The Oral History of NYC Tech Week

From hackathons to city networks

Before there was NYC Tech Week, there was a different internet

The First Experiments (2007–2015)

In 2007, a small group of founders in Boulder got together for a weekend, they called it Startup Weekend.

54 hours to go from idea → prototype → pitch

It spread globally supported by institutions like the Kauffman Foundation, Google Ventures, and many volunteers around the world; it was open to everyone and with a format that encouraged collaboration and building functional MVPs

The Startup Week format was created for communities with more mature ecosystems, as a way to connect the many participating founders, investors and operators. Workshops, summits, panels, happy hours, a proper festival

Startups have been about community from the start, rebelling, creating, reaching users directly. Most startups are familiar with hosting meetups, devrel, and community oriented marketing, so it has been pretty easy to coordinate at such scale. Trusting every participant to do their part and cover a large ground

The Reset (2020–2022)

Everything feel like infinite growth for a while, budgets increasing, everyone hiring, larger events; then the pause came, then the layoffs, the rate increases

Many communities and events that paused haven't returned, many organizers moved to remote events over zoom. There were many advantages, but also forced adaptations that created distant in normally close communities

New York changed

The Reinvention (2022–)

In 2022, Andreessen Horowitz's Tech Week was launched in Los Angeles. In their words:

"The idea was simple: create a space where startups, investors, and industry leaders could connect, learn, and collaborate—all outside the confines of traditional tech conferences. The first Tech Week debuted in Los Angeles, pulled together in just six weeks by the leadership of Katia Ameri. With around 30 events, it served as a grassroots effort to highlight the city’s growing influence in the tech sector."

Then expanded to New York in 2023

The Explosion (AI Era)

By 2024, aided with the ease of AI tools, it went from hundreds to thousands of events, tens of thousands of attendees, AI founders everywhere

Rooftops, studios, offices, art galleries and still no main stage; effective networking where many new startups are created

“I met my cofounder at a random rooftop in SoHo.”

“The best event had no speakers.”

“I missed half my schedule and it didn’t matter.”

The Present Year 2026

Starting last year a16z suggested people use Partiful, luma continues publishing their calendar, and many more collectives are organizing events for their community

People visit NYC from around the world, is a perfect week for international business collaboration