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These jigsaw blocks. They have real code, by the way. That python gets pumped in. Instead of playing by the rules kids are remaking the rules. They are warping into existence a sky jail, a waterslide. They are teleporting around the map. We want to make its feel like neo in the matrix. They think it is an artificial world, then see that it is more human than they think. Gaming, by the way, is a beautiful metaphor for this. Natasha you have some additional product today. What are you doing what is the new kano . Alex it is a significant step forward for us. It is six times faster, has double the memory. It still is these wonderful creative projects that make art. It is a digital easel to make characters. It is very immediate. The Game Mechanics are stepbystep. You learn how to type simple commands, we call the magic spells. You see colors, and shapes appear before your eyes. That is a narrative adventure called terminal quest. It is a mystery. It is a narrative mystery told stepbystep, where you use command line spells to unlock new powers, and borrow into a new world. You go down the rabbit hole and try to solve the mystery. You dont realize it, but you are learning about the command lines that make a lot of the modern world work. Another area is with kano bloc ks, which is our coding arena. You can change games, change music, it should chain software. You can bring a new types of blocks into the minecraft world. You can maklee sounds appear before your eyes. To put it briefly, it is still the computer anyone can make, but with more speed, more creativity, and more of a sense of play. It allows you at the same price, to make real magic. Natasha thank you so much alex. Alex thank you. [applause] jordan we are about to go for a quick break. Would like to remind everyone to follow me on twitter. See you soon. More from new york tomorrow night on cspan. Radio personalities discuss the future of the industry and the changing landscape of political talk shows. Here is some of the talkshow with my friends has a mike francesca. You have to, whether you are in management, or sales, you have to marry what is the live, local base of radio. That is where everything starts. And married a digital part of this. That is not going away. It will continue. Now everyone carries a transistor radio. We all have one. Everybody has one. Everybody has a radio in your pocket. It cant get any better than that. That is an advancement from where we were 20 years ago. Radio was just in a car, drive time, dont worry about the house. We took care of that with simulcast. Now, you can touch people wherever they are anytime anywhere. That is some of the conference we will have tomorrow on cspan. Our coverage of the annual conference looking at Tech Startups continues. They heard from the heads of companies with electronics, cosmetics, to Online Services providing designer dresses. Jordan ok, people are still filing back in. We have an amazing speaker, so please had back. Here in new york, we are obsessed with the ondemand economy. We are all either lazy, or working harder than the people in separatist go. San francisco. I had decided to take on demand to a new level and start asking for ridiculous stuff like a sunny day, or a better attitude. I think i would next guest is thinking along those lines. Please welcome him along with john sheave or our moderator. You wanted a good panel, and hopefully we will deliver. Lets start off with what is new at post makes . What is going on . Is he signing on partnerships chipotle, starbucks, a few others in the pipeline. What is interesting is that doing this for three years, in the last six months what happened was a lot of the players in the market got out and started talking to firms like post makes mates. They are trying to close partnerships. For the traditional, or the Main Business of delivering food from restaurants youre up to 1. 5 million deliveries since last week, were up to two million deliveries. To the seven and a half weeks to get to 2 million. It is going faster. Is a lot of that being driven by partnerships . Those deals are still getting and lamented implemented. Starbucks will be in june, in seattle. Chipotle was Just Announced last week. Jonathan when you started the business, it did not start out in food delivery. It started to get someone to run an errand for you. What did you transition to the delivery model . What drove that shift . Zero traction. The first version was a service that merchants could use to deliver items that they had in stock. We went to San Francisco, and furniture stores, electronic stores, we said here is an apt that you can app where you can push a button and have it delivered. The merchants thought it was the greatest thing in the world. We thought cool, we will build it for you. Then nothing happened. We had one or two deliveries a day. We call these merchants to ask what is going on . They said i dont know something came up, we couldnt use it. But what happened at the same time this is a great way to think about products sometimes customers used the app as consumers, and they would try to get into purchase something. It was a go to safeway and get this for me. I would get angry, like i do, because i am german. You arent allowed to do that. After a while, there were so many of these requests, we decided to do a test on a weekend. We had 25 people at that point. These are gift cards. There used to make purchases. We set up a little newsletter to our user base, and said if you include the useitnow, we will purchase that for you. On the first weekend, we sold 10,000 worth of stuff. Most of that was prepared food. Jonathan if you look at where the business is today, if you were to launch it right now would it look like one of these ondemand Tech Services . Do you like the interface those guys have . Where do you see yourselves falling . I am a big fan of it. Even today, the custom order field is a super popular thing that you have. It allows you to say things like get the extra kwok a moly guacamole. Even when we dont have inventory, i think we were one of those companies that really pioneered it. I think it is a great idea. Jonathan do you wish, looking back do you think you couldve spent that time to narrow in on the food category . It seems like when these businesses are successful, they are successful because they attack a niche market, and go after Something Like organic food, or prepared food. That is exactly what we did. For the public, we opened for your imagination the idea of anything, from anywhere. What we did internally was have a strategy that is based around the idea that food is like books. It is a category that has universal demand, at a relatively low price. There is unlimited inventory in prepared food. Just like amazon used books to scale very fast, we did the same thing. Now we are the largest ondemand Delivery Company because we focused on prepared food. It allowed us to scale the fleet very fast. We had a high repetitive usage. Jonathan what is next for you in terms of market . Where else can you expand within this notion of food delivery . Would you like to compete with Grocery Delivery Services . Were thinking about having a better grocery product on the roadmap. There is a funny notion that we are already competing with them because you can get whole foods or trader joes, delivered. We have invested very little time in that category. Four for q3 there are items that will make it much more attractive. That is a lot of interest in that category. Personal hygiene is another category. To give a corner store that is another category we are interested in. Jonathan for you, what do margins at this business look like . How are you doing in terms of revenue . So, again we try to build a company that can generate a profit with every delivery. That is what we