Tech:NYC Digest: May 20

Tech:NYC Digest: May 20

May 20, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Friday, May 20, 2022 

In today’s digest, honoring those we’ve lost to COVID-19, Bill de Blasio announces run for Congress, and the revamped office floor plans tech workers are returning to.

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By the numbers:  

  • New positive cases statewide: 10,458 

    • New positive cases, NYC: 4,241

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 6.5 percent (+1.1 percent)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress: 

    • New Yorkers with at least one dose: 90.4 percent

    • New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated: 77.2 percent

In today’s latest:

This week, health officials confirmed the US officially hit the grim milestone of one million COVID-19 deaths. Here at Tech:NYC, we spend a lot of time thinking about how much technology brings us together — that’s been especially true in the last two years, when we relied on it to keep us connected to loved ones — but also that it’s a supportive tool, and almost never a replacement, of the parts of our lives that make us human.

We were incredibly moved by this New York Times feature of text message exchanges demonstrating just that. We’re sending warm thoughts to those for which this has been a difficult week.

In other news:

  • A patient in Manhattan is being tested for a suspected case of monkeypox after a case was confirmed in Massachusetts on Wednesday. (New York Times) Clusters of the disease, which is related to the smallpox family, were previously identified in several European countries. Here are the signs and symptoms to look for.

  • State lawmakers yesterday reached a deal to extend NYC’s speed camera program for the next three years, including keeping the cameras on 24/7. (New York Post) The agreement follows a surge in speeding violations and laws requiring the cameras be shut off outside of school hours. (New York Times) 

  • Former Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced his candidacy for New York’s newly drawn 10th congressional district. The new district maps are expected to be officially finalized later tonight. (POLITICO New York)

  • And if you’re looking for weekend plans: Frieze New York (and five other art fairs) return to NYC this weekend! Here’s a guide of what to see.

In other reading:

  • NYC weather could fast-forward to summer, if only for the weekend (Gothamist)

  • Is This Really the ‘Worst Steak in NYC’? (New York Magazine)

  • The Transit Museum’s Nostalgia Trains will ride again (Gothamist)

Most tech workers in New York have been back to their offices by now, either due to structured hybrid work plans or just dropping in from time to time. Does it look a lot different than your pre-pandemic workplace? How are you liking (or not) the changes so far?

Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson thinks the workplace of the future should look more like a coffee shop. (Axios)

  • Like most tech companies, Twilio’s proportion of remote workers has grown over the pandemic, from 15 percent to nearly 50 percent. But in many cities, the company has enough people for some sort of office, but not for individual desk work.

“Nobody is excited to go back to the office five days a week,” Lawson said. “They do, however, want a sense of connection and belonging.”

  • The company has turned floors in some of its offices to more resemble offsite meeting space with breakout rooms.

  • Office managers are more like event managers now, he said.

But companies can’t ignore the other side of hybrid work: Revamped online communities need just as much attention as renovated physical spaces.

  • Lawson noted that there’s a long history of strong online communities, but “the trick is figuring out what online community looks like when it’s run by an employer.”

  • PagerDuty CEO Jennifer Tejada is also conscious of ensuring she doesn’t create a culture where office workers get preferential treatment. She likes coming into the office, but doesn’t announce when she plans to do so to remove the pressure that others should as well.

More reading: Protocol recently asked leaders from Slack, Brex, Lattice, and others what they think are the most important function offices can serve right now. 

In other reading:

  • What Gen Z workers crave the most is career stability (Axios)

  • What Higher Interest Rates Could Mean for Jobs (New York Times)

  • Your Employees Want You to Post on Social Media (Bloomberg)

  • Arise, NYC-based provider of virtual care for eating disorders, raised $4 million in seed funding. BBG Ventures and Greycroft co-led the round.

  • Flexspace, a NYC and San Francisco-based coworking network provider, raised $6 million in seed funding. M13 led the round and was joined by R-Squared Ventures and Magenta Venture Partners. (Businesswire)

  • Peek, a NYC-based leasing enablement startup, raised $2.5 million in seed funding led by GFA Venture Partners. (FinSMEs)

  • May 23: In-person: Scaling Your Business Across the Atlantic, with Tradeshift SVP Mikkel Hippe Brun, Public.com director of business operations Kishore Eechambadi, and others. Hosted by the Consulate General of Denmark and Rise by Barclays. Register here.

  • May 24: In-person: The Collision Between Web3 and Consumers, with Unlock VP of business development Patrick Workman and Fenwick partner Vejay Lalla. Hosted by Betaworks Studios. Register here.

  • May 25: In-person: The Business of Biodesign, with AlgiKnit CEO Tessa Callaghan, TomTex chief scientific officer Ross McBee, and Werewool CEO Chui-Lian Lee, and others. Hosted by Newlab and the Biodesign Challenge. Register here.

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