The Nexus: Why I’m Long NYC
The most geopolitically important tech company in the world isn’t in San Francisco or Beijing. It’s in Veldhoven, a Dutch town you couldn’t find on a map. The world’s largest retailer is run from Bentonville. Music fans pay a monthly tithe to Stockholm.
I mention this because the timeline was spicy this week. Brian Distelburger kicked it off by arguing that while you can start anywhere, San Francisco is the only place to scale a giant. It’s a familiar refrain from Bay Area titans like Garry Tan: if you aren’t in SF, you aren’t playing in the big leagues. While there is some truth to this, it isn’t the whole story.
On raw Tech Depth, SF is an A++. If you need an engineer to optimize a database for 100 million concurrent users, there is one game in town. It is a special place, and we spend a lot of time there for a reason.
But founders should cast a wider net. When I look at our portfolio, the connection between Place and Performance is undeniable.
Lovevery dominates early childhood from Idaho (the state with the highest birthrate).
Ownwell is racing to nine figures by focusing on states with high property taxes – an insight you may miss inside the Bay bubble.
Sourgum is modernizing waste and recycling led by a fourth-generation New Jersey hauling family (No Sopranos jokes!).
This brings me to why I am doubling down on New York.
In the AI era, the world isn’t flat; it’s spiky.
“Interface Hubs” are super valuable in the new world. AI can write code, but it can’t fix a supply chain, close an M&A deal, or navigate a regulatory minefield. It also can’t get a stellar group of thought leaders around a table for lunch.
NYC is the Interface. It is the infrastructure layer of the global economy. When you build here, you aren’t just plugging into a “tech scene” – you are plugging into the actual machinery of the world: Finance, Media, Real Estate, Commerce.
This environment forces you to build robustly. Look at the diversity of multi-billion-dollar outcomes NYC has produced recently: Squarespace (SMB Software), Warby Parker (Brand), Datadog (DevOps), UiPath (Automation).
Our own bets reflect this “Real Business” DNA. Windmill is rewiring HR; AirOps is bringing AI into marketing; Hawthorne is building a skincare brand that feels native to the city.
Todd Saunders (portfolio CEO of Broadlume) nailed this recently: There is a difference between playing the “Billion or Bust” lottery and building a dominant industry platform. Broadlume didn’t need Sand Hill Road validation; we needed to understand the flooring industry.
The Verdict If your metric is “Where can I find the most VP of Engineering candidates next Tuesday?” SF wins.
But if the metric is “Where is the best place to build a massive, integrated business that survives the AI commoditization wave?”
I’ll take the NYC bet any day.
LFG.
