Tech Week in New York

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The most interesting thing to me about New York Tech Week is how it’s organized. 

Tech Week combines the zeitgeist of crypto with the initiative of Kickstarter.

It bears no resemblance to top-heavy, centrally planned extravaganzas at the Javits Center. 

For anyone who organizes or funds events, Tech Week is an interesting case study. It’s remarkable for both its scope and how fast it has emerged as a major milestone on the city’s calendar. 

Tech Week, slated to run from June 3 to 9th, is organized by venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz. It is coordinated by partner Katia Ameri. In addition to New York, similar events are held in LA and San Francisco.

The whole process kicks off with a tweet that sets the date and invites anyone to submit proposals to host events. 

Ameri and her team vet the pitches and collect them on a Google sheet. It’s not fancy, just a list grouped chronologically with a name, sponsor and a link. 

This year, more than 500 events made the cut. 

The list is available to anyone who signs up on a web page publicized via X. Individuals are encouraged to sign up for specific events. 

Tech Week is billed as “decentralized” since “there is no central conference, agenda or venue: all events are hosted by the founders, startups and firms.”

It’s about as far from the Auto Show as you can get. 

A16Z, as the VC firm is known, organized the first NY Tech Week last October, harnessing the enthusiasm of an emerging tech startup scene in lower Manhattan. Tens of thousands of people attended. 

I find this absolutely amazing. 

Someone 3,000 miles away tweets: we’re having tech week, sign up here!

And people sign up!

It is the tech equivalent of Build it and They Will Come. 

Last October, I met people who flew in from Australia.

According to a tweet from Ameri, one fifth of the events this year are directly focused on AI. She said topics covered will include the evolution of finance, health and gaming. 

Many of the specific events have big-name sponsors including FenwickWest, HSBCInnovation, dialpad, Stripe, Atlassian, PwCUS and Nasdaq.

Two of my friends who organize events in the city, Andrew Yeung and Brett Perlmutter, are capitalizing on the opportunity with unique promotions. 

A16Z benefits generally from the visibility and specifically because they get the lists of participants. They are also cited as co-sponsors for each of the events. 

And they get all that for a fraction of the money and time of putting on a traditional event. 

All it takes is a tweet on X and a sheet on Google. 

And the confidence that when you summon them, people will come.

BRIEF OBSERVATIONS

FIVE STEPS TO PREPARE: There are a lot of these kinds of self-improvement posts on social media. Tiago is one of the more thoughtful.

ONLINE DATING: It’s amazing how quickly - from an historical perspective - we can adapt to massive social change that is caused by technology.

DESIGN: We underestimate how much the impact of design and in particular the impact one individual designer can have on the world.

MORE DESIGN: Harvey Ross Ball was paid $45 for his design of a smiley face that has become one of the most recognizable images in the world.

SOUVENIRS: When I was 14 my parents drove the family across country in a station wagon that pulled a camper. In California we visited Universal Studios where I scooped up fake snow and saved it in tin foil. I still have it.