are doing. I think we have a quite healthy growth margin, and we are very proud of that. We are trying to keep that. We are incorporating more paths to profitability. We want to be profitable as a company if we decide to do that. I think it is something that is very attractive. I think it shows that we are able to carefully handle complex businesses. We have been able to drive improvements. The product is a product that customers understand that they pay for the valley that it provides. Jonathan i started writing about tech in 1999, or 2000. When i first started, there was an Amazing Company that had a cool logo and a delivery service. One of the bigger of the first dotcom era. What lessons did you learn from them . Could you all be cosmo . How can you avoid that . It was a super interesting company. I believe they were way ahead of their time. I mean that they were way ahead of their time with the product that they offered. They were not able to monetize in the way that you need to do have a profitable business. Cosmo was free for a long time. When it wasnt free, it was a low delivery fee. They at the idea they can monetize exclusively on what they would sell, and they would take a cut of these things. They also ran warehouses. They had Warehouse Space in manhattan. Very expensive at the time. There was an old version of the Balance Sheet on the web, and you find some of these things. When we started, the was not a single mention of single same delivery except cosmo. We want to use the city as a warehouse. Those are two key differentiators. Jonathan i dont know how many messages they had, lets say it is around a couple hundred in new york. They routed them manually. It was two way radio. Imagine how good of a person regardless of how efficient you were, it is a limit to the efficiency you can derive from that system. This race similar to huber uber. Yeah these very big teams of engineers trying to make the logistic side more efficient. Jonathan you mentioned the number or profusion of ondemand delivery services. According to crunchbased data, the was 1. 2 billion raised for delivery startups. Holy shit, that is a lot of money. How do you deal with all the competition . Does the industry have to consolidate . It will happen at some point. What is, in my opinion crucial as of the first advantage is there. Admin update that the winner takes all markets, but certainly most it may not be that the winner takes all markets, and certainly most. L. A. Is our largest city. Chicago is also large, and new york. We were able to grow at a very fastpaced. Getting into these markets early paid off for us. Looking at the supplyside is what comes with that. I have said it before, i dont want to repeat the point it was over 10,000 people doing deliveries. That is twice as the closest competitor. Jonathan for now. But if amazon decides they want to take this seriously, with a just acquired would you accept some of it any offer with a b i will take a look at. If you got a billiondollar offer, would you be like of course. Of course you would consider it. Jonathan are you talking to them now . No. Jonathan are you sure . Yes. Your job is to make sure that the reason his company has been created can be fulfilled in either of these scenarios. What does that mean . It means that if there is an opportunity to continue to work as part of something bigger, and return it would mean we could fulfill this vision faster, that is something that its very entertaining to think about. An acquisition would be great, here is a bunch of money, now talk about brand x, i think that is way less compelling. All of the three founders, we come from backgrounds that are very middleclass. Theyre very driven by the idea that we can really help local businesses and i think seeing that through is very important for us. Jonathan when this book and the phone i want to shift years and talk about this notion of the ondemand economy. You are acting as a Service Provider where you have contractors working for you. What does that mean, looking out, what are the ramifications of that for the broader American Economy . Are we creating a class of people who let the do these medial shitty jobs the of a malfunction here. Jonathan i never good at this. While tech malfunction ors get to chill out and make orders of magnitude more . I dont think so. I think it is different markets that get created. I think it is probably the best parttime job. I would love to be a fulltime job in the future. That are around 15 or 20 that look at it as a fulltime job. But it is probably a parttime job. We pay better than other parttime jobs. If you look at median compensation in peak times, that is 70 per hour 17 dollars per hour. That changes the approach and how you want to position the company. We are not running around in claiming this is the greatest fulltime job in the world. We believe in a more honest approach. We think this is a really solid parttime job. I think our platform reflects that. Jonathan what is a typical delivery guy employee . What they look like . What do with a look like . It is people that have another job, or another parttime job. We do tjhese these surveys to the fleet. We get them altogether. The flexibility is what people like as the number one reason. The second is the income, especially at times when they want it. Who they are they are amazing. I really believe, which is something Corporate America should think about theres a movement that is against the 95 00 jobs clock jobs. You can now the platforms like uber where they can be active in a much more fluid set up. Jonathan you were not worried about the labor pool, the guys providing the service they wont go away as the economy improves, as the financial crisis gets better . I dont think so. I will give you an example, the founder of scribe was it was made for a few days. He posted about his earnings. He worked for three hours on duty during peak hours. He made 98 doing a bunch of deliveries. That is substantial additional income. I believe there is always going to be room for that. Even if things are changing, i think a company has to adjust with these changes. For now, this being a parttime job is very attractive for a lot of people. Jonathan what is the weirdest thing youve have ever seen anyone have to deliver . What was the craziest order . Ims this question i am asked this question all the time. Im such an idiot, i dont think about it thoroughly. I tell the same story every time. There must be something better. Anecdotally, at night, people get whippits delivered. Jonathan we had the weed startup earlier today, now this. We had a bottle of champagne and a pregnancy test i reference that a lot. You can figure out which side of the ball that those are things like that. Jonathan people are still doing that right . Having things dropped off from one set of town to another . Most of it is purchases. Jonathan with that, i will say thank you for the time. Have a good one, enjoy the rest of the show. [applause] jordan ok. Who here has heard of Net Neutrality . Okay, we will learn something today, then. I was just talking backstage with our next guest. He was talking about an elevator that had to stop at every lane. Scc chairman tom wheeler is joining us. Please give a warm welcome, as long as along with alex wi lhelm our moderator. It matches your code. Coat. Alex thank you for coming. Welcome to the yearly gathering. Tom is this the new york nerds . Alex some of them fly in actually. Before we get to Net Neutrality, we will do a lot on that. Recently, the proposed comcasttime warner cable the old is done deal is done. I want to ask, were you surprised when congress dropped the ball on this . Tom no, i think it was a responsible decision by brian roberts. What he said, when he said it is time to move on, i think it perfectly encapsulates the reality. Why go and fight this through the courts . Lets keep looking towards the future. Alex do you think it wouldve pulled the deal off . Tom i dont know what they thought. What i think is that it was a really good decision. It was a good decision because it will be a long, drawn out process. And two, because of the whole attitude about it is time to move on. Go to the next thing. Why do you want to keep fighting that fight . Alex do you think this will be a poison pill for large accommodations . Tom i think we will look at each of them on the merits. One of the things that was really key about the comcast review was that it was incredibly datadriven. 