Founder Mode: SF vs NYC
My observations on the SF tech community after meeting >100 people in the past few days + NYC events in Q4.
I was in San Francisco last week, hosting our first Lumos House event on the West Coast. We hosted ~600 people over four days for dinners and events, including a fireside chat with the Co-founder of Lyft and Presto moderated by yours truly.
I've visited San Francisco three times as an adult, all for tech events, and I always leave with a strange feeling I can't fully explain. I consider myself intense, but maybe it's too intense for me—or maybe it's just too transactional. Or maybe it’s because I don’t feel like I quite fit in as a non-traditional tech entrepreneur.
I decided to write down my observations to share with the community in hopes that some of you may resonate, or even better—offer a new perspective.
These are my observations on the SF tech community – on how people build, live, and thrive – after meeting >100 people the past few days.
Prominent hacker house energy.
I met multiple founder teams who live, work, and sleep in the same location. This feels like work-life integration to the extreme - something you rarely see in NYC, or any other city for that matter.
Outside SF, people care too much about their living space, social status, and personal boundaries, etc. Or maybe social status in SF is living and breathing their startup.
An obsessive formula for radical focus… or burnout.
Dropout culture and upstarts.
Many of these “hacker-house” personas consisted of incredibly impressive young people (18-24) who had accomplished 10x more than I have and could speak much more eloquently than I ever could on multiple topics.
One person raised a $10M+ fund before graduating college, another person built an app with millions of users in high school, and each young person is more impressive than the next.
I also met fewer generalists and more experts who mastered a niche (e.g. Gen Z consumer social, short-form video production, viral social, etc).
Kudos to these brilliant individuals, but part of me feels sad for them that they missed out on formative parts of their childhood (college, video games, fun stuff that is NOT tech-related).
Obsession trumps all.
In fact, some people I met were so obsessed that they were even willing to forgo pay for the opportunity to work at a promising early-stage company. Often new grads and passionate dropouts were offered “exposure” in exchange for sweat equity.
For those who have the privilege to do so, I think it totally makes sense to forgo short-term rewards for long-term gain. Some of these companies offer a front-row seat to building a rocketship. I would’ve done it too.
The hybrid founder/investor persona.
I also encountered a persona that you don’t see often in New York: the venture-backed founder who is simultaneously running a venture capital fund—and succeeding at it!
Running two companies simultaneously seems like a lot but most venture deals are referred to firms by word-of-mouth (portfolio companies or alumni), and if the founder has a large enough network/distribution for deal flow, and an operating partner to run the diligence and administrative aspects of the fund, it could make sense.
No small talk.
I’m someone who enjoys connecting with others on a deeper, less transactional human level.
One thing that frustrated me was the tendency for people to skip pleasantries and small talk at events to get straight to the point.
“How are you?” is met with a 3-minute pitch on their AI startup.
It gets exhausting but I get why people do it. Not for me though.
The hard pitch.
I was pitched >10 times a day during my events. Hard pitches too. One person wouldn’t leave without trying to guarantee a spot on my calendar. I said no. Perhaps founders are taught to be more aggressive in Silicon Valley?
Founder communities.
I can only name a few established founder communities in New York (many of which were influenced by the valley). In SF, there seems to be one on every corner. Incubators, accelerators, co-working spaces, and places for founders to learn, gather, and work. Often free—and very accessible. We need more of this.
It feels like a true community of people tinkering, collaborating, and helping each other out.
Building vs selling.
I met with many technical builders in SF who convinced me of the opportunity, but only after multiple conversations. They have great ideas and vision for the product but communicate it poorly. Call this underselling.
In NYC, the opposite is true. I often meet people who are incredible salespeople yet haven’t built the underlying product yet.
Both building and selling are required to be successful, but perhaps these communities can learn from each other.
EVERYONE is building AI agents.
Similar to when everyone was building a website in the 90s, mobile apps in the early 2010s, and Shopify stores in the late 2010s.
I met a half dozen founders building AI agents to fix software bugs.
The formula for success remains the same across moments: build a moat through distribution.
Veteran talent.
Many founders and CEOs of the world’s largest most powerful companies like Google, OpenAI, Airbnb, and LinkedIn all live here.
They’re accessible and actively involved with speaking, mentoring, and teaching at local programs around the city.
This is less typical in NYC, where we have fewer “veterans” because of fewer tech exits. The ones who do live here tend to be farther away and don’t participate in many community programs post-exit.
