Tuesday, March 24, 2026
In today’s digest, public school AI guidelines, a fresh push on bike lanes, and what the State Senate’s proposal to end the Qualified Small Business Stock tax exclusion would mean for New York’s tech sector. 🗽
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NYC just rolled out official AI guidelines for its 78,000 public school teachers, using a “traffic light” system to spell out what’s allowed (green), where teachers should use caution (yellow), and what’s off-limits (red). 🚦 (Gothamist)
Green lights include translation, organizing information, lesson planning, and drafting communications to families and staff.
Red bars AI from grading, discipline decisions, and creating special education plans — with strict limits on using student data.
Coming soon in June: A more comprehensive playbook.
Construction is kicking off on a long-planned protected bike lane along Prospect Park, part of a broader push to expand safer cycling infrastructure across the city. 🚴 (Gothamist)
The $15.5 million project, scheduled to finish in fall 2027, will create a two-way bike path on Ocean Avenue, add pedestrian upgrades, and build a new plaza honoring the late U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm.
It’s part of a larger redesign effort around the park, with more traffic changes and bike upgrades coming soon.
Some news for our suburban friends: The Supreme Court just declined to hear a challenge to New York’s new election law, clearing the way for most local races outside of the city to shift to even-numbered years alongside federal elections. ⚖️ (Spectrum News 1)
The law moves many town and county elections to coincide with presidential, gubernatorial, and congressional races, following a model used in states like Colorado.
In other reading:
No slowdown for the New York slice (Eater)
‘Love Story’ has people falling for ’90s New York City again (New York Times)
10 NYC art exhibitions we’re most excited about in spring 2026 (Time Out New York)
Together with The Feed Media 🤝
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You’ll learn how to start a newsletter, add qualified readers to your list, and convert your readers into demos and sales calls.
The Tax Fight That Has NYC Tech on Edge
New York’s startup crowd is rallying around a tax issue that sounds technical but lands squarely on founder, employee, and investor incentives: Qualified small business stock, or QSBS. 🗽
Right now, the fight in Albany is over whether New York keeps that tax exclusion, scales it back, or scraps it entirely.
Let’s break it all down. 👇
⏪ A step back: What exactly is QSBS?
QSBS is a specialized stock that holders of early equity can exclude from their capital gains taxes.
The federal program launched during the Clinton era and has been part of the tax code since 1993.
It exists to incentivize founders, early employees, and early investors to commit to building.
Some states, like New York, currently have their own QSBS exclusion program.
Connecticut conforms to the federal exclusion, and New Jersey’s just went into effect in January.
California does not exclude QSBS taxes.
👉 What’s happening now:
In January, the New York State Senate introduced a bill that would entirely eliminate QSBS exclusion retroactive to the start of 2025. There’s also a companion bill in the Assembly.
Governor Kathy Hochul’s Executive Budget and the Assembly did not include a repeal in their proposals.
Why founders are fired up: This is hitting one of the few issues that touches the whole startup stack: founders, early employees, angels, and VCs.
At the federal level, eligible investors can exclude up to 100% of capital gains from the sale of qualified stock up to $15 million.
💪 Time to mobilize: Tech:NYC circulated a sign-on letter over the weekend explaining to policymakers that the QSBS rollback would have a significant chilling effect on the tech ecosystem, AKA the engine powering New York’s economy with:
203K+ direct tech jobs
25K+ startups
41% of NYC’s net job gains since 2019 tied to tech
$28B+ raised by NYC tech companies in 2025
And you all showed up, with 1,100+ signatures from founders, investors, and executives.
🚨 A call to action and what happens next: Budget negotiations are now the main event, and this window is when advocacy matters most.
We’ve launched a form to collect firsthand stories from founders, early employees, and investors to show just how urgent this moment is. Share your story here.
In other reading:
AI influencer awards season is upon us (The Verge)
To scale AI agents successfully, think of them like team members (HBR)
Companies aren’t ripping out business software for AI. Here’s what they’re doing instead (Wall Street Journal)
Welcome to our weekly jobs section, where we spotlight a selection of the NYC tech jobs from Tech:NYC’s Jobs Board — all recently posted. 🔥
Today, we’re highlighting a few engineering-focused roles:
Principal Software Engineer — Microsoft ($163k-$296,400 / year): You’ll be part of a cross-functional team of software engineers, data scientists, technical program managers, and designers who work side-by-side with high-impact customers and their engineers to build innovative solutions. Apply here.