14 months this lasted. There were a lot of economic data, and awful lot of market data, and awful lot of data inside how the industry operated. I think that is why how you want to make decisions. Alex do you think the average consumer would of been harmed if visit been allowed to happen . Tom i was concerned it was not in the Public Interest. Alex define that, in this case. Tom there is a broad definition. Will the market continued to operate . What is the impact of the future of video, and video competition . What is the future on cable rates . Are there offsetting Public Benefits . We can to the conclusion, no. Alex it would reduce competitive environment for the average consumer. Tom that was what we said. It is interesting. Competition is a key component of what is in the Public Interest. The justice department, and we, were going on parallel paths. They have very strict competition rules and decisions that they have to make. Ours is fuzzier in terms of the general Public Interest. Alex ok. Now, tom that was a warmup . Alex that was the opening bit. During the Net Neutrality saga the massive outpouring of Public Comment was interesting. Were you surprised at the amount of comments that came in . What was the early point where you thought wow this is bigger than we thought . Tom there was a day early on when we had 150,000 comments being filed, and you go woah. That is why this debate, this decision, was so important. Because those 4 Million People who were filing with us, and not all of them were pro. It was about 3 4 were pro. Alex that still means that with the there were a Million People that didnt like the deal. Tom this proved the power of an open internet to free expression. It happened that that issue being decided, and that ability to communicate using that technology, happened to coincide. Alex when you read these comments, how do they affect your rulemaking process . How do you measure that . Tom obviously the total impact , the total number of comments is something you have to take notice about. This is not something where you make a decision based on bulk. You could, but are not sure that is with the statute had in mind. We make a decision based upon the authorities in the statute in terms again of what is in the Public Interest. Alex you were not personally swayed are the comments themselves. You did notice the bulk of them . Tom i think the bulk of the comments indicated how, when youre talking about the internet you are talking about something very personal to people. They used that personal medium of theirs to express themselves. That was what was significant. Alex senator franken called the free speech issue of our time. But it was also called obamacare for the internet. I dont get it either. Im sure you could tell us, what drives the philosophical divide on this issue . Tom people are divided into two caps. There was not camps. You know, i think alex, there is a reality in all policy debate that people bring their own experiences, and their own ideological approach to the role of government to decisionmaking. Those kinds of comments are not surprising. Alex you were not surprised. I think you were the only one not shocked. You think there is a Digital Divide between the fcc and congress . Tom i think what the congress i got into an interesting discussion on thursday with a member of the House Communications subcommittee on that issue. What congress does is an act broad principles, then delegates that to an Expert Agency. There is a situation with someone will come in and say oh, that is not what it meant to do. But when you donate to an Expert Agency, you are counting on the process that agency runs. The courts have held chevron reference. It is based on a Supreme Court case called the chevron case, in which it says the courts should give the Expert Agency deference when having to make decisions. They are the Expert Agency. Alex in this case, we saw congress collectively losing its mind about what was going to happen. In the wake of the vote, they were still proposing things. Why is congress of widely reacting to you doing their job your job . Tom they make the rules. There was nothing untoward about that. They have the right to do that. My job is to take the statutes that congress has passed, to look at the vax facts presented, and make decisions. If some people say it is the wrong decision, or that is the right decision, that is entirely their right. If they want to change the law that is entirely their right. They are the peoples elected representatives. I hope in this debate, what to recognize is that on june 12, when the rules will take effect, there will be in place the strongest open internet protections that anyone has ever imagined. We should not be going backwards from that. Alex there we go. [applause] tom but maybe alex how many people are suing you . Tom oh golly. Over a dozen. I said all along, the big dogs are going to sue. There is nothing surprising in the kinds of things that we do. It is their right to. You are too nice, i feel. We have, in place the most rigid internet rulings in history stringent internet rulings in history. Alex are you as confident as she is that you can be these lawsuits. Tom when you say be the lawsuits there is a two part process here. About july, itll probably be filed in the next 12 days, there will be motions filed with the court to stay the order. To keep us from enforcing it. Probably double be decided in july, that kind of timeframe. I am confident that we will do well in that situation. For a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is a list of issues that the court has to use to decide. One is is there a irreparable harm, and two, is there a likelihood of prevailing on the merits on the argument . I think we will be good there. Demi go to the actual argument then we go to the actual argument. When you stop and think about the fact that the verizon decision which overturned the 2010 open internet rules was basically based on the concept that the agency had imposed title 2 common carrier requirements without saying you are a title 2 carrier. We solve that. That issue is gone. That was the big issue last time. The courts said that back to us. They said thank you, we have a dress that issue. I feel addressed that issue. I feel confident on that. Alex what is your shortterm plan . Tom not to lose. That is our shortterm plan. Alex going back to the reform, there are a number of bills propose right now to change the way you operate. You say that is ok. Tom i said what . Alex it is their purview. Tom right. Alex are the bills currently going around, do you think those really conducive to the fcc working well . Or will it harm the functioning of your agency . Tom what i said last thursday was that i had serious concerns that these proposals, which are described as transparency, actually our delay. Introduced delay. Alex during the rulemaking process . Tom delay in the fcc getting to the point where he can make decisions. The Public Interest is served by getting to decisions. We shouldnt be buildig roadblocks building roadblocks along the way. What is going on here is specific things that the fcc has to look at, both during my tenure and all the years to follow and the question