Day: November 9, 2025

• A Silicon Valley VC is teaching founders how to dress and socialize.
• Founders at a recent etiquette class were told they’re “not exactly beloved” nationwide.
• The caviar drew many curious questions from participants who had never tried it.

The image of Silicon Valley tech founders is being reshaped.

So says Sam Lessin, founder of Slow Ventures, a generalist venture capital firm, who hosted an “Etiquette Finishing School” for young Y Combinator founders and tech entrepreneurs to learn how to dress and socialize, as well as how to overcome their fear of fish eggs.

“The image of Silicon Valley is changing from the one portrayed in ‘The Social Network,'” Lessin said in his opening speech on Wednesday, referring to the film about the founding of Facebook that portrays Mark Zuckerberg as an awkward college student who lives in a gray hoodie.

The event was held in a private room behind a second-floor restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown San Francisco, just blocks away from the offices of many new AI startups.

Lessin said in his introduction that technology doesn’t just adopt itself — one often has to “push it into the world.” And when you have a new and disruptive product that not everyone will welcome, charisma is the secret ingredient that opens doors.

Spread across four round tables populated with beetroot tarts, watermelon poke, and truffle cheese balls, three dozen or so participants received a swag bag containing on-the-go mouthwash, a hairbrush, a mini lint roller, and a $100 gift card for clothes shopping at Wilkes Bashford.

The event was divided into three sections: styling tips for work outfits, a panel on how to engage in good conversation, and — last but not least — a caviar tasting session.

Tips on working in style

The lesson started with a lineup of models dressed in clothing from Wilkes Bashford, an SF-based retail store, which had Willie Brown, the city’s former mayor, as one of its first clients back in the 1960s.

Chris Deehan, a style advisor at Wilkes Bashford, who was dressed in varying shades of green from head to toe, said that in relatively casual settings like the office or a brunch gathering, a founder could get away with a lot — except for clashing colors and flashy logos that “scream” at onlookers.

On more formal occasions, however, such as a presentation to investors, Deeshan recommended that men wear a cashmere suit and suggested a turtleneck sweater as an acceptable alternative to a collared shirt between November and February.

Most importantly, said Deeshan, you must either wear a tie or the suit must have a pocket square.

“Every type of suit has very specific buttoning rules,” said Deeshan to some befuddled faces. “If you’re not sure, send me a picture.”

How to make good conversation

Believe it or not, Silicon Valley is aware that it may not be as popular outside the Bay Area tech circle.

Sunil Rajaraman, founder of Hamlet, an AI company that collects data for developers and attorneys, told young tech founders that they are “not exactly beloved” across the country, and that Silicon Valley is “not the center of the universe.”

“You need to be engaged beyond work, tech, and AI,” said Rajaraman, who recommended that founders read more fiction to expand their imagination and be more entertaining to talk to at a party. “Many of you are making tech that will take other people’s jobs.”

Lessin said that understanding how to approach different rooms and not overly demanding attention in every social setting is the key to etiquette.

“You need to be interesting beyond your company,” said Lessin. “Approach situations with a low heart rate and think about what you can give instead of take. Showing up genuinely goes a long way.”

The caviar tasting

The food-tasting portion arrived just in time, as the plates with small appetizers grew emptier. Once tiny cans of caviar arrived on silver platters with mother-of-pearl spoons, the audience was abuzz with questions.

“Does the extraction process hurt the fish?” asked one vegetarian participant.

“How much should we chew the caviar, exactly?” asked someone from another table.

Yours truly had never gone out of her way to try the slightly mushy, olive colored, granular delicacy that Geoffrey Chen, an advisor with the Caviar House & Prunier Group, said is almost as expensive as cocaine, but after consuming a spoonful of it on top of a blini, it became clear that it’s not exactly about how it tastes.

“It is a food for a celebratory occasion,” said Chen, recommending that savory foods like caviar are complemented best with Champagne, while rich foods like oysters should be paired with sake or chardonnay.

And as the final takeaway, in the face of a menu with a long wine list in a language you don’t understand, he said, choose anything but a rosé.

As participants got up to receive their certificates and began to file out, a software designer I had met at my table told me that these events are great fun, but founders whose businesses are really taking off would be far too busy on a random Wednesday afternoon to attend the Four Seasons.

“Well, all this is important,” he said of etiquette, “But you can afford to be a little crazy if you’re a genius and have a really great product — like Elon Musk!”

