Ben Lerer, managing partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures, and John Borthwick, CEO of Betaworks, joined J.D. Durkin to discuss the evolution of New York’s tech ecosystem and the role of AI in shaping its next phase.
J.D.: Join us down here now on the show for not a one on one interview. I guess a one on two interview. Say hello here to Ben Lerer. He’s the managing partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures, as well as John Borthwick, the CEO of Betaworks. John, Ben, Great to have both of you guys. Thank you for being here.
Ben: Thanks for having us.
J.D.: Of course, it’s great to have you the first, first and foremost, can I get your experience to ring the closing bell to be down here at the New York Stock Exchange with us today?
Ben: It was a thrill. I had the good fortune of ringing the bell a few times with portfolio companies in the past when they went public, and it’s been a little slow on IPOs the last few years, as you know. So it’s nice to be back and very excited about 30 years in New York tech.
J.D.: That’s awesome. Congratulations. How about for you John?
John: It was awesome. I mean, I think, you know, I’ve been in the tech business both as a builder and as an investor for about 30 years. And it is new York has come a long way, and it was just a total pleasure to be here for New York and for the tech community and for our companies.
J.D.: John, in what way have you seen the tech ecosystem here in New York City evolve over the last three decades? John: I think the it’s just grown so much in size. The quality of people and talent. I mean, I remember when I first started my company in the early 90s, in ’94. People didn’t really know what the web was. And it was it was very hard to get people on board and interested. The depth of engineering talent, the amount of interest in AI. I mean, you talked at the top about AI, and AI is transforming every corner of every industry and every part of our world. And these models, you know, be they foundation models or be they small local models, open source models have been embedded in technology and every piece of our work life, play life and life. And so I think it’s a very exciting time. And New York is really good at building apps. And so I think as the app, as things migrate to the app layer, which they are definitely starting to do, we’re going to see a lot more New York tech companies here blossom.
J.D.: Ben, how about for you? I wonder what ways that the general tech landscape here has evolved in what ways it stayed the same, and how that kind of feeds into your broader work and your priorities here in 2026.
Ben: I mean, look, 30 years ago I was a small child. So it’s it’s changed a bit for me, So, you know, I got into tech in New York 20 years ago out of college. I grew up in New York, moved back here, and when I started in the New York tech scene, everybody in the New York tech scene would fit in this room and maybe fit in this corner of this room, and it’s just been amazing to see the consistent growth and the interest in technology. When I graduated from college, I didn’t know what venture capital was. And today, I think that that is like the dream job for a whole generation of kids who want to come and want to participate in this next leg of innovation.
J.D.: We talked so much about Silicon Valley out in California. When people talk tech, what are people missing about maybe the opportunities for the tech landscape right here in the Big Apple? I’ll start with you,Ben.
Ben: Look, I think that New York has very clearly established itself as the other tech metropolis in the U.S. I mean, when we got started, New York was a pimple. New York is now a place where you can do anything. can build any kind of company.
Obviously, the sort of heart of the large language models and big tech remains out west. But as John mentioned, there is so much incredible innovation happening here. New York is the best place to live in the world, and there’s going to be a bunch of fantastic founders that pick the quality of life here and the diversity and just the interesting culture that exists in New York over the sort of one note life that you get in San Francisco.
J.D.: Absolutely. And I’ll wrap things up. I got about 30s. What most excites you about where the tech landscape is today in 2026, John?
John: Yeah, I think that it’s all about AI, and AI is becoming everything. And so it’s bleeding into sort of every piece of industry and of potential technologies. And I think that I’m excited to see what the builders in New York do in the next 12, 18, five years. You know, it’s like this is an amazing city for tech, and I’m proud to be part of it.
J.D.: All right, John, Ben, welcome to the New York Stock Exchange. Welcome back to the Stock Exchange. I should say great to have both of you guys here come back anytime.