is will there be a traditional kind of process . Which is open, transparent, and somewhat rapid that is my point. That is why i said somewhat. The alternative is to slow down even more. Where talking about will that activity that are necessary to enforce the open internet rules be slowed down by the imposition of new processes that clog up the existing administrative process . Alex these would do that right away . Tom that is what i said to congress. I think the republicans were not too happy with me. Alex five hearings in eight working days . How fun was that . [laughter] tom um, i think you know the answer to that. Alex do you think theyre called is anything . Or are they you for doing your job chastising you for doing your job . Tom i respect the congress of the united states. I will show up. Alex you respect the congress . Holy shit. [laughter] i want to get to a different topic. You are a venture capitalist for about 10 years. One of the questions where talking about amongst ourselves our valuations out of control . From your perspective, how overvalued do you think tech is right now . Tom you have a conclusion in your question. Alex in this case, i am congress. Tom i hung up my spurs on that when it of the old of office. Oath of office. All i know is what i read. Alex oh, good. Are you going to go back . Tom i dont know. I truly dont. I am not exactly a spring chicken. Im 69. I will be 71 when i leave this job. Alex would you be open to being the chairman for the next president . Tom she hasnt asked me. [applause] alex that is popular. Tom fine. Alex there enough. Fair enough. You worked as a lobbyist for the cable and Wireless Industry. Im curious, do your old friends called you up and ask if you lost her mind . Tom they used to call me up and asked the question back in the old days. Im serious alex im serious. You really turned it on its head. Tom you kn you know, when i was an advocate for the cable industry and the Wireless Industry there were a couple of important things. I was in cable 30 years ago. Alex i was negative five. Tom it was over a dozen years ago that i left. It was a very different business. We were fighting to stay alive. That been said, i was an advocate for these new innovative services. I hope it was a good one. I was a lobbyist, and i hope that i was a good advocate for them. I have a different assignment today. My clients today is the american people. I want to be the best damn advocate i can possibly be for the american people. That is how a look at the issues. Alex we will bring you back next year then, and see if youre right. Extra coming thanks for coming tom. [applause] jordan how cool is that . Direct from the source. I took a newspaper class when i was a senior in high school. My first ever mentor, jamie, was here supporting me. Kimmitt different round of applause can we give her a round of applause . [applause] thanks. Made in china stickers on everything. These guys did not get that memo. We have people building stuff in downtown manhattan, and detroit. It will talk to us about how hardware is eating the world. Please welcome them, along with our moderator. You really sink down into these chairs, dont you . Matt thank you for joining me. I am clearly not the mayor, as you can tell by my height. Were talking about hardware today. We have three people here with us today. Thank you so much. I will let you guys talk in a minute. When a look at your company, you are all radically different but a fundamentally similar stories. You are based in detroit made in detroit is the big thing. You make Leather Goods, watches, and he told me a couple weeks ago youre making motors in detroit. Really tiny motors, i thought that was neat. And you have a Family Business making some of the worlds best headphones. Their handmade right here in brooklyn. That is really neat. You guys are in the business of selling things that are used to make things. Lets start first with the question of why do people make things tentacle objects . Tangible objects . Everybody, like all humans, we love to create. Whether it is art, writing we love to do things with our hands. So, whether making headphones, or watches, or software, i think it fulfills this deep need to be creative. Matt and your family has been doing this for how long . 62 years last month. Matt you was a brief history of your company. In the early 50s, my great uncle started building cartridges. Four turntables for turntables. He realized that he really liked doing it. We also own a fruit store at the time. He closed down the food store and said we were going to get into audio. From 1953 until 1990 we make cartridges. Just cartridges. At the end of the 80s were doing 10,000 a week. One youre just changed to 10,000 12,000 the year. There are more things that are practical than turntables. My dad him a doing daytoday business since the 70s, he bought the company. Within the top floor from 1990 until 1999. It was my mom, and dad, building all the orders. It would be a party. Matt while i was building legos, you were building headphones. I was building legos my family were building headphones. Matt what makes you keep doing this . That is a good question. My great uncle was a master watchmaker. He started tinkering with cartridges, and fell in love with it. My dad trained with him. He also fell in love with it. He focus on building headphones. Focused on building the headphones. No other parents were building these things. On career day i would be the only one coming with headphones around my neck. Know what understood what was going on. I stop telling people. I just woke up and said i am so dumb. I jumped into it, maybe because i was never forced. They still tell me you should go out to do something else. I said this was really what i wanted to do. Matt and your company, in detroit, how many do you employ . About 400 people total globally. 2 3 of the people are in detroit. Matt what is the reason people come to you to make the movements inside of watches . Let me clarify. The made, and the make, and the terminology can be misleading. Without the clear but how we present what we are doing. We are building movements, and watches, and bicycles in detroit. Our Leather Goods are made in the united states. Given the industry, and where we stand in terms of making componentry for watches we have source components in from all over the world, as we do with bicycles. Our Movement Components come from switzerland. We assemble everything in detroit. Matt start with a process. He made in detroit part. You build a watch factory recently. It can be argued that was the dumbest move ever. We did it anyway. It is been incredible journey. We were able to train local detroiters to make watches. To build watches in detroit and to build movements in detroit. It has been very exciting. The industry left upper shores about 50 years ago. Today, it is alive and well in detroit, michigan, of all places. Matt when youre looking for a place to house the company you did a nationwide search. Was there practical reason in choosing detroit . Or was it marketing . We are making motors. Our motors power our watches. If you want to make a motor in this country, there is not a better place than the motor city. When you meet the people in that town, you realize there was Something Special there. The city, and the community, has really given us the good old bearhug. The people there want better. They want to move ever country down the road, and bring back manufacturing at a level of quality that we like to represent. Matt you make your headphones in brooklyn. Why do you do hightech manufacturing in brooklyn . We are people come and expect to see the entrance to something bigger. At the end, i said that was it. There is nothing more to that. Yeah, i think it is that my dad is really happy being in that building and being that close to the product. He still goes in 6. 