1. They're not seeking equity. They're open to investing in a company, or becoming a customer. They say they're doing this as an experiment, and I believe them.
2. The NY Times is, I think, the most technology progressive entity of old media. I think their webpage is the best online newspaper (granted, that is America-centric). They consistently have excellent interactive visuals, their recent avalanche feature was amazing (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4950054), and their iPhone app is actually good.
3. Getting access to the experience and data at the NY Times could be enormously helpful for startups in media.
4. I actually pay for an NY Times subscription, so I'm hopeful that they'll end up doing something that will benefit them, and in turn, me as a reader.
Of course it's to be expected that they have one of the more prominent digital departments among media companies, given their size. But I think it's a fair to argue they've gone way beyond just trying to put out a decent digital media project, just as other notable digital companies innovate and produce and share beyond their core selling products.
I would urge any new venture to give this serious consideration. The NYT isn't just a media company - they touch on a lot of different areas and there is a large range of business opportunities lurking under the hood.
However, how many start-ups can really afford picking up and relocating to NY for a 4 month incubator without having funding (which SpaceTime does not appear to offer). I hope the selected start-ups are offered some kind of funding to cover relocation/living which can obviously be experience for 4 months in NY.
" for this first iteration of timeSpace, we will not be offering funding. While that may unfortunately limit the pool of applicants, it is the most viable way to efficiently launch the program and get entrepreneurs on board as soon as possible. We will reevaluate for future iterations.
Very sorry that this poses a problem for teams based outside of NYC.
Best,
the timeSpace team"
