Bright Lights, Big City

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New York City is a charcuterie board of social and professional opportunity.

I was reminded of that again last night when I found myself double booked for two very different events. 

One was uptown — on the ninth floor of a 5th Avenue office building — and the other downtown, in the basement of a Lower East Side restaurant.

They were both awesome in their own way and a reminder of how easy this city makes it to connect with new people, provided you make the effort to leave your apartment.

In an era of increasing job insecurity, getting out to meet people you don’t know is the best way to find a new job as well as keep the one you have. 

The uptown event was put on by my friend Harald Collet, CEO of Alkymi and a former colleague at Bloomberg.

He invited a group focused on alternative data to hear speakers Les Kaldus from Franklin Templeton and Michael Tracy from Alpha Alternatives talk about how AI is transforming the industry for private market data. 

Afterwards, I headed to the Lower East Side where Andrew Yeung was putting on one of his signature Junto Club events for founders, engineers and hangers on the NYC tech scene. 

It was the first such event in six months and it was sponsored by the dating app Lara, which funded the two mocktails I ordered at the bar.

I saw a few familiar faces from earlier Junto Club events, including media consultant Jessika Fink, videographer Eitan Miller and interior architect Alime Karimova. 

I had three memorable conversations:

—Cameron Galbraith, a 23-year-old Florida native who works in advisory services at JPMorgan. Cameron, who moonlights as a content creator on YouTube, walked me through how making videos has helped him connect with people, particularly startup founders.  

–Gabrielle Bufrem, a Brazilian product management coach who splits her time between her hometown of Curitiba and New York, explained how she’s found purpose and balance teaching others. 

—Alec Skriloff, a 20-year old engineering student from Indiana University, was here on spring break to pitch his start up, Squib, which builds AI agents that leverage social media to generate leads. He’s been following Andrew online for awhile and decided he had to come.

Alec is the counter argument for people who say Gen Z isn’t motivated. I try to remember what I was doing when I was 20. Whatever it was, I definitely wasn’t traveling 760 miles from Bloomington Indiana to NYC to network in a basement off 9th street in the LES.

The best intro line of the evening came from Daniel Stillman, who wrote a book about The Power of Conversation. He introduced himself by asking: “Do I know you? Are you a big deal?” 

There is really no higher complement you can pay a New Yorker. 

I felt like the only appropriate answer was to say: “I’m not a big deal, but I’m here because I want to be one.”

BRIEF OBSERVATIONS

SELF DRIVING CARS: This hit me hard. I have been assuming self-driving cars would be a bit improvement. Matt points out that it won’t solve the underlying transportation issues.

BE KIND: The kind of sign we need more of in Harlem: Be Kind, Be Well, Be Safe, Be Love

THE RESTAURANT IS EMPTY: Is the restaurant empty because its a restaurant or because its located on the Upper East Side. It matters.

WORKING HARD: If you think you are working hard remember this photo. Two brothers operate this fruit stand 24/7, 365 days a year. Each brother works 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s cold in the winter and hot in the summer. You may work hard. But not this hard.

ARABIC NUMBERALS: This internet meme is undefeated.