Tech:NYC Digest: September 25

Tech:NYC Digest: September 25

September 25, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Monday, September 25, 2023

Are you tired of the 🌧️ yet? (Relief is coming, but not for long.) Plus, wishing an easy, meaningful fast to all those observing Yom Kippur.

  • In today’s digest, the housing plan combining all other housing plans, post-pandemic strategies for spending and investing, and how to be realistic about measuring RTO metrics.

Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

  • A new housing plan from Mayor Eric Adams hopes to aggregate a set of small zoning changes that add up to constructing 100,000 new homes over 15 years. (New York Magazine)

    • Some of those rule changes include throwing out parking space minimums for new buildings and loosening development restrictions around transit corridors and for office building conversions.

  • In some exciting Tech:NYC member news: Joby Aviation delivered the Air Force’s first electric passenger aircraft today. The air taxi is capable of carrying one pilot and four passengers, and Joby will continue to partner with the Air Force to research how to best train pilots and maintain its aircraft in real-world situations. (New York Times)

  • If you’re a Brooklynite, get ready to start composting all of your food scraps beginning next week (it’s a non-optional mandate). (New York Times)

  • And heads up: Beginning today, you can order another four free COVID tests from the government's (reopened) at-home testing program, shipped directly to you.

In other reading:

  • How the Pandemic Changed the Way We Spend and Invest (Bloomberg)

  • Your social guide to the oldest paved street in NYC (TimeOut New York)

  • The events to catch at this week’s Brooklyn Book Festival (Gothamist)

Yes, we’re still checking the RTO barometers collecting local data on office attendance, and as Crain’s New York pointed out, New York’s in-office occupancy exceeded 50% for the third time since March 2020.  

  • The seven-day period ending Sept. 13 clocked an average 50.1% rate. That’s a 7.5% increase from the week prior, a spike we expected following the Labor Day holiday.

  • Tuesdays remain the busiest — office attendance on that weekday nearly reached 63% of pre-pandemic levels. Fridays still log less than 30%.

Looking ahead: The questions we continue to field from HR leaders and hiring managers try to pin down when these numbers will have staying power, but the data points to a more complicated picture:

  • Office attendance in New York remained within a few percentage points of the 50% rate from June through the Fourth of July, which prompted another steep dip.

  • The city had yet to bounce back to the 50% mark until now, which indicates that instead of a consistent plateau, we can expect more seasonally-defined norms, particularly during the summer and end-of-year holidays.

A related question: Is the office bringing more people to events, or are events bringing more people to the office? However you slice it, the tech conference circuit in New York is back and busier than ever. Two we’re looking forward to:

  • On October 11: The 2023 Tech Summit, presented by Tech:NYC and Crain’s New York. Join us in Hudson Yards to meet the founders and investors – both established and emerging – we think are shaping the future of tech in New York. More special guests will be announced later this week. Tech:NYC members get an exclusive discount on tickets by using code TECHS23 when registering here.

  • Beginning October 16: The official New York Tech Week has now logged 250+ events happening across the city to celebrate the growth of the New York ecosystem (including several events we’re co-hosting with our member companies). Check out the latest master calendar here.

In other reading:

  • Are performance reviews actually useful? (Fast Company)

  • Tech’s Serial Marathoners on Their Favorite Long-Distance Runs (The Information)

  • GiftPack AI, a NYC-based corporate gifting startup, raised $4.3 million in seed funding. Chang Hai Lin led the round and was joined by a group of other individuals.

  • Mundi, a NYC-based fintech platform for cross-border trade operations focused on Mexico, raised $15 million in new funding. Haymaker Ventures led the round.

  • September 28: In-person: Cornell Tech @ Bloomberg Speaker Series, with BlocPower founder and CEO Donnel Baird. Hosted by Tech:NYC, Bloomberg, and Cornell Tech. Register here. 

  • September 29: In-person: AcceleratorCON 2023, with The Muse founder Kathryn Minshew, Remarkable Ventures managing partner Murat Aktihanoglu, Founders Village CEO Yasmeen Butt, and others. Use code AC23013% for 30% off tickets by registering here.

  • October 4: In-person: How to Go From $1M ARR to $10M, with Help Scout chief revenue officer Andrea Kayal, Bloomfire head of revenue marketing Deidre Hudson, and Innovatemap principal product marketer and brand strategist Meghan Pfeifer. Hosted by Innovatemap. Register here.

  • October 4 – 5: In-person: Smart City Expo 2023, with Mayor Eric Adams, NYC CTO Matt Fraser, Newlab co-founder David Belt, LinkNYC CEO Nick Colvin, and others. Use code TECHNYC50 to receive 50% off tickets by registering here.

  • October 11: In-person: 2023 Tech Summit, featuring CLEAR CEO Caryn Seidman Becker, Google Head of Trust & Safety David Graff, Esusu Co-CEO Wemimo Abbey, US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and others. Hosted by Tech:NYC and Crain’s New York Business. Use code TECHS23 for discounted tickets by registering 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.