Opinion | Tech Offers a Silver Lining in Ukraine – The New York Times

The world has changed, and the strongest tech founders dont need todays accelerators. They face new challenges and need new solutions. At Neo, were taking on the task of making the accelerator relevant to them again.

In 2008, Airbnb applied to Y Combinator as a lifeline: they needed the cash. If the Airbnb co-founders Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nate Blecharczyk were starting today, they could get funding within days just by changing their Twitter bios to working on something new. They wouldnt need a three-month program with a demo day to raise money. Capital is more abundant than ever, and Zoom has made it easier to raise. Meanwhile, tech talent is scarcer than ever. Start-ups desperately need help recruiting engineers, which is what Neo does. Since 2017, weve built an awesome talent pipeline and convinced hundreds of star engineers to join start-ups.

Building on this track record, weve reimagined Neo Accelerators demo day to be more like a career fair. Instead of pitching investors, imagine pitching an audience of exceptional engineers and scoring meetings with candidates interested in joining you. Thats something every tech founder would want. Starting a company is a lonely experience, especially for people early in their careers, and Covid lockdowns have left us all craving human contact. Unlike any other accelerator, Neo kicks off with a monthlong all-inclusive retreat in Oregon, which were calling Neo Campus. Imagine living under the same roof and bonding with mentors and other founders over meals, hikes, and other activities.

What do you consider innovative now? Talk about specific areas that are under-hyped and overhyped.

Whenever I make predictions, Im usually wrong. I prefer to bet on people smarter than myself and trust them to figure out what to build. With that caveat, there are two areas Im very bullish on in the post-Covid world.

The first is any technology that supports the redistribution of work and wealth from a few concentrated cities to the rest of the world. For the first time in history, prosperity has been decoupled from physical location knowledge workers can be productive from anywhere. This means workers can relocate and work from wherever they want; and employers can hire new workers from all over the world. This is a seismic shift; it may take decades to realize its full scale.

Second, Im bullish on anybody building a new social network. During the pandemic, we saw amazing tech solutions rise to meet our needs. Physical meetings became impossible, so Zoom filled the void. Office conversations became impossible, so Slack filled the void. Making new friends and socializing at parties became impossible yet nothing filled the void. While Zoom and Slacks traffic skyrocketed, Facebook and Instagrams did not. Facebook is the new Myspace. Meanwhile theres an enormous human need that isnt being met, and a trillion-dollar opportunity for whoever reimagines social networking.

At Neo Accelerator, you are stressing diversity and also youth? Are you essentially going back to the old way and with hindsight 2022?

Link:

Opinion | Tech Offers a Silver Lining in Ukraine - The New York Times