We visited NYC recently and stayed at our apartment for the first time in over 18 months. We all know that the city has changed. Many people left, and have no intention of coming back, from what they’ve said to us, including founders, investors, developers and everyone in between. Their reasons are varied. The weather. The lifestyle. The changing school curriculum – and the policies in place for their children to be able to even show up. Not easy keeping rambunctious younger children in masks all day – what to speak of the possible long-term health effects. Ironic, since if you enter NYC from downtown, you’ll see New York Harbor where the Statue of Liberty stands as a welcoming beacon, with the words ‘yearning to breathe free,’ inscribed on the base. And thanks for playing.

Even though we’d lived in NYC since our college days, we were on terra incognita. Even our apartment felt foreign.  After having imbibed in only artisanal water for well over a year, the NYC tap water tasted horrible. Salty, with a distinct chemical-y flavor. Isn’t NYC tap water supposedly among the best in the world? Had that changed, too?

In-person networking events are back, and although we didn’t have time to attend any, papers required? Echoes of Nazi Germany and while it may be the new normal in NY, not required where we are and it felt disturbing. We’ve also gotten feedback from investors and readers who’ve attended the in-person events, commenting that they’ve changed. Not the same energy. And not the same level as they were prior to the exodus.

But investors et al (see list above) are not the only ones who’ve left. So have the long-time event organizers who understand that event organization is an art that involves a lot more than gathering warm bodies in a room.

We did run into an acquaintance whose son is applying for a coveted internship at a prestigious company. It would be a game-changer for him, and although he had the proper credentials, so did everyone else who was competing. We happened to have two high level contacts in the company and suggested that his son contact us. Happy to facilitate.

So, note that gone, too, are the super-connectors, like yours truly. And the serendipity that comes with our being in the room, or the city.

Our acquaintance was relieved that we were back – it was a good sign, he said. But it was only temporary, we informed him. We’d be departing shortly once again, for the land of the free.

“I never realized how oppressive New York is,” he said. “It’s been that way for a while. Now it’s stifling. And everyone who could get out got out.”

We recalled a tee shirt we once owned that read, “New York, New York The city so nice we named it twice.”

Seemed that concept was gone, too.

The tech industry was founded by rebels, or to paraphrase the famous Apple ad, people who are not fond of rules. And…have no respect for the status quo.

That sentiment used to hold for New Yorkers, too.

Innovation is achieved by a-ha moments. White spaces, but never discredit irony or hypocrisy. If one group is in need of A and group B has it…a-ha! Irony. It’s there! Synergy is required, and if it’s a large enough pain point with a big market – a company. As for hypocrisy, think about what censorship has led to. Rumble as opposed to YouTube, for example. And stay off AWS, as the plug can again be pulled. Happened to Parler.

One of our last stops was a store we’d been visiting since what we now call the old days. We needed just one item, found, paid for and placed in a plastic shopping bag we’d brought with us. We also had a shopping satchel but were bagging items from different stores in different bags. The manager, whom we also knew from the old days, asked if we would mind putting the bag into our satchel. No problem, but why? “Only paper shopping bags are permitted. We can get fined $1,000 if a customer uses plastic. Cuts down on environmental waste,” he added, not without irony in his voice.

The bag we’d used had been used before: we were recycling.

“First, it’s pouring outside, and any paper bag would not hold up,” we reasoned. “Second, the streets are littered with discarded masks everywhere! That can’t so called be good for the environment, either, or did we miss something?”

He smiled. He was maskless, despite the ‘mask required’ signs posted everywhere on the wall behind him.

New Yorkers weren’t wearing masks to the degree that we’d seen last time we had visited. Not on the streets, nor inside various establishment. It may be because they all too commonly see elected representatives neither wearing masks nor social distancing, despite their Draconian mandates that seem to apply only to the rest of us. They’d had enough. They, too, are not fond of (bifurcated) rules and had no respect for the new status quo. The true rebel spirit. The true entrepreneurial spirit. That spirit of determination may be a little cited reason for why some startups fail, while others succeed: they question. They observe. They keep their own council. They don’t stop. And they don’t follow rules that make no sense and/or don’t seem to hold up over time. It’s the ‘what’s wrong with this picture’ lens and a critical yardstick to keep in mind.

The maskless department manager seemed to be all too aware that elected officials and their mandates come and go; that he and his establishment needed survive in the interim; and that there are many ways to send a message including, as in his case, through pushback: get outta my way. He reminded us of yet another tee shirt that we’d formerly owned.

‘New York, New York. We named it twice, in case you didn’t hear us the first time.’

Onward and forward.