This is a continuation from our previous blog PYGIO’S US TECH TOUR (1/2) , so give that piece a read before this next piece.
Part 1/2: Mid-West and East Coast
Going to the US is like saying you are going to ‘Europe’. It really could mean anything unless you define which state and city you are in. For example, if you go to Europe, are you going to Saint-Tropez in France or are you going to Kharkiv in Ukraine? By comparison, going to San Francisco varies from going to St George, Utah, which again varies from going to New York or Boston. These cities might as well be in different countries.
St. George, Utah
Driving from LA to St George, we took a break from meetings to compete in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships (this is a triathlon event which takes place all over the world). PYGIO people work hard, train hard and like to have some fun too! At the event, we revisit that common theme throughout this blog series, which is “scale in the US”. It is quite hard for a non-US citizen who has never been to America to comprehend the sheer scale of everything element of life there. Ironman was no exception having a race of 3500 competitors per day, with a more impressive 4000 staff complement – a personalised helper for every athlete. That’s over a 1:1 ratio, showing truly remarkable attention to detail, passion and organisational mastery.
Las Vegas
We then had a momentary stop in Las Vegas, Nevada where we saw tech conference after tech conference being advertised. Being close to Silicon Valley, Vegas is a place where AWS, Google, Money2020 and so many other companies host their conferences. Once again, we are bombarded by the sheer number of tech-tourists, our sense assaulted by the number of activities, places to visit and of course, the number of hotels, each boasting thousands of rooms where tourists come to gamble and be festive. This did not seem like reality to us, Vegas is a Disneyland for adults.
Boston
The crescendo of our trip was undoubtedly meeting one of the most accomplished South African-born American Entrepreneurs and founders in the US. We were privileged enough to spend some time with their team at Founder Collective in Boston. Once again, scale was the theme of the day and understanding how to take a business from an idea to IPO is what these folks do, and they do it better than anyone else. Massachusetts is a European-feeling region boasting over 80 Universities. We met with friends at the MIT Sloan Campus and toured the grounds of Harvard, both institutions act as a conveyor belt of talent for the start-up ecosystem in Boston.
Washington DC
From Boston, we flew to the nation’s capital. Washington DC is clean, functional and we felt a sense of opulence and power on every street corner, waiting to see Joe Biden or Kamala Harris drive by (they didn’t). We did, however, meet a non-tech entrepreneur in the restaurant game. We visited a number of his fast-casual Greek dining spots, cleverly called GRK. He then treated us to a 13-course meal at his latest brainchild, Imperfecto, Michelin-star restaurant. Never before have we been treated like this – talk about an assault on the senses from the best in the US.
New York City
The center of power (DC) and the center of finance (NYC) are just a stone’s throw away from each other. This is by design and it’s no wonder that the bulk of the US’s $54 trillion AUM (assets under management, almost half of the world’s $112 trillion AUM), resides in NYC. As a result this city is built for opulence, speed, and entertainment. We walked and walked and got lost in this living organism which is the Big Apple. People are on the move out of necessity: a 30 minute coffee meet-up is strictly adhered to so people don’t lose precious seconds working on their next to-do item. People talk fast, move faster and best believe if you are not captivating someone’s attention in the first 10 seconds, don’t expect them to stick around. NYC is fantastical and glamorous, but make sure you have what it takes to keep up!
USA, we’ll be back.
