Trenton was an innovative empire throughout it’s history. John Roebling first relocated his cable manufacturing company there from Pennsylvania in 1848 because of the cities strategic placement between New York and Philadelphia.

Roebling had the brilliant idea to invent a new kind of bridge suspension cable made entirely of wire rather than rope. From that point on, bridge cables from all over the country were manufactured right in Trenton including the Golden Gate Bridge. The makers of the Golden Gate Bridge needed it built quickly. They thought, where can we go to have the cables built with such speed and craftsmanship? Trenton.

Trenton and Mercer County’s economy boomed to become an innovative and industrial powerhouse. It included numerous textile factories, clay and pottery establishments, wood and leather working factories, and a growing rubber industry that would soon lead the nation. This ultimately gave meaning to the name of it’s home bridge, “Trenton Makes The World Takes”.

In recent years, it’s no secret that Trenton has suffered from a downward spiral of crime and poverty. The people of New Jersey have suffered for too long at the expense of our capital city lying in ruin of what it once was. That is precisely why our mission here at TRENTON MAKES STARTUPS is to re-spark the innovative culture in Trenton once again; to bring back the meaning of “Trenton Makes The World Takes”. Anyone with a startup idea will be able to receive guidance and potential funding from our program in order to grow their company. This will create economic opportunity for people in our capital city like never before. A renaissance is upon us.

The two best startup accelerator programs in the world are Y Combinator and Techstars. It is crucial that everyone in our capital city knows about these programs as it is part of bringing the startup world to Trenton!

Trenton and New Jersey as a whole has so much energy. It’s just about focusing that energy into something that provides true economic opportunity, like technology and innovation. If we all work together to spark the startup culture in central New Jersey it will takeoff like wildfire. I have long believed that central New Jersey is the Silicon Valley of the East Coast.

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John Snee
Founder, Executive Director