Thursday, March 27, 2025

March 27, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Thursday, March 27, 2025 

In today’s digest, outdoor dining, sidewalk scaffolding, and how NYC startups are using AI in the workplace. 🤖

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  • Outdoor dining is on its way, starting Tuesday in NYC, and the DOT has released a list of establishments approved for sidewalk dining or roadway setups. Check out this map showing the locations of every setup. 🍴(Gothamist)

    • The agency estimated that 2,600 establishments are approved or conditionally approved for some form of outdoor dining so far this year. 😋

  • The NYC Council unanimously passed a new set of bills to reform sidewalk scaffolding, limiting the duration of the sheds and increasing safety features like requiring LED lighting and taller structures. The new rules will limit the facade repairs to three months, instead of the current time limit of “forever.” 😉 (Just kidding, the current time limit is one year.) (NBC New York)

    • According to city data, there are over 8,500 active construction sheds across five boroughs, with many staying up for nearly 500 days.  

  • The Yankees may have their home opener today, but Citi Field, home to the Mets, has  been named winner of the 2025 USA Today best baseball stadium food award. (USA Today)

    • When reached for comment, the Citi Field hot dog exclaimed, “I’m the wiener!” 🌭

In other reading:

  • Your spring arts guide for New York City 2025 (amNY)

  • The best breakfast in Manhattan (Eater NY)

  • Under-the-radar New York experiences (WSJ)

Last month we looked at how NYC VCs are using AI in the workplace. Today let’s dive into how NYC startups are using (or can use) AI in their everyday work. 💡

Why it matters: 87% of respondents believe AI is "necessary to maintain or achieve competitive advantage,” according to Superhuman’s recent State of Productivity & AI report. 🖥️

💪🏽 Productivity gains: More than half of every workday is spent in email, messaging, and calendars.  

  • 90% of professionals say AI saves them a full workday every week. 🗓️

  • Adoption of AI in email is strongest — 82% of professionals who use email leverage some AI features. 📧

  • Execs expect AI to drive a 10x increase in productivity within five years. 📈

Here’s a sample of what NYC startup leaders told us about how their companies are using AI:

⭐ Jaclyn Siu, Cofounder and CEO of Starcyle, uses tools like Granola and Superhuman while also building proprietary AI tools: 

  • “We're using AI to dramatically increase our service capacity — we've tripled the number of customers any comparable legacy service provider could serve in just one month — and leverage hard-earned data and insights to optimize our workflows, while maintaining and even enhancing quality.”

🐝 Paul Suhr, Cofounder and Chief Product Officer of Hiveclass, uses AI to improve copywriting, proofread and refine written responses for grants, and align content to national and state standards:

  • “We view AI as an ‘always on, high-capacity teammate’ that helps us get a fast, informed view of the landscape that allows us to spend more time working on the business rather than in it. 

🤖 Chris Hedley, Cofounder of Headstart, says his team uses a wide array of AI tools for both engineering and sales cases:

🔌 Shameless plug: Applications are open for Decoded Futures at the Tech:NYC Foundation — our no-cost, seven-week program designed for NYC nonprofits looking to use AI to scale their impact. 

In other reading:

  • Should you quit your job? Wage growth is better for employees staying put (Crain’s New York Business)

  • The Big Four is betting on AI agents — and working out how they will transform consulting (Business Insider)

  • Local newsrooms are using AI to listen in on public meetings (Nieman Lab)

  • Capital Markets Gateway, an NYC-based equity capital markets platform, raised $30 million in Series C funding led by StageDotO.

  • Jolly, an NYC-based employee rewards platform, raised $16.5 million in Series A funding. Zach Kirkhorn led, joined by Bullpen Capital, Dorm Room Fund, and Eigen Ventures.

  • March 28: March Technical Roundtable, an AI Review event for researchers, engineers, and founders focused on open-source Generative AI. Register here.

  • March 31: Everything Angel Investing: Investor & Founder Mini-Series Kick Off, the first of a three-part series on all things angel investing. Register here.

  • March 31: Swaney’s Snark Tank Gen AI Comedy, a new tech pitch and comedy show. Register here.

  • May 1-2: Designing for Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment, a workshop exploring how each stage of the design process can be adapted to include older adults with a range of cognitive abilities. Register here by April 1.

  • April 2-3: Smart City Expo USA, featuring the CEOs of the Miami Dolphins, Paris 2024 Olympics, TONOMOUS.NEOM, five FIFA World Cup 2026 Host Cities, and Tech:NYC’s very own Julie Samuels! Register with promo code TECHNYC20 here.

  • April 3: Leading Product Strategy as a Founder, a workshop focusing on product processes customized for lean startup teams that will make your team more efficient and strategic. Register here.

  • April 3: Software’s Agentic Future, a Deep Tech Week panel discussion and fireside chat on the emergence of coding agents and their impact on software development. Register here.

  • April 10: GenAI Collective Demo Night, where eight startups will showcase their products. Register here.

  • April 27: hackNY Spring, a one-day conference for early to mid-career developers who want to level up in tech. Register here.

  • April 29: Latest & Greatest from Jonathan Frankle, an AI Review talk from the Chief AI Scientist at Databricks on his latest research on the newest AI methods. Register here. 

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