Tech:NYC Digest: August 8

Tech:NYC Digest: August 8

August 08, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Tuesday, August 8, 2023

In today’s digest, Zoom and the future of remote work, a plan for the Kingsbridge Armory, and your late-summer guide to Governors Island.

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  • Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams jointly announced a $200 million plan to revitalize the Kingsbridge Armory, starting with a soon-to-be released request for proposals. (NY1)

    •  The century-old armory in the Bronx was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1982 but has remained mostly unused since 1996.

    • The redevelopment will target partners focused on sustainable manufacturing, emerging technologies, urban agriculture, and more.

  • No new marijuana shops will be able to open in New York, after a judge blocked cannabis regulators from moving forward with retail licensing on Monday. (Politico)

    • The order — stemming from a lawsuit challenging the priority licensing program for entrepreneurs impacted by marijuana enforcement — blocks the state’s cannabis regulator from issuing new licenses, and from granting operational approval to those who are already licensed.

  • The MTA is launching a new app to help riders navigate subways, buses, Metro-North, and the Long Island Rail Road. You can sign up to be a beta tester for the app here. 

In other reading:

  • A Pizza Shop in the Middle of the New York’s Migrant Crisis (The New Yorker)

  • A coronavirus mystery: Why New York was hit so much harder than L.A. County (Los Angeles Times)

  • The Ultimate Guide to One Of NYC’s Best Kept Secrets, Governors Island (Thrillist)

Oh, the irony... Zoom — yes, even Zoom — will require its employees to spend at least part of the week in the office, as The New York Times reports. 

To be fair, the video-conferencing company is far from alone in its decision — most tech companies have already initiated some form of return-to-office, and even President Joe Biden has come aboard the RTO train. But Zoom’s role as poster-child of pandemic-era work says a lot about where workplaces are landing in the now three-year-old (!) debate over the stickiness of remote work. 

Workers still want flexibility.

  • Companies that allow at least one day of remote work each week increased staffing at nearly twice the rate in the year ended in May than those with full-time office requirements, the Wall Street Journal recently reported. 

  • An Indeed study published last month noted that tech industry job postings offering hybrid work arrangements have higher click-through rates than fully in-office roles (and fully remote ones for that matter). 

But there are concerns that come with remote work. 

  • Academic researchers have found that working completely away from the office can lead to some productivity loss, including from a lack of mentoring and training, NPR's Planet Money reported. 

  • About 50% of managers say their hybrid workers are struggling with loneliness and other mental health issues they believe can be better addressed in the office, according to a SHRM survey in June.

The hybrid approach could balance those concerns. 

  • “We believe that a structured hybrid approach — meaning employees that live near an office need to be on site two days a week to interact with their teams — is most effective for Zoom,” a company spokesperson told the New York Times. 

  • That appears to be what many companies are going with: A Pew survey from this spring found that 41% of those with jobs that can be done remotely are working a hybrid schedule, up from 35% in January 2022.

In other reading:

  • Your future bosses may not want that corner office—at least not full time (Fast Company)

  • Second-chance hiring isn’t as risky as employers may believe (HR Brew)

  • AI divides America (Axios)

  • Multiplayer, a NYC-based developer tool for distributed software development, raised $3 million in funding. Bowery Capital led the round and was joined by Okapi VC.

  • Simon, a NYC-based customer data platform, raised $54 million in Series D funding. Macquarie Capital led the round and was joined by insiders Polaris Partners, .406 Ventures, and F-Prime Capital Partners.

  • TytoCare, a NYC-based virtual home care company, raised $49 million in growth funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by MemorialCare, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, and Clal.

  • August 10: Virtual: AI HQ speaker series, with Character.ai CEO Noam Shazeer and Greycroft partner Dylan Pierce. Hosted by Axios. Register here.

  • August 15: In-person: AI@Work City Tour: AI for customer service and sales leaders, with Dialpad CEO Craig Walker, Dialpad VP of AI Engineering Jim Palmer, and others. Register here.

  • August 22: Virtual: #notapitch: Unofficial Feedback on Your Idea/Prototype from a VC, with Brooklyn Bridge Ventures partner Charlie O’Donnell. Register here.

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