On a cloudy Monday morning in Santa Monica, nearly 100 enthusiastic techies donned shorts and athleisure for a group workout next to the beach. It was one of a multitude of events at LA Tech Week where yoga mats and cold plunges replaced cheese plates and open bars.
“People in our community are high achievers wanting to focus on building great businesses, making good investments, being awesome at their job, and also being great parents,” said Oliver Fitz-Gibbon, cofounder of Rally, an investor and founder fitness network that hosted Monday’s workout. “They don’t want to wake up the next day with a hangover.”
Sobriety is all the rage in tech these days, and Los Angeles has long been known for sunshine and health.
This year’s LA Tech Week featured a running and surfing club in Santa Monica, hiking in Brentwood, saunas and ice baths in Venice, and tennis and “Puppies & Pilates” in Beverly Hills.
“You’ll leave with new contacts, clear headspace, and maybe even a future foster pup,” the invitation promised.
On Wednesday, a “Rejuvenation Mansion” in Bel Air featured cold plunges, sauna circuits, brain mapping, breathwork, and meditation “for the people who can’t afford to burn out—but can’t afford to slow down either.”
“This is one of my favorite events during Tech Week because in tech, people network all the time, but here is a place to actually slow down,” said SoHa Zadeh, a software engineer and entrepreneur visiting from San Francisco. “People are here to connect, but we are not talking about work.”
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That’s not to say those looking for a free drink had to look far. Boozy happy hours and parties could be found from Long Beach to Pasadena.
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An exclusive after-party at Delilah, a popular West Hollywood club, featured a pyramid of overflowing sparkling wine glasses for those lucky enough to get in; Most people were turned away at the door.
“The time for work is over,” said the invitation. “The time for play is here.” Next to that was the emoji of a martini.
LA’s sophomore slump
When mega venture firm Andreessen Horowitz hosted LA Tech Week in 2022, the area’s tech scene was riding high after the pandemic caused an exodus of talent from San Francisco. A16z, as the firm is more commonly known, opened an office several blocks from the beach in Santa Monica as investors chased deals in consumer startups, always a sector where LA has excelled.
Three years later, many investors won’t touch consumer startups. AI mania is in full swing, with San Francisco its undisputed epicenter. Meanwhile, LA’s tech scene is trying to escape its sophomore slump.
“All of the energy is suddenly in San Francisco, and it feels like it sucked all the energy out of Los Angeles,” said Kahlil Lalji, cofounder and CEO of Natural, a startup that is building payments infrastructure for AI agents. “I don’t think Natural has a chance at being successful if we were to start it in Los Angeles.”
Lalji founded his previous startup, Ivella, in Santa Monica in 2021 and lived near the beach until a month ago. When he started his new company this summer, he said investors all had one question: Would he be moving to San Francisco?
“They were implying that if we were not building in San Francisco, it would be a problem,” said Lalji. “Luckily, I was already in that headspace, but I think had that answer not been yes, we would not have raised this round.”
There is still an advantage to backing local companies, said Shamin Walsh, managing director of BAM Ventures, the Los Angeles early-stage firm that was an early investor in Honey, which sold to PayPal for $4 billion in 2020. For one thing, valuations have gotten so frothy in San Francisco that LA can offer a relative bargain.
“We are very valuation-focused,” Walsh said. “It’s hard to have that strategy in San Francisco.”
The sunshine also continues to be a draw.
“A lot of great founders, who have optionality, really like living here because of the lifestyle,” Walsh said.
While LA does not have much in the way of AI, it does boast an exciting defense tech scene near the airport in El Segundo led by Anduril, which has soared to a $30 billion valuation.
A title of a Thursday night happy hour featuring a Korean taco truck summed it up: “Thank God for El Segundo.”