5 days a week. He is a big fan of the machines that dont have software, because he can fix it. We have one machine that works of software, and we have to call in a specialist. He gets frustrated. He still gets in there and fixes it. It is our family. Matt a better question would be to the headphones be made elsewhere could the headphones be made elsewhere . We consider the sound, but the story would be different. Matt how many people do you employ . About 20. 17 are in brooklyn, three work remotely. Matt you sell your product based on story. What do you see as your Competitive Edge . I think, by far, the Competitive Edge is what you learn. The story behind it. We do have the best electronics. We teach you and then you follow our tutorials, and then at the end if you like the tutorial you can click to add your cart. We get to focus on the quality of instruction, and quality of the goods. They have to work out of the box , it cannot be difficult. Once people have the first and boxing experience, they say it is not so hard. They become addicted to it. Who do you see as your key customer . A lot of them. The growing market is cosplay, a lot of people who do cosplay i dont know if you do comiccon , there are young people into fashion. We have made wearable electronics. You brought toys. Yes. You can so this on to your costume sew this on to your costume. You can learn this on the weekend. How much do you contribute success to your company as you being out there and be and be visible face . I think it is important to be a face because for every company, the culture comes from above. Even though we have 85 people or so, what i set up 10 years ago is what people see. It is also what the employees see. I think it is important for the ceo to set the culture and disseminate it. Lets talk about crowdfunding. It has exploded over the last two years. People tried to crawl fund crowdfunding. Josh, would it be possible for a company to raise enough money from crowdfunding to build a watched mystically domestically . I guess it depends on the skill. How much do you think it would start the start of would cost up would cost . Josh you could started in a bedroom start it in a bedroom. There are some makers here in the united states. There is a guy in pennsylvania making in an old bank. I dont know. I dont know what kind of money you would need. Probably a little too a lot. Jonathan, do you see a situation where you would turn to crowdfunding to start a product . Jonathan i dont think so. Weve never taken any kind of funding. Never some big kick starter success happens, my mom asked asks me why we cant do that. Crowdfunding has exploded but there has been failures. People prototype a lot. I see a lot. Electronics, easily. 5 25 . What do you think people are doing wrong with it . A lot of it is right, i dont think it is a mistake if you do it, the people who use crowdfunding as one tool are the ones who can get the most out of it. I think of the successful kick starters, it has been people who have something to manufacture that they already made. Maybe new headphones have bluetooth. They designed headphones, now they know how to design further. Those succeed. The ones who struggle are those that look at the electronic market and say, how hard could that be to make a watch. They do not realize decades of experience required. I think crowdfunding is the first part. If you have experience from design with manufacturers you can do it properly. If you and your campaign think all you have to do is hire an engineer, you will have a bad time. What do you see as training points to build your product . Jonathan most of our staff has been with us for overnight decade over a decade. I think you need to sharpen that skill. We put diamonds on hours, if it does not go on correctly, the entire piece has to be scrapped. You guys have the same, microscopic i have been to your factory. It is in detroit, you have a clean room where people assemble microscopic parts. How do you train people . Josh there is a visual test dexterity, aptitude. The beautiful thing is, we have been able to train people to assemble watches. We look for a steady hand. We really look for people that have character about them. We look for people that are willing to learn some thing new. That is what we found in detroit, people who have this incredible will and desire to make things. They have the patience, i dont know people that people understand how difficult it is to sit and do the same thing a thousand times a day. If you have never been in a factory, it may be hard to understand. Seeing someone to be same thing 1000 times a day helps to understand how challenging it is. For me i dont know if i could do it. We have been fortunate in finding people who poured their heart and soul into each watch or bicycle, or leather good that leaves our factory. What are you working on now that you are excited about . Josh we are working on expanding our capabilities of leather manufacturing in detroit. Today 50 are made in florida and the other 50 are made in detroit. We would like to expand our ability to make tech accessories in detroit. We need to train people to do that. Will we see a watchband for the apple watch . Josh our stance is our watch is so smart he can tell you the time just by looking at it. Thats all i have to say about the apple watch. Jonathan, what are you guys working in on . Jonathan we dont come out with new headphones every eight12 months. How many have you made . Jonathan our first one came out in the 90s. This past june was the thirdgeneration. We are look working on limited editions. Our next limited edition headphone is being made from trees. That is the most brooklyn we will get. Josh the hipsters alike that will like that. Jonathan only one person knows what hipster means. Thank you so much for joining me. [applause] ok. I just got yelled at backstage because i didnt mention a giveaway. If you like go pro, everyone knows what that is, right . We have one hand. You all know what a go pro is. We have a new black one, it is literally everything you could need with a go pro. Our winner will be selected in a way that i dont understand. Put a selfie of yourself on instagram using the pc disrupt and we will choose on the third day. I am excited about this next panel because it is a taste of the future. We will talk about modern commerce and that will be changing in the future. What i am excited about is we are about to bring three incredibly successful and strong women and one token male. Get ready for that. Please welcome Julie Fredrickson , jennifer hyman, david tisch and the moderator colleen caitlin. [applause] have fun. Colleen willie have 20 minutes and each of you are fantastic. For the benefit of time i will do a quick rundown of your companies. David is the cofounder of spring, a mobile marketplace for brands to sell directly to consumers on phones. David is a wellknown investor. In the middle we have jennifer hyman, the cofounder of rent the runway. It is the online destination for designer apparel and accessories for rent. They also have a subsection business and all of card business ala carte business. And then we have the founder of a makeup company. Colleen i want to start with you. What is interesting in the past couple of years, rent the runway was so established as a ecommerce company, you guys have some showrooms, what made you decide to do that . Jennifer i think building a brand is multifaceted. You need to think about all of the channels for which you will acquire customers. We found physical Retail Stores accomplished two things. One, it is one of the most effective ways to market because we have the strongest brand impact on the customers. Especially when youre trying to serve a new Customer Behavior like renting clothes. The second thing is by having a retail store in a market like