How can new entrepreneurs stand out in the age of AI?
As part of NY Tech Week, Columbia Business School brought @a16z Partner Bryan Kim in to address that question for a standing-room-only crowd. He was joined by Assistant Professor Mattan Griffel as well as Perpetua Founder Jacqueline Deprey '26.
The lively panel discussion, moderated by Associate Dean Gracy Sarkissian, focused on the qualities investors look for in founders now, optimal paths for MBAs, and the disruption opportunities available to startup founders, among other topics.
"Itâs about building the growth mindset,â Professor Griffel said. âIn AI, itâs all available to you. My job is to give people the sandbox, the safety, and the permission to try.â
Fireside chat with @kirbyman01 and @thechangj - âa lot of growth was starting with the individualâ + âthe opposite of network effect is death spiralâ
aka what happens when your friends stop using a product and vice versa which is why starting w consumer matters (even as enterprise product)
WATCH: Axiosâ third annual AI+ NY Summit during New York @Techweek_ is LIVE đ· Tune in to unpack whatâs next for how AI is reshaping media, money, power and more. #AxiosAISummit
https://t.co/iKXMPuAhEf
Shreya (@shreyamurthy) cofounder at @partiful tells @omooretweets from @a16z talks about the recent ticketing launch on the platform. Her prerequisites before launch:
1. It has to be a delightful user experience, especially since youâre purchasing something
2. Retain the social element that continues to be partifulâs biggest value prop
Partiful is now a âsocial productâ that has a ticketing feature, not vice versa
"Now isnât the time to become a software engineer" is a common AI-era take.
At @Intuitâs Fintech panel, Brad Peterson, CTO of @Nasdaq, shared advice from @AndrewYNg that argues the opposite:
AI systems are becoming more complex, not less. The engineers who understand how these systems work are extremely valuable.
The best way to stay relevant - be right in the middle of the work thatâs changing.
Victoria Wirtala, Startup Partner Manager at @GoogleStartups advises founders to âzoom out," because sometimes, your biggest opportunities are easier to spot when you're not buried in the day-to-day.
#NYTechWeek
âYou have a room full of people feeling alone which just sort of reinforces, weâre really all on this journey togetherâ - David White, Founder Advocate at @GoogleStartups on tapping into the #NYTechWeek community.
The companies pulling ahead are building agents instead of just talking about them. That's the takeaway from @hyperagentapp today: a room of founders heads down on Hyperagent, shipping fleets in real time. #NYTechWeek
Rooftop. Sunset. The sharpest people in AI and finance, all in one place. đ That's how you kick off #NYTechWeek!
Real conversations. New connections. A room full of people building what's next.
Huge thank you to everyone who came out, and to @seiNetwork, @techweek_ for making it happen.
Stay tuned, big things ahead. đ
Vibing and "vibe coding" at the @GoogleStartups#NYTechWeek Fast Track to the Future event, with demos that explore the next generation of AI-powered applications.
Asked Myles Scolnick, Co-Founder and CTO of
@CoreWeave@marimo_io@wandb they showed up for #NYTechWeek.
His answer was straightforward: showcase the product, meet the people already using it, and find new ones, all without making it feel like a sales pitch. Hence the ice cream. đŠ
The best #NYTechWeek events meet people where they are. Sometimes that's a panel, sometimes that's ice cream on a hot afternoon.
Thanks @CoreWeave@wandb and @marimo_io and the founding team for keeping us cool. đ