Congratulations

...

Thanks, thanks.

10 years ago next month from when, yeah, next month was when we launched it.

I started working on it 11 years ago.

Um, I...

The founding story is in some ways not really that interesting, like a lot of founding stories.

Mm-hmm.

What, what in the la- last sort of 12 months of data would, would either reinforce that for you, or do you think it, it isn't quite that story yet?

No, I think that's very true.

I think you've got two things happening in parallel that underscore that trend.

First of all, the largest frontier labs are hiring and growing in New York like crazy.

Um, OpenAI, Anthropic, huge new, uh, huge new real estate deals.

They're, they're hiring here.

Um, so you see that, and then you also just see the startups just, again, they're, they're coming here as well, but it's a slightly different flavor of startups that you get in, in San Francisco, and I think that's okay.

What, what's the New York City pitch equivalent?

Okay.

Thinking about curriculum, thinking about how we are preparing students not just for jobs of the future, important, but also preparing students to, like, live in a world where these tools are out there.

Um, you know, one of the things that I've been thinking about politically is, uh, 10, 11, 12 years ago when, when, uh, Bill de Blasio first became mayor, um, Fred Wilson, former chair of Tech NYCs board, venture capitalist, of course from Union Square Ventures, kind of went in, saw the new mayor and said, "I think we should work together to ensure that there's computer science education in every school." And they launched a 10-year public-private partnership called CS For All, and they ensured that there was computer science education in every city, New York, in every single New York City public school, and that, that's the answer, right? Maybe that answer looks a little different now.

The CS education of, you know, 2014 is not the same as what we think the tech education should look like in 2026, but those are the places I think where we really can and should be working together to support the kids in the schools.

... much better.

Absolutely.

I think there's...

Um, I just see the...

Um, in your opinion, what do you see happening right now with schools and AI, and where are we headed?

So, it's all over the place.

To answer your question, it is all over the place.

You've got school districts, you've got private schools, public schools, and, and, you know, there is no single playbook right now.

It's really, really messy.

We, in New York City, partner a lot with the public schools, you know, helping think through curriculum.

We have much more success partnering with the schools so that students have access to meet people who work in tech, to learn about tech companies, to see how the products work in the real world, because they will graduate into a world where AI tools are prevalent.

... what its implications might be for us?

What do you disagree with his team on and what would you ask Mr. Mamdani to reconsider in terms of policy?

Oh, that's a really that's a great question.

I think that I don't know what we disagree with necessarily at this point, but I can tell you what we'll be watching for.

Again, the use of technology in government.

We think that's crucial.

And I agree.

want to make sure that his team, that the incoming mayor understand that some of that requires some experimentation and requires being open-minded about new uses of technology.

Are both of those things achievable at the same time, for Mr. Mamdani to have relationships with key figures in your industry at the same time that they try and be close to this president and the Republican Party?

Give us the obvious statements of fact that make New York number two

tech sector in the world.

I mean, listen, I have so many, but just some that I'd highlight that I think that really underscore what makes New York so amazing.

New York is the number one destination for college graduates.

The tech sector here in New York, you talked about the 41% figure, is responsible for or creates 10 times the amount of new jobs in our local economy than 10 times more than other industries.

That's right.

Since the pandemic, since in the past five years.

What is it that the public sector is doing? That's