chicago or d. C. , i am able to use that store like a mini distro Vision Center Distribution Center and provide aid better experience to all of the women and that market. There is a chance he will not like what you perceive as a customer. Now that i have a store in the gold coast of chicago, if you live in that area and lets say you receive an order that does not fit, we can offer more options. Using the store as a operational hub is incredibly important to solve problems and also allows lastminute business. Around 30 of fast fashion is from people having a lastminute need and going into the store. Now we can compete with fast fashion. Calling is that something you always colleen is that something you always knew you wanted to do . Jennifer having sores is something that came up later. We have seen the success of our friends companies. We see how that ignites the brand. We are still in the ecommerce business. People love to see and feel inventory, try things on. The difference between us and a traditional retailer is we see a strategy of potentially longterm having 1520 stores and major metros. We never see a strategy of 100 stores which is what a traditional retailer would do. Colleen do either of you think a brick and mortar shop is in your future . David i think what is super important about offline is extending the brand and service. You need to provide customers with fantastic service, if that means the ability to exchange something because it does not fit, that is a vital piece of the pie. We are working with other brands , so our partners have stores, we are not looking to compete in the channels that they exist. We are trying to help the brands go to consumers. If youre a passionate brand evangelists you may download their app, if you are a casual shopper, how are they going to reach you on mobile . That is where we fit in. For brands to sit out a communication and a Sales Channel where they are able to control the entire experience, that is what spring is. I think there are marketing opportunities to take your brand and put it into places where consumers can find it easier. Jennifer since 2009, 1 of the major changes in shopping is a huge portion of discovery of new products is now happening on instagram and centrist for women interest. Those serve as virtual malls for every woman around the globe. The business of spring is smart and how they are using instagram as hl. As hl as a channel. I think it is important to remember direct to consumer and what it is. That means any channel where i can have a direct conversation with you we will explore. Whether or not we do a store is far in the future, all i care about is reaching consumers in the mediums that make sense. David there is a margin involved. When youre a wholesale brand and you give up half of your margin to that Retail Partner versus a brand like h m, they are selling direct to consumer which brings down prices. It is helping online brands build websites. On mobile that channel is hard to develop. Raise your hand if you have an individual brand apps on your homepage. No one raised their hand. Seriously, there is no when waking up and downloading that brand apt to go shopping. They may love the content and community, they will not download each brand at app. The future of retail is the end of wholesale. The wholesale profit is bad for brands. I am thrilled to be able to go to rent the runway and knowing those expanses are going to be the future. It makes more money for everyone. David everyone benefits. Both the brand and consumer benefit. Technology is supposed to remove mittleman middle men. I would imagine it would be hard to turn down if so for a came to you, would you say no . I have. Not from the four of, but not from sephora but from other. How many of you have finished an entire lipstick . None. When you go wholesale that means they are manufacturing an indoor miss sizes that no one finishes enormous sizes that no one finishes. Were not planning to have that from a distribution perspective because it is not a customers. . . David there are two being two pieces, it is the service and experience that the brand delivers. When you look at a retail experience, the retailer takes ownership of that is you of that experience. I think a piece that is important is to give the brand the ability to sell products the way they want to. There has been a point of view in the tech world that ecommerce is better. Why would you use a physical store . From a customer point of view yes, it is easier to order your commodities and essentials on amazon, but there are still reasons why you would go to a physical location. It could be the discovery of something new or fun. Because startups are a Technology First company most of the people that work at rent the runway work in engineering or logistics. I can recreate what a retail store is to service the needs quicker than a Department Store could. I could understand customers coming into my store for Customer Service personalized styling, and a unique experience. One of the things you will see from a Retail Stores in the is a huge part of our business is subscription. Imagine a world where you could come into a retail store and take the necklace that julie is wearing and say, im tired of this. I want to steal two things out of a store. The store is effectively an extension of this dream closet. I can do that because i can build out that functionality and disrupt the industry before an established player. Colleen you have seen this firsthand, you pioneered this concept, i feel like what we have seen in recent years is these incumbents starting to hustle and try and appear more savvy because of this threat. What has that experience been like from being the first here, and now it seems like more pressure from big companies. Jennifer i think it is better for customers and everyone upstairs game ups their game. I welcome anyone who wants to try and get in. David i think when i started spring, in the tech world everyone who sells something is grouped as competitive. Anyone in ecommerce is overlapping. If you go out on the street and cross 34th street, there are hundreds of stores. We are not directly competitive with each other. There are nuances with each offering. I think in the tech world there is a broad assumption that it is everyone against amazon. If youre selling anything, your competitive with anyone else. I totally agree. Jennifer on average our customer is a nine years old 29 years old. Which is younger. I think there has been a change where the incumbent five years ago may have thought i was competitive, now they think i am adding to the market. To build on your point, not only are many of these businesses not competitive, but one thing that benefits us is the existence of netflix, birch box anything where you would change the model in which you consume that helps my business grow. A creepy mentality around access and rental, and basically new ways of getting what you want. David anyone selling things on mobile and teaching customers buying something nice on your phone and showing up the next day is benefiting the business. I think there is a broad education that is happening in the market around new ways of buying things and new ways of getting those things delivered. Colleen have you seen a shift in how investors talk to you . You must be competing with amazon, i imagine some of that comes from the investment community. Has that shifted . Of course. When you have real numbers backing up your investments. Jennifer they were investing on the success of what we had done rather than the dream. Rentals is a higher gross margin business then if i were to just sell a product. I also think having more female founders and having many of those founders be extremely successful has also had a real benefits in our fundraising. Hopefully we are a part of that i went to see as many female founders succeed because that list lifts all boats. It helps everyone in new york to see successful businesses. We have to think of ourselves as a community. Colleen what has been your experience . Julie cosmetics will be as suit was last year. As food was last year. 70 of the industry is conglomerated into 10. When Technology Comes into space , thats great. From our perspective fundraising was a breeze. I anticipate that it will be competitive. Shaving is killing it is a category online. We realize there are two being trends, commodified or brand. Branding has better margins. No one will compete racing to the bottom, but we will all do very well when we establish something that means something solves a problem, and makes lives easier. Jennifer the word fashion in the tech world is being has been viewed as a dirty word. The fashion industry is the second largest on planet earth. It is a 1. 