Julie Samuels: The big tech companies were built in vacuum. Those days are gone

The Google glory days are over, says executive director of Tech:NYC, as a new swathe of firms emerge in a tougher, more regulated environment. Julie Samuels is all about the future. Not unusual for someone who lives and breathes technology. But the executive director of Tech:NYC, an organisation that represents New York’s tech economy and works with city and state government on tech policies, is more forward-looking than most. So much so, she is not afraid to call the end of a phase of the current technology cycle that many might still consider a sign of things to come. “The last round of huge tech companies were created in the Valley and other more isolated geographies,” she says. “Basically, places where people weren’t paying much attention and a company could be built and grown without anyone noticing. Those glory days are gone. The last generation of really big tech companies were built in vacuum. Regulators weren’t paying attention. Competitors weren’t paying attention. “I believe in these big companies, like Facebook and Google, but they would have a really hard time launching in New York. Especially now, with regulation hotting up. And I don’t think we will see the likes of them launch again now. It’s just not the world we live in any more. You can’t build a tech company now without people noticing very quickly and you need to know how to navigate thorny situations like handling competitors and regulators. We are good at that here in New York.” Compatible with tech It is this, she says, that makes strong, business-oriented cities like London and New York more compatible with tech start-ups than ever before. “In New York and cities like New York everyone is much more integrated with each other and you know the policy makers, your competition and your potential customers and clients. “Regulation will make starting up and growing businesses even more complicated, so you need to be somewhere people already know how to have these tough conversations.” What Samuels is effectively describing is the maturity of the tech sector. A process that will happen in stages most likely led by fintech with the likes of real estate technology, which is moving at a glacial pace in comparison, following behind. But she is confident that some of the proptech leaders are now at a stage that indicates the sector is in a strong enough position to weather a stricter, more regulated market. “We are seeing some big exits,” she says. “And there will be more. So some of these larger proptech companies – such as Compass and even Zillow – are starting to make a lot of people a lot of money. And they will put their money back into investing in a new crop of proptech companies and start-ups and it becomes a rinse-and-repeat cycle. “The idea is that when you have these big exits you create an ecosystem. You see the emergence of people who are smart about a certain thing with the money to put their capital – and I mean intellectual capital, too — into the next generation. And then it starts to feed off itself. The tides are turning and changing. “Some of that is just customer and consumer demand. But proptech is getting accepted by the people who control real estate. “Look at the actual money. It’s widespread. People have a fear of missing out and you have really big companies out there now such as Cadre and Convene. These are not start-ups any more and the property sector can see it. It tips and then it goes. I think we are there at that tipping point now.” Part and parcel of this maturity is the increasingly prominent role of governments and policy makers in technology. While Samuels warns against over‑regulation, she says the government and public sector approach to (and involvement in) technology has never been more important. Industrial revolution “The path to building a successful technology business or integrating technology into a real estate business is hard and it’s complicated,” she says. “This emergence of technology worldwide will be like another industrial revolution in terms of its impact and job creation. There will be big winners but there is also going to be a lot of disruption. And government has a huge role to play in minimising that disruption, in making that transition better for its citizens.” To send feedback, e-mail emily.wright@egi.co.uk or tweet @EmilyW_9 or @estatesgazette