Tech:NYC Digest: October 18

Tech:NYC Digest: October 18

October 18, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Monday, October 18, 2021

In today’s digest, NYC beats out rest of US in recent vax rates, MTA unveils physical OMNY card, and what asynchronous work tips every startup can use. 

  • 🗳 Heads up: Today is the last day to request an absentee ballot for the Nov. 2 general election, if you can’t vote in-person (or would prefer not to due to COVID-19). Request your ballot online here.

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By the numbers:

  • New positive cases statewide: 3,003 (-1,201) 

    • New positive cases, NYC: 687 (-368)  

  • Statewide Fatalities: 28 (-8)

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 1.2 percent (no change)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress:

    • Percentage of adults (18+) with at least one dose: 86.1 percent 

    • Percentage of total population with at least one dose: 73.0 percent

Today’s latest: 

  • Over the past month, vaccination rates have continued to slow across the US, but NYC was a notable exception. (Bloomberg)

    • The city has vaccinated an additional five percent of Black and Hispanic residents in that time, a pace faster than almost anywhere else in the country. A majority of Black residents are being vaccinated for the first time.

  • Eric Adams, the Democratic candidate (and presumptive winner) to become the next mayor, said he supports a vaccination requirement for NYC public school students, but only after the FDA approves the vaccine for children. Mayor de Blasio has remained reluctant to establish mandates for students. (New York Daily News)

  • The MTA has begun distributing the new OMNY tap cards to retailers across the five boroughs as it continues to phase out the MetroCard. (Staten Island Advance)

    • The new OMNY card will cost commuters $5, plus whatever monetary value they load onto it, but they remain active for seven years, nearly five times as long as a normal 18-month MetroCard expiration date.

    • Later this year, OMNY vending machines will be installed in subway stations and other transit hubs throughout the city.

  • The Board of Elections has expanded early voting to a few more sites across the city, including the Metropolitan Museum, the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, and the Brooklyn Museum. The early voting period is Oct. 23 to Oct. 31, find your early voting site here. (Gothamist)

In other reading:

  • They Resisted Getting Vaccinated. Here’s Why They Changed Their Minds. (New York Times)

  • Should You Mix and Match Your Booster Shot? (The Atlantic)

  • The US may be less prepared for the next pandemic than it was for the current one (New York Times)

While plenty of startups are still figuring out where on the spectrum of hybrid work their post-pandemic workplaces will land, others are jumping straight into “async-first” models. 

  • With asynchronous work, teams say goodbye to meetings and embrace pre-recorded town halls, short Slack conversations, and project tracking via tools like Trello and Asana.

Skeptics are quick to point out the downsides: The lack of real human connection with colleagues or facetime with managers — but proponents say their async norms have resulted in higher retention rates, more productive output, and happier employees.

Protocol spoke to founders and tech executives who have embraced async work and shared tips on how to make that transition. Among their tips:

  • Hire workers with strong independent skill sets: "You can't micromanage across time zones. That's why it's important to hire people who are self-motivated and can be self-managed,” said Doist CEO Amir Salihefendić.

  • Find creative ways to cultivate community: Balance day-to-day async work with sync activities that focus on team connection. Team retreats and even Zoom office parties are ways to do that, as long as they’re engaging, says Workplaceless CEO Tammy Bjelland.

  • Tools are everything: How you collaborate using Slack, Notion, Asana, etc. can make all the difference — so choose the right ones for your team. For async teams, video messaging app Loom is popular. 

  • Document everything: Comprehensive employee handbooks — that are searchable — creates a hub of information that remote-first employees can access when they can’t walk down the hall to ask the managers with those answers. Streamline CEO Vincent Le Moign says his employees start and end their day by writing what they plan on doing and what they've done in the team Slack channel, for colleague visibility and so managers can give feedback.

Our takeaway: Due to the pandemic, more tech startups are doing asynchronous work — whether they call it that or not. And even if they plan to eventually shift back to pre-pandemic office cultures, flexible work is here to stay. That’s why the async work tips will still be useful regardless of what your team’s work week ultimately looks like.

In other reading:

  • We Mastered Zoom From Home. Just Wait for Hybrid-Office Zoom (Wall Street Journal)

  • Small talk at work is boring. Our research shows how you can do better. (Washington Post)

  • 8 Zoom settings you didn’t know existed (Protocol)

  • Ambra Health, a New York City-based image management and sorting software maker, was acquired by Intelerad Medical Systems, valuing the combined business at $1.7 billion. (Bloomberg)

  • Geopipe, a New York City-based machine learning platform for building 3D models of cities, raised $2.4 million in seed funding. Village Global led the round and was joined by Matrix Partners, the Alexa Fund, AME Cloud Ventures, and others. (AlleyWatch)

  • Lucid Diagnostics, a New York-City based maker of tests for esophageal precancer and cancer, went public on the Nasdaq under the ticker $LUCD. It raised $70 million in its IPO after pricing in the $14 range. (BusinessWire)

  • October 19: Virtual: Hard Truths on Technology, with Girls Who Code CEO Tarika Barrett and TechEquity Collaborative CEO Catherine Bracy. Hosted by Axios. Register here.

  • October 20: In-person: Cybertech NYC, with Congressman Ritchie Torres, former CIA director Gen. (Ret.) David Petraeus, US Dept. of Energy CIO Ann Dunkin, NYCEDC president and CEO Rachel Loeb, and others. Use special Tech:NYC code “fullnyc21a4” for a free “full event pass” ticket. Register here.

  • October 21: Virtual: The New Benefits Package, with Upwork chief people officer Zoe Harte, Paradigm IQ managing director Dr. Evelen Carter, and others. Hosted by Protocol. Register here.

  • October 22: Virtual: FutureProof Tech Summit, with Aclima CEO Davida Herzl, Twitter head of ethical AI Rumman Chowdhury, Lerer Hippeau investor Meagan Loyst, and more. Hosted by the Startups & Society Initiative. Register here.

  • October 28: In-person: NYC: Reborn Summit, with Tech:NYC executive director Julie Samuels, Common founder and CEO Brad Hargreaves, MTA acting chair and CEO Janno Lieber, and others. Hosted by the Manhattan Institute. Register here.

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