7 trillion global industry. The only thing larger is the transportation and automotive industry. It is one of the few things people have to do every day. You have to put on clothes. At least i hope so. Lets also understand where the stereotypes are coming from. Five years ago when i went out to raise funding around fashion, people thought it was a mission niche thing for women. David we do not touch in there inventory, we are working with brand partners. Anyone from marc jacobs to ever lane, two estee lauder to estee lauder. We are building a model. These models are being built in countries that have not been successful. If you start with mod mobile and brands being able to logistic leave bill themselves it should deliver a better. Sprint experience. Colleen i want to thank you all for coming. [applause] token male, three brilliant females, leavitt love it. Go new york. I am proud of new york, proud to be from here. I know that our next guests feel the same. The success or failure of this ecosystem with regards to Tech Startups is largely due to him. Please welcome mayor build logic of they are bill de blasio. [applause] maher thank you so much. I want to thank jordan. She is one of my favorite kinds of human beings, she is a brooklynite. Are there brooklynite secure here . Thank you. It is a great honor to be here. Everyone knows it is a an extraordinary opportunity to talk about not just what is happening today, but where are we going in the future and what it means for new york city. We are so energized by the growth of the Tech Community and this city. It is quintessential to the future of this city. There is tremendous opportunity for further growth here. A could make us a stronger city economically but also make a better city. I am thrilled to talk to you about some of the ways i want to work together. I want to take a moment to acknowledge some folks who have done a lot of great work and are part of this growing community and deepening of the Tech Community pot involvement with the city communitys involvement with the city. I would like to shout out to the academy. Give them a round of applause. [applause] extraordinary effort being made to pilot efforts in our schools around software engineering. It is great to have young people from these schools here to connect with this industry and deepen their opportunities. They of course will be the leaders of the Tech Industry in the future. I know you had the chairman of the sec here earlier, tom wheeler, who i think has been extraordinary things to protect the freedom of the internet. I give him a lot of credit for standing up for open access. I want to thank the members of my team. We are very proud of the team that we have put together at city hall and the focus on a Tech Community and what it means for the city. I want to thank my counsel. I want to thank our know new coo. I want to thank our digital director. They are all doing and extort and her a job linking this community to the broader work of the city. I will be quick but i must start with bragging. Sometimes it is tempting to feel competitive with other places that are well known for technology. Maybe california would be an example. This year, new york city has surpassed california in startup funding requests. We are proud of that. [applause] the tech ecosystem here provide nearly 300,000 jobs, making it one of the biggest employers in our economy. It generates over 30 billion 30 billion in wages annually. It is having a transformative effect on other Industries Including food, fashion, and entertainment. The speed with which this has happened is breathtaking and energizing. It is a positive example of good change happening to the city. There is a lot more where that came from. I see the strength of this community being the ability to open up opportunity for more new yorkers including those who have not had opportunities and quality of jobs that you provide. I think that is why this community has transcended not only the way we think, but also in creating a different economic paradigm that could open doors to so many more people. From the beginning we knew in our administration that we had to work with the Tech Community to make it a five borough community. I love what i am seeing in terms of growth. We knew we had to expand access to Tech Education in Public Schools and universities. We knew if we wanted to achieve larger goals of combating income inequality the Tech Community would be a crucial ally. I have seen a willing and energized ally in the fight against income inequality. Let me talk about three key areas, talent is first. Our goal is to help this community by building and extort near a pipeline of talent for the evergrowing needs of the community. Our hope and belief is if we do our work well and partner properly, over the next decade a majority of tech jobs will be filled by graduates of our Public Schools and universities. That will be transcended for the city transcendent for the city. We know these are quality jobs. Thats what we want for our people. We want to make sure every kind of new yorker knows that this community is for them. We have been investing in a Publicprivate Partnership to create a tech pipeline. We went to Shape Training programs that get young people the right skills, and get into the jobs. We are about to announce in our city budget thursday an additional investment especially for our community colleges. 29 million will be invested in the upcoming year and that will be increased in the next year. I have to tell you so much of that came from leaders of this community who said we love some of the tremendous things that are happening, we need them, but we also need a broader approach that gets more and more people, especially young people the skills that would give them opportunities of all kinds. This is the perfect tool for realizing that vision quickly. We are focused on giving all new yorkers broadband access. We want to defeat the Digital Divide. We are investing for 70 million over the next 10 years in broadband infrastructure. It is a much greater investment than from other places. We believe it is necessary. One of the key realities is we know this city cannot be a place of inclusion, cannot be successful if so many of our fellow new yorkers do not have internet access. We are going to have the world largest, fastest, free municipal wifi network. In terms of the devices speed it will be the largest and fastest in the world. Over 10,000 hotspots connecting, potentially all 8. 