Senior Software Engineer – Java — Squarespace ($128,500-$231,500 / year + equity): You'll be part of a collaborative, high-impact team working to create scalable, reliable systems behind some of the most intuitive tools on the web. Apply here.
Senior Developer Experience Engineer — Justworks ($167,500-$211,500 / year): You’ll be one of the first dedicated engineers on a platform organization supporting 300+ engineers. You’ll shape not just the technical foundations but the culture and practices of the team. Apply here.
Amani Therapeutics, an NYC-based neuropsychiatric biotech, raised $25 million in Series A funding from backers like RTW Investments.
Spade, an NYC-based data and AI platform that helps banks and fintechs turn transaction strings into structured merchant data, raised $40 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Oak HC/FT, with participation by Andreessen Horowitz, Flourish, Gradient, NAventures, National Bank of Canada’s corporate venture arm, and Y Combinator.
Featured events:
⭐ March 31: Runway AI Summit, bringing together industry leaders across media, technology, consumer brands, robotics, and more to explore how AI is reshaping how work gets done — and what comes next for enterprise. Register here with promo code TECHNYC50 for 50% off.
⭐ April 6-9: HumanX’s conference for AI leaders in San Francisco, uniting 6,500+ leaders, builders, and investors driving real transformation. Discover cutting-edge innovations and accelerate your impact through networking opportunities. Register here with promo code HX26P_TECHNYC to get $$$ off your pass.
Other great events:
March 25: Founders Improv, an interactive session to help founders sharpen their investor pitches using the tools of improv. Register here.
March 25: Speed Pitch, where every founder meets with three matched investors in one-on-one eight-minute sessions. Register here with promo code TECHNYC20 for 20% off.
March 25: Equitable AI for Outcomes: Moving From Principles to Practice, a one-day virtual convening bringing orgs together (including Tech:NYC’s Decoded Futures!) to explore what equitable AI adoption looks like in real-world practice. Register here.
March 26: Rho Hoops Watch Party, for founders and the Rho community to gather and watch some basketball. Register here.
March 26: How The Nation’s Top Law Enforcement Organizations Are Navigating Disruption, a discussion with leaders of organizations representing state Attorneys General on how they’re equipping their members and offices with the resources needed to uphold law and order during times of disorder. Register here.
March 26: American Fintech Council’s inaugural Marketing and Communications Cocktails & Conversations, hosted in collaboration with Tech:NYC, CLYDE, and Current. Register here.
March 26: Make It in Brooklyn Ag Tech Pitch Contest, bringing together local Ag Tech startups, early-stage founders, seasoned investors, and industry leaders to spotlight solutions that will define agriculture’s next chapter. Register here.
March 31: Climate Scaling Summit, a keystone convening where you can connect with thought leaders in manufacturing, supply chain, and workforce development alongside growth-stage startups that have already made the post-pilot leap. Register here.
March 31: Building at the Frontier, a panel with the builders and operators pushing deep tech forward, featuring Fauna Robotics’ Rob Cochran and Radical AI’s Joseph Krause. Moderated by Eric Newcomer. Register here.
April 2: Hockey Game for Finance Leaders, featuring the Rangers vs. Canadiens. Register here.
April 2: Building the American Century, part of Deep Tech Week, featuring fireside chats with David Ulevitch, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and co-leader of the American Dynamism practice, alongside key members of the team. Moderated by Hyperstition Incorporated’s Andrew Cote. Register here.
April 14: Govtech Happy Hour, for govtech founders and operators, civil servants past and present, and policy enthusiasts. Register here.
April 14: April Nexus Cocktail Mixer, an executive mixer designed for leaders driving operations, technology, and growth at top brands and retailers. Register here.
April 16: Construction Robotics Summit: From Dirt to Data, bringing together the builders, technologists, and decision-makers advancing robotics across the built environment. Register here for early-bird pricing before March 31.
April 28: Rillet Recon, a full-day program on the future of AI-native finance. Register here.
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