***
Both communities have a lot to learn from each other.
I get why many of the world’s largest and most powerful tech companies were built in SF. The intensity and focus there is unmatched. But NYC might just be more fun for anyone who doesn’t care about building a unicorn tech company.
***
One last thing…
In the spirit of community-building, I want to share two projects I’ve been working on for the past few months. Both are in NYC. Both for early-stage founders, CEOs, and investors. Both are free to attend!
The Seed Stage Summit (Oct 25)
Wanna meet the founders behind some of the most impressive companies in the world?
Foursquare – consumer-turned-enterprise software with >50M users and $100M in annual revenue
DocSend – a self-serve doc-sharing platform that sold for $165M to Dropbox.
Chief – women’s membership community valued at $1B
Venmo – America’s most popular consumer payments platform with >50M users
Inspired Capital – Early-stage fund with $900M AUM to invest in pre-seed, seed, and series A companies.
On October 25 in NYC, I invited the founders of these companies to come speak to 100 founders and investors at our Seed Stage Summit.
It will be a one-day event with fireside chats, interactive sessions, and networking. Breakfast, lunch, and coffee will be provided!
We have room left for a few founders to join us.
👉 Interested? Apply here.
The Venture Loft (Nov 18-21)
I’m also hosting a series of dinners from November 18 to 21 in NYC in a Soho loft with meals curated by a private chef (I promise it’s not as douchey as it sounds…)
November 18 | 🍽️ Founder Dinner at Venture Loft – For Seed-Series B CEOs/Founders.
November 19 | 🍽️ Investor Dinner at Venture Loft – For General Partners and Heads of Platforms at early-stage VCs.
November 19 | 🎉 Investor Mixer at Venture Loft – For all early-stage investors.
November 20 | 🍽️ Founder Dinner at Venture Loft – For Seed-Series B CEOs/Founders.
November 21 | 🍽️ Founder Dinner at Venture Loft – For Seed-Series B CEOs/Founders.
November 21 | 🍽️ An Evening at Venture Loft – A cocktail reception for founders and investors.
📌 Andrew’s Bookmarks
My favorite recent things from the internet.
How to Build Bulletproof Self-Confidence – A helpful visual guide for building your self-confidence in different situations.
“Game Theory” at Yale University – A lecture on what I would consider one of the most important topics for business.
How I’d do content marketing to 10x my startup – A list of marketing and sales tactics to market your startup on a minimal budget.
💼 Job Board
Sharing roles at friendly companies I’m familiar with.
👉 Btw, if you want to be part of our partner talent network, next play, and get curated job opportunities in your inbox, please sign up here.
Product Marketing Manager, Carry
Operator, Carry
City Launcher, POSH
Founding Full Stack Engineer, Micro
Client Relationship Specialist, Maestro Lab
Generalist Role, Paradigm
Have a job to share? Please reply to this email.
💃 Community Perks
🍽️ FREE FOOD! InKind is the ultimate dining app for foodies. Get 15% back when you dine and $50 off your bill every month… plus $25 when you sign up. Not sure how long the offer will last. Sign up here.
🚴 Discounted Equinox membership in NYC. Reply here for a free trial and discounted membership.
🏋️♀️ CONTINUUM Access. I also recently joined CONTINUUM, a private, invite-only gym in Tribeca, and it’s now become my second home. If you are interested in exploring a membership, please reply here for a private tour.
🇺🇸 Looking for a US immigration lawyer? Reply here for an introduction to the lawyer I worked with for my O1A visa.
What other perks should I include? Let me know.
"I was pitched >10 times a day during my events." ⬅️ my jaw dropped/I'm giggling reading this. How on earth did you manage this?! Side note: This hard pitching feels very classically NYC energy but maybe I need to spend more time in SF...
Three weeks ago, I landed in SF straight from Argentina with one mission: to join the team at a startup called Bytespace.ai. My main goal? To learn and absorb as much as I can while growing at the same pace as the company.
I came here with a few dollars, some prior experiences, tons of energy, passion, and an insatiable ambition.
At 20 years old, I left everything behind in my country to seize the opportunity I had been waiting for my whole life, haha.
I must admit, SF is an incredible ecosystem. In just three weeks, I’ve challenged myself and learned at a pace that only seems “normal” in this city.
This is the perfect place for the “black sheep,” the misunderstood, those who see beyond the present.