Hackathon, venture capitalist, coffee, these are the three magic ingredients that allowed San Francisco (United States) to survive the Covid-19 epidemic and claim the title of world capital of artificial intelligence (AI). ). Hackathons, creative meetings of developers, have indeed multiplied in recent months in Silicon Valley. Venture capitalists open their checkbooks again, especially when they hear the AI serenade. And the cafes are full of eager customers.
However, it was not won. In San Francisco this year, we often talked about the end of the golden age. The hybrid formula, a clever mix of working at home and in the company, means that 40% of office space is no longer needed. Numerous offices, located in the lower part of the city (downtown), have permanently closed. Half of the stores have lowered their iron curtains in the Union Square district. Ultimately, 50,000 people, frightened by expensive rents, left the city and their offices during the pandemic.
And yet, San Francisco comes back to life. A good number of veterans are returning and newcomers are flocking to the gate. “We initially thought of settling in New Yorkadmits Antoni Rosinol, a graduate of MIT University on the East Coast, co-founder of Stack AI, a platform for organizing the workflow in the company. New York was closer to our customers in Europe. »
But San Francisco won thanks to the subtle blend of AI and its entrepreneurial spirit. The Stack AI team achieved this in January 2023. And it was a “epiphany”. In hackathons, assures the business creator, “we met one of our first investors, we found clients and we talked with colleagues. It could be competitorshe admits. But they don’t have a winner-takes-all mentality. We discuss the best ways to do things”.
More and more agreements
Thomas Piani, product director at Brex, an expert in financial services, similarly praises the quality of human relations in the San Francisco Bay Area. During the pandemic, Brex closed its offices. But they have since reopened for around a hundred employees who come there two or three times a week to talk about their projects and interact with their managers.
And above all, meet other talents in town. Mr. Piani enjoys his interactions with employees of start-ups and high-tech giants. He likes to chat informally with colleagues from related fields who “ask the same questions”. “Here, I have the feeling of being at the forefront of innovationhe said. There aren’t one or two interesting start-ups. There are a hundred of them. »
You have 55% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.