
a16z|Jun 02, 2025 18:34
Christophe Rimann (Camber) and @TreyHolterman (Tennr) are building in healthcare – and both decided that for them, New York is the right place to do it.
Why New York?
The answer is partly about talent, and partly about energy, both said, as part of a live recording of the a16z podcast with @dhaber, at #NYTechWeek.
“Opportunities live between fields of expertise,” David said.
That’s true as an investment philosophy, and also speaks to a unique value New York offers, he said: the convergence of several large industries, bringing their own talent pools and experts across fields.
“The businesses that are most uniquely New York are those that live at those intersections,” David said.
The ability to consider talent outside traditional tech has been valuable, Christophe said; in fact, finding their CTO (who wanted to stay in New York) was the primary reason Camber came to be based in the city.
Living in New York, where so many massive companies are located, can also be humbling, Trey added. While cities that prize tech entrepreneurship, like San Francisco, praise founders simply for participating in building tech, he said, in New York that clout doesn’t come so easily.
New York seems to say, “You’re a small, dinky little company. You ride a Citi bike to work, Trey,” he joked. “You have created nothing.”
That results in a kind of “desperation” for success that can be motivating.
Still, founders should evaluate their own reasons for where they want to be located, he said: “Our take is, ‘What is the environment that is going to yield the best environment for you?’”
Christophe and Trey also offered advice to founders just beginning their companies: prioritize learning at first, rather than number of customers, or ARR.
“Your job is to just have a portfolio of bets,” Christophe said. “Test the hypothesis on each one of these bets. Eventually one will refuse to be eliminated, and that’s the one you go follow.”
For more about Camber and Tennr, and how they are changing the healthcare space, subscribe to the a16z podcast to catch this episode when it drops.
And follow @Techweek_ for more updates from #NYTechWeek.
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