The South Park Commons Fills a Hole in the Tech Landscape
Ruchi Sanghvi was the first female engineer at Facebook, where she helped create the news feed that now serves as the primary window into the world’s largest social network.
At 32, she wanted a better way of deciding where her career would go.
Her next project became an effort to help people find their next project.
The result is South Park Commons. Housed in an old townhouse on the oval park at the heart of the San Francisco tech scene, the Commons is a selected community of entrepreneurs, engineers, researchers and others. Ms. Sanghvi describes it as tech’s answer to the Bloomsbury Set or Benjamin Franklin’s Junto club, a means of shaping new ideas through conversation and shared experience.
It’s also a way of preparing for the future.
“You get a couple of shots in life to do something meaningful and impactful. Why not take the time to identify that?”
Silicon Valley is a place in transition, thanks to a shifting economic landscape, the rise of artificial intelligence and other technologies, and new pressure to embrace a more diverse range of people.
But she also sets limits. Anyone who builds a company that grows to more than five people graduates. She does not want the Commons to become just another accelerator.
The trick lies in keeping the current vibe going and, better yet, mimicking its approach across the Valley. For the Commons, that means more independence from Ms. Sanghvi, a way for the group to attract members and raise funds on its own.
See the full story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/02/business/tech-scene-south-park-commons-san-francisco.html