5 million of us and growing. We know this is something that has to happen to realize our vision. We just put out a plan in the last 10 days called, one new york. It is a plan for the future of the city. It looks at the future of economic growth, sustainability, and adds that we must approach income inequality. It has to be economically sustainable for the people. Our plan hits both note that once. That is why broadband is so crucial. The third item is innovation. This community understands that innovation has to be a constant, it can never be feared. In government, we have not always have the best track record when it comes to innovation, in fact a lot of us have been frustrated over some of the bureaucratic roadblocks. Not just on a macro policy level, but how we do the daytoday work. What we have found with the Tech Community is were finding out quickly ways to do things better. We are listening to the community when they say here is how government can work better. We are trying to respond to that energetically. That is why we appointed the first ever cto for new york city. We understand that we could do Something Different and better and we want to be pushed by this community to be better and different and to innovate. The fact is there are so many examples already where members of the Tech Community have found better ways of doing things. We have pulled together a Broadband Task force. This is a group of experts who are going to help us close the Digital Divide. We put out calls for innovation places where we believe the community could help specifically salt nagging problems the government has not resolved. We believe all of these efforts will help reshape the city. I will and where i began, i stronger city. A better city, we have to do it in a way that is more inclusive and warfare more fair than the new york city from yesterday. That is our vision and we see this community as one of the allies in the effort. Thank you very much. [applause] jordan another round of applause. We are going to bring out can kim. Kim thank you for coming. Former mayor bloomberg was a big proponent, after the financial crisis that strategy helps pay off in terms of the job market. What is your what kind of mark d want to leave on tech new york . Mayor i think he built a good foundation. Obviously it was native to the work he had done in the private sector. He reoriented Government Policies towards the Tech Community. He gets credit for cornell. We take a more populist approach. We are trying to build to all five boroughs. We want to see a diverse tech center. We want to see the opportunities available to every kind of new yorker. We have a muscular effort in terms of training, in terms of the efforts we want to undertake any College Schools and universities. It all adds up to creating a bigger talent pool. We are proud of the fact that the only way we get there is a strong government role. The goal is to make this community a transcendent part of the efforts to fight income inequality. Jordan kim one of the differences between finance and tech tech has offices in bushwick, how much do you think rezoning these boroughs affects things . Maher it is becoming a reality to spread to all five boroughs. I think there may be some specific areas where there would be smart rezoning, for example liveworkspace. We are trying to build a superstructure around that in terms of creating a formal housing. Affordable housing. I think we dont need to get a rezoning. Kim since google released diversely numbers diversity numbers a year ago, it is predominantly white, male, when i talk to Tech Industry leaders it is a pipeline problem. To what extent do you think the gender and racial makeup of the Tech Industry has to do with culture is coming to the industry itself, versus what is coming out of the Public Schools . That moment was a wakeup call for all of us. I think part of the approach we have taken where you could argue some of the same historic issues have been raised in terms of pipeline, i am very much of the if you build it, they will come school, meaning if you have a message of inclusion if you have maximum opportunities for inclusion, you find more success with inclusion. Our entire tech team happens to be women, including those of color. Our administration as a whole is 53 women in Senior Management roles. I think it is quite available if the mindset of what is valued changes. I would argue it is not about social responsibility, i think it is smart in terms of recognition of markets. It will be the biggest markets who will be the biggest markets . We are in a society that is increasingly people of color. I think the further integration of a sector is good for everyone. We will try to do all we can through our Public Schools and universities and Training Programs to improve that pipeline. I think one of the things people in the Tech Community can do is meet us. Lean in to hiring people that come out of our Public Schools. Kim you have done this pipeline , the 10 million effort, when i look at the past several months i have gotten to know a lot of Different Community groups in the San Francisco area and also organizations here, they are often run by dedicated Wonderful Community leaders. 10 million seems small in the face of what Tech Companies want to hire. I think it is one of a number of pieces we are putting into play. Of the investment, 29 million this year, more after that, it continues. We continue investing to ensure that the University System is a constant generator of talent. I would say if you think about all of our private universities and Training Programs, not just the ones we sponsor, when you think about internship programs we want to emphasize that we want people participating. I think it build a healthy and sizable pipeline. In the spirit of this community we want to constantly see of it is working. This is one of the greatest opportunities to get our people good, quality jobs. If we think there is more investment necessary, that is something we are open to. Kim what is the best way to give feedback. The pipeline is an example. The groups working with us will give us that feedback to what kind of training is needed. We are thrilled that our team is in constant dialogue of the folks doing hiring. We went to constantly adjust the training approach to the specific needs of the community. That is something that was not the way government handle things in the past. I am a Firm Believer to look at the jobs of today and tomorrow we do a half billion dollars in training. We want to do that now. Kim i grew up in the bay area i think about when i started i remember when i started in tech journalism it was about realtime search, every year it has changed so much. One year it is drones and bitcoin, the next it is the on demand economy. I have a hard time understanding how institutions can be as flexible as some of the vocational schools. Have you think about your allocation of time and resources to some of these boot camp programs versus your system. Mayor i dont pretend we will always be at the exact cutting edge. I think if you look at it in terms of the core skills people need, and the connection to the Tech Community, that is not necessarily does not necessarily imply that we are doing everything perfectly. It does suggest if you churn out generation upon generation of young people with a sense that they belong and the exposure, i think that will achieve a lot of the outcome. I think within the community itself, what i call the finetuning can occur. Kim one of the other central pieces both of our cities have crazy housing prices. Can you tell me about that . Mayor San Francisco had to deal with some of these challenges ahead of us. We have learned from some of the struggles. We have the most ambitious Affordable Housing program in the history of any the. 200,000 units built and for his preserved in the next 10 years. We are very much on schedule to achieve that. We are getting a great response from the private sector and our investments will increase to support the plan. I think if you find a net housing for. 5 Million People it is one of the pieces to keep the city as part of the economic group. The work never ends because we need a lot of market rate housing as well. One of the challenges

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