To report The Standard’s Tech Bro 2.0 package, we spoke to nearly two dozen founders, asking each of them more than 50 questions about their lifestyles, relationships, and worldview. At the end of our conversations, many commented that we know them better than their friends do.
Inside the lives of Silicon Valley’s young hustlers
As journalists, it’s against our nature to gatekeep. So here is Tech Bro 2.0 Wrapped, with all the finer details from our coverage. Consider it your definitive cheat sheet to tech bro culture in 2025.
Who is a tech bro anyway?
“They watch “TPBN.” That’s my de facto definition.”
— Kian Sadeghi, 25, CEO of Nucleus Genomics
“He’s probably slightly autistic.”
— Eric Zhu, 18, CEO of Sperm Racing
“You certainly have to live in SF, and you have to have tech be a pretty big part of your personality. And you probably have to wear an Oura ring.”
— Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, 24, CEO of Artisan
“Being a tech bro is about working in technology, but it’s also about playing these subtle status games, like being in great shape, like having a crazy number of Twitter followers, like hosting parties that have a good ratio of men and women.”
— Zach Dive, 26, cofounder of Adam
What’s the tech bro uniform?
What are your favorite apps?
What podcasts do you listen to?
What’s on your reading list?
Best tech bro slang?
“Clanker”: A slur for AI and robots. As in: “Get these filthy clankers off the streets.”
“Ngmi”: Short for “Not gonna make it.” As in: “If your startup isn’t based in San Francisco, ngmi.”
“Skill issue”: A dismissive phrase used to suggest that someone’s failure or frustration is due to their lack of ability rather than external factors. As in: “You can’t bike up Hawk Hill? Skill issue.”
What’s your work schedule?
“I wake up at 8:30 a.m. I start working at 9:00 a.m. I stop working at 1:00 a.m., and I go to bed at 1:15 a.m. I do that every day.”
— Max Marchione, 25, cofounder of Superpower
“I’m 996; most of the Delve team is. Personally, I’m somewhat active on Sundays. We’re a super young, hungry, and passionate team.”
— Karun Kaushik, 21, CEO of Delve
“996 is pretty much the gist of things. Obviously we can’t be all completely off, but it’s six days very, very intense, and one day to take it easy.”
— Zach Dive, 26, cofounder of Adam
Best productivity hack?
What do you do for fun?
“I like going on drives to Treasure Island, Grizzly Peak, Pacifica, or past the Golden Gate Bridge.”
— Karun Kaushik, 21, CEO of Delve
“I like food. I like architecture. I love skiing, but I don’t have time for it anymore.”
— Max Marchione, 25, cofounder of Superpower
“I do jiu-jitsu and sometimes take a cheeky morning swim at Crissy Field.”
— Zach Dive, 26, cofounder of Adam
Do you go to Burning Man?
“I won’t go to Burning Man until I’m a billionaire. If there’s bad weather or anything else comes up, I need to be able to get a helicopter out.”
— Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, 24, CEO of Artisan
Where do you go on a (rare) night out?
Which company would you want to work at if you weren’t building your startup?
Who is your tech idol?
What’s the biggest challenge facing the world?
Political polarization: “There seems to be a big collapse in our ability to listen to different viewpoints, mainly because of social media. No one listens to anything across the aisle anymore.”
— Kian Sadeghi, 25, CEO of Nucleus Genomics
Bioweapons: “I’m 90% sure if I wanted to create a bioweapon that wiped out the entirety of the U.S., I could do it — which is crazy, because I don’t have that many means. It just takes someone who is moderately smart with malicious intent to introduce something that is very dangerous.”
— Max Marchione, 25, cofounder of Superpower
Loneliness: “Just looking at SF, I do notice there’s this loneliness epidemic. I think that people are in this big city, with a lot of people, yet somehow still very lonely.”
— David Yue, 24, cofounder of Accordance
What are your thoughts on the arrival of AGI?
“This is the last chance to build generational wealth. You need to make money now, before you become a part of the permanent underclass.”
— Sheridan Clayborne, 25, cofounder of Brix
“I think we’ll know when we hit AGI when the large language models refuse to respond to us.”
— Jake Adler, 21, founder of Pilgrim
Tech Bro 2.0 Live Panel Discussion
Thursday, Nov. 6 at Manny's join us for a candid conversation about how young men are shaping and experiencing Silicon Valley in the age of AI.
“Every year that we don’t have AGI there’s hundreds of millions of lives that are not being lived as well as they could be.”
— Silen Naihin, 23, founder of Endflow
And that’s a wrap! Catch us in the post-AGI world to unpack Tech Bro 3.0.