Comfy Cheap, SF Hackers, Bougie Homes 🛖

Have you heard about the AGI House? 

It's this massive $58 million mansion in Silicon Valley that's basically a "hacker house" for startup founders, engineers, and researchers. This place is decked out with a koi pond, pool, Zen garden, wine cellar, and even a custom water well.

Monthly rent on Zillow = $45,000 (Talk about bougie living)

Hacker houses or co-living spaces isn’t a new concept at all. A lot of startup origin stories involve founders birthing an idea in a crappy shared studio or a college dorm room (think Steve Jobs). In fact, traditionally, "hacker houses" were these cramped living spaces that tech hopefuls shared to save on rent and exchange big ideas. But now these places have got all jazzed up thanks to the influx of money in the AI industry. 

And AGI is not the only spiffy startup-home in SF. There's also Cerebral Valley AI, which hosts co-working sessions in startup offices and has a Google Doc of events that are not always widely promoted.

Lots of young people are flocking to the Bay Area's AI scene to be closer to the action of hackathons, meetups, and happy hours. Apparently, people are even calling Hayes Valley "Cerebral Valley" because of the concentration of AI communities and hacker houses.

Living in communal houses has been essential to building the Bay Area's tightknit AI scene. It's how OpenAI and Anthropic, two of the wealthiest AI startups, got started. And if you're lucky enough to stay at AGI House, you might even meet some Silicon Valley elites.

In fact, the AGI House throws some insane parties where even Google co-founder, Sergey Brin might show up. 

Contract staffing is preferred. Recruiters need to be nimble to sudden shifts in this uncertain market. Which is why, few are keen on investing in full-time employees. 

Gen Z is almost 50% of our workforce, and companies are learning to adapt to their ways of working. Their priorities are influencing recruitment efforts.

Lastly, skills-first hiring is the future. There’s a growing consensus to remove four-year requirements for jobs. Research shows that workers who didn’t go to college but have experience perform almost as well as college grads on critical measures like productivity.

Our fashion choices have really changed in the past three years. The long WFH hiatus combined with inflationary struggles has made people ditch their high-end pencil skirts and stilettos for funky yoga pants. But it's not just the WFH crowd that wants easy-to-wear clothes. 

Most people now care more about feeling comfortable than how much something costs or how stylish it is.

The fashion industry has taken notice and is adapting by creating comfy clothes that let us sit cross-legged all day. As a result, athleisure is blowing up, and it's expected to be worth a crazy $662.5 billion by 2030!

Three fashion startups that are making it big in the comfy and repurposed clothing line: 

• Nubee combines the casual but elegant look with comfort. Their women’s line contains pullovers, coats, vests, and scarfs which all have a distinctive high neck with a small leather belt that may be easily detached and converted into a hoodie.
• Wool and the Gang is a startup that rebels against mass produced and low quality clothing. All their pieces are hand-knitted and thus, unique.
• Girl Meets Dress is navigating the inflationary costs of high-end clothing. It lets customers order a designer dress and keep it as long as needed. When a dress is no longer in use, it can be sent back to the company.