Tech:NYC Digest: December 15

Tech:NYC Digest: December 15

December 15, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Thursday, December 15, 2022

In today’s digest, adding (free) COVID-19 tests to your holiday shopping list, NYC’s plan to tackle the housing crisis with a half million new apartments, and why SquareFoot thinks the pandemic ultimately didn’t change office norms all that much.

Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

  • After a three-month hiatus, another round of free COVID-19 tests are available to all US households beginning today. (Associated Press)

    • Households can obtain four free at-home tests, which will be mailed starting the week of Dec. 19, at covidtests.gov.

  • As part of a sweeping plan unveiled yesterday, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a target to build 800,000 new homes across the state over the next decade, encompassing the 500,000 new units Mayor Adams hopes to create within the five boroughs. (Politico)

  • New York’s pandemic-spurred rental relief program is expected to close to future applicants on Jan. 15. The program is facing dwindling funding, but could reopen in the future. (Gothamist)

  • And heads up: If you’re at the office today, chances are you’re already aware of some less-than-pleasant weather in the city. Expect more of the same through tomorrow — and several inches of snow upstate.

In other reading:

  • Do rats live rent-free in Mayor Adams' head? Watch our video and decide for yourself. (Gothamist)

  • New York’s Top 10 New Restaurants of 2022 (New York Times)

  • A local’s guide to enjoying the Dyker Heights Christmas Lights (Gothamist)

Office doors have reopened, of course, but word on the street is that executives intend to ramp up efforts to actually get employees keycarding into them next year. While the RTO policies of the largest tech employers come up in the headlines more often, guidance for smaller startups is harder to come by.SquareFoot was founded by Jonathan Wasserstrum, Justin Lee, and Aron Susman to help companies more seamlessly source and grow into their next office space. The company long predates the pandemic — it was founded in 2011, but has since raised nearly $30 million in venture backing and opened in more US markets.In the last few years, the company has had a front row seat to the shifting needs of startups. We caught up with Wasserstrum, SquareFoot’s co-founder and chairman, on how to take advantage of the post-pandemic office market:Here at Tech:NYC, we’ve talked to countless startup leaders about their pandemic experience, including many who were founded during the pandemic itself. Is SquareFoot fielding new requests now that didn’t show up pre-COVID?

  • “Nothing really. We’ve seen that companies are actually taking a bit more space per person than pre-COVID. That’s not due to social distancing; rather, the fact that rents are down in many places across the city means companies can now get more space for the same price.”

What trends are sticking so far?

  • “Flexibility is clearly here to stay. The days of five days in the office for every one, every week are gone for most industries. And while there are surely some companies who will go fully remote, we see more and more companies settling on several days in the office per week.”

How would you advise CEOs feeling stuck on how to communicate RTO or office plans to their employees?

  • “Honesty is always the right answer. Recognizing that while RTO might not be everyone’s first choice, it’s ultimately what’s best for the company. I’d say something like: ‘We understand that some of you prefer to work from home. We appreciate that and we like it sometimes too. We also have seen the benefits of all of us working together in the office. Nothing in life is without trade-offs; here our trade-off is a bit of a commute and putting on pants in the morning in exchange for us being together in the office building something special together.’”

Is now the right time for companies to sign (or renegotiate) a lease?

  • “There is generally never a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ time to sign or renegotiate. Our clients aren’t in the real estate business – they shouldn’t try to time the market. Even the people in the real estate business can’t time the market! Companies should sign a lease when it makes sense for their needs as a business. There are some nice deals out there in certain neighborhoods these days though, so there’s no time like the present if you’re thinking about it!”

And as for SquareFoot’s own RTO policy? 

  • “We’re in four days a week and it’s great. We ramped up from two over the last year and the additional days make things palpably better. There really is no substitute for frequent in-person interactions with a team that likes to work together.”

In other reading: 

  • Company holiday parties are back – but with some restraint (AP)

  • How workers fought back in 2022 (Vox)

  • Workers share the worst gifts they’ve ever received from bosses and coworkers (Fast Company)

  • Frontrunner, a NYC-based decentralized sports prediction market, raised $4.75 million in seed funding. Susquehanna Private Equity Investments led the round and was joined by Soma Capital, Gilgamesh Ventures, FBG Capital, Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, Toy Ventures, Gaingels, Ledger Prime, WAGMI Ventures, and NOA Capital. (TechCrunch)

  • LexCheck, a NYC-based contract analysis platform, raised $17m in Series A funding. Mayfield led the round. (TechCrunch)

  • Retrain.ai, a NYC-based talent intelligence startup, raised $14m in new funding. Radical Ventures led the round. (Newswire)

  • Sweep, a NYC-based no-code config tool for Salesforce software, raised $28 million in equity funding. Participating investors include insiders Bessemer Venture Partners and Insight Partners. (TechCrunch)

  • Synchron, a NYC-based developer of an endovascular brain-computer interface, raised $75 million in Series C funding. Arch Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Gates Frontier, Bezos Expeditions, Reliance Digital Health Limited, Greenoaks, Alumni Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, Project X, as well as insiders Khosla Ventures, NeuroTechnology Investors, METIS, Forepont Capital Partners, ID8 Investments, Shanda Group, and University of Melbourne. (Businesswire)

The New York City Economic Development Corporation is accepting applications for its 2023 Founder Fellowship. A signature program of the Venture Access NYC initiative, the program works with five NYC operators — Chloe Capital, Company Ventures, Newlab, the Tech Incubator at Queens College, and Visible Hands — to support 100 diverse-led startup teams. Learn more and apply by Dec. 16 here.BX-XL, an early-stage startup accelerator program run by the Social Justice Fund and Visible Hands to support BIPOC founders, is accepting applications for its inaugural cohort. Selected founders will receive investments of up to $500,000, mentorship, company-building support, and more. Learn more and apply by Jan. 20 here.The Social Science Research Council is accepting applications for its Just Tech Fellowship. The program is open to cross-disciplinary researchers and practitioners to imagine and create more just, equitable, and representative technological futures. Selected fellows receive two-year awards of $100,000 annually, as well as seed funding for work on other collaborative projects. Learn more and apply by Jan. 30 here.

Any feedback or suggestions of things to add? Get in touch here. Was this digest forwarded to you? Sign up to receive it directly here.