Cities, cycles and the ‘comeback’ of San Francisco • TechCrunch

Welcome to Startups Weekly, this week’s spotlight on startup news and trends by Senior Reporter and co-host of Equity Natasha Maskerenhas To receive this in your inbox, subscribe over here.

“San Francisco is back!”

“I will never leave.”

“He died a long time ago.”

They’re all takeaways, not particularly good ones, but all of them show some level of confidence that you, of all people, know the way the city’s beating heart should count.

To me, San Francisco, even though it’s known to be attached to it, despite its fleeting and frustrating moments, feels like it’s never left. It’s too easy to believe that cities can leave our lives, disappear from culture, or lose relevance. I’m not saying that San Francisco’s mass exodus of empty storefronts and office buildings isn’t legit – that’s quite something. But people are slowly bouncing back: According to Vox, citing LinkedIn data, “Over the past 12 months, San Francisco has seen the second-largest labor population gain of any area in the United States.

Heard. It feels good to eavesdrop on conversations and hear people talking about the future, see bookstores filled to capacity, and catch full networking events and happy hours. I’m constantly connecting and hooking up with people I’ve only known through Twitter DMs — a milestone I only dreamed of when I “lived here.” Maybe it’s just the way I’m experiencing San Francisco, but I feel like the social energy in our neighborhood is less playful, more earned. Like, yeah, there’s a big hype cycle around AI and I think people are flocking to Hayes Valley for some reason, but have I had any coffee lately from the founders’ rants? At TechCrunch you seem to focus on building rather than covering pre-production. Maybe I’m just lucky, but I feel the restored SF feels more grounded, less boastful.

It makes me think: Cities never leave our lives, they simply teach us lessons about cyclical periods, fleeting friendships and how society can be dynamic.

If you like this newsletter, you should check out my personal blog! In the rest of this newsletter, we will talk about Pit Deck Tears and Artificial Intelligence. As always, you can follow me Twitter Or Instagram, where I unfortunately don’t post about this city’s demise.

Pitch Deck Teardown to start

It never hurts to remember that eating your vegetables is important – and this is my lazy introduction. Haje Jan Kamps‘ Latest Pitch Deck Teardown on Spinach.io. hey As a reminder, this series involves walking through starting pitch decks that include areas of strength, with potential for overall improvement and wise analysis.

Read the full analysis here And remember: If you’d like to have your own pitch deck featured on TC+, here’s more information. Also, check out our Pitch Deck Teardowns and other tips, all collected in one convenient place!

follow up

As with any scam, accountability and transparency are needed. T.C Dominic-Madori Davis He’s written a couple of stories about how the artificial intelligence boom will sit with historically underfunded minorities. There is good news and there is bad news. Let’s start with the good: First, female-founded AI startups are seeing a boom in VC funding. OK, yes. At the same time, the work is not done – bias continues to be seen in all aspects of AI, from VCs investing to the products that innovators are building.

Why this is important, in Davis’ words: “As AI enters a new golden age, conversations about diversity are more important than ever. Every new technology seems to come with some dire consequences. So far, AI has contributed to racist hiring practices and slower housing approval rates for black people. Self-driving cars can detect black skin. They get into trouble, which causes black men to be beaten by them; at one point, robots identified black men as 9% more likely to be criminals than whites, which will be under a new light if the justice system is seen. [began] Adopting AI.

Image Credits: salihkilic / Getty Images

etc. etc.

• Z5 Capital, which focuses on enterprise startups in the United States, plans to raise $25 million in funding, according to SEC filings.
• Green Bay Ventures, a VC firm started by NEA co-founder Dick Kramlich and partner Anthony Schiller, has closed $90 million for a new investment vehicle, according to an SEC filing.
• Overheard at Happy Hour in San Francisco: “You know, some people think Adobe is a startup.
• If you missed last week’s Startup Weekly, catch my latest edition here: “Dear Founders, Back to Office is a numbers game.
• TechCrunch is coming to Boston on April 20th. I will meet with my dear colleagues to ask senior experts at a one-day founding conference. Book your pass fast! Speakers will include Kurti Levy of Techstars, Dayna Grayson of Construction Capital and James Currier of NFX.

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Discuss next week,

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