• Nike’s House of Innovation is the blueprint for its stores.
• I visited the flagship location in New York City to see what it reveals about Nike’s future.
• The six-story store showcased immersive, sport-focused shopping and advanced products.

I visited the crown jewel of Nike’s retail empire and saw why the sportswear giant is modeling the rest of its stores after the location.

At 68,000 square feet, the New York City House of Innovation is hard to miss. It’s a six-story flagship retail concept store, which opened in 2018. As the name suggests, it’s where Nike shows off its most advanced products and offers immersive experiences to consumers.

Nike CEO Elliott Hill has repeatedly shouted out the store during his first year in the role as an example of how the company is reformatting its retail locations, focusing on sports rather than gender.

“It’s an immersive sport experience, and the refresh has already led to double-digit revenue increases,” Hill told investors in September.

Despite the positive signs from the flagship, revenue from Nike-owned retail stores declined 1% year-over-year in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, and was flat the previous year.

I made the trek to Midtown to join swarms of tourists in experiencing the store — because it is an experience — for the first time.

You can’t miss it from the street.

With six floors and a big swoosh, Nike’s House of Innovation stands out on the New York City streets. Tourists gathered outside the entrance, snapping photos in front of the store, when I visited on a Thursday afternoon. I, of course, joined them in getting pictures of the massive building.

I immediately entered a world of sports.

The immersive experience started immediately. I was transported to a red-and-black-themed atmosphere that was all about performance rather than street style.

Running was at the forefront of the store’s displays.

Running was the first sports category I came across. The entire main floor was all about running. Some mannequins were dressed accordingly, and there were a few nods to the New York City Marathon — held the weekend before my visit — with the “NYC 26.2” shirts.

Nike has recently referred to itself as a “running brand,” and the walls of Vomero running sneakers suggested just that. As I browsed, one worker recommended a $180 pair of white Nike Vomero Plus that he said were perfect for walking all day.

The first floor made me think that the rest of the store would follow its format, with each floor dedicated to one of the key categories that Nike is focusing on: running, basketball, football, training, and sportswear.

However, the next few floors were organized by gender and age, which is more in line with how I personally shop.

It was overall still heavily separated by gender.

Despite the push for a more sports-focused “offense,” as the company calls its strategy, the six floors were still largely organized by gender and age. There was a basement-level floor dedicated to children, and the floor above the main area was all about womenswear.

I was greeted with walls of leggings and displays of sports bras. It reminded me of the layout of a Nike store I previously visited in Brooklyn.

NikeSkims got its own moment.

Earlier this year, Nike said it would partner with Kim Kardashian’s Skims on a new brand called NikeSkims. The first collection debuted in September.

The NikeSkims section of the women’s floor had a fair amount of traffic. The neutral-toned activewear was organized by shade. It wasn’t as immersive as I would’ve expected for a new brand launch, compared to the world created for Jordan on the final floor.

Nike’s signature athletes were on full display.

As I ascended the stairs to the fourth-floor men’s section, I noticed the emphasis on Nike’s signature athletes. So far, I’d seen Sabrina Ionescu and Sha’Carri Richardson, and a towering statue of LeBron James was the cherry on top.

The men’s section, as expected, had a combination of performance and sportswear. There were walls lined with running shoes and a section dedicated to graphic tees.

The Sports floor had more of the breakdown I was expecting.

I had an “aha” moment on the sports-labeled floor. This floor was focused entirely on sportswear, which Nike has said it’s leaning more into as it works to get back to its roots. Parts of the floor were dedicated to various sports, with the largest section reserved for basketball, followed by football, tennis, golf, and soccer.

Visitors could shop for team gear or specialty shoes for their desired sport.

My journey ended with the Jordan brand’s street style.

The Jordan brand had its own floor, which was a world unto itself. Like the main floor, a glowing hallway opened up to large displays of mannequins in streetwear.

The displays emphasized “everyday comfort,” with shorts, graphic tees, and shirts that resembled hockey jerseys. Images of more of its signature athletes, like Jalen Hurts and Jayson Tatum, were featured on the walls.

I can see why Nike is modeling its other stores after the House of Innovation.

When I compare the House of Innovation to the other Nike stores I’ve recently visited, it’s clear that the House of Innovation serves as the blueprint for the others. The layouts were similar. There was something there for pretty much every athlete. And it was easy to find each sport category, especially running and basketball.

As my six-floor journey came to a close, I was impressed by the amount of apparel Nike was able to encompass in one store. Of course, it’s a flagship, so some extravagance is expected.