Varun Singh

📈 AI Startup Sierra Expands HQ in San Francisco (4K to 41K SF) 🌁 Artificial intelligence firm Sierra is making a bold move by relocating to a larger office within San Francisco. The startup has signed a lease for a 41,104-square-foot space at 235 Second St., significantly upsizing from its current 4,000-square-foot office. 🏢 This move to San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood, where office vacancy rates have started to decline for the first time since 2020, is a positive sign for the city's hard-hit office market. The area's office vacancy rate, though still high at 28.8%, is slightly lower than six months ago. 📉 The deal contributes to the increase in leasing activity in San Francisco, which is up by about 1 million square feet compared to last year. This uptick is driven by the region's reputation as a leading national hub for AI companies. 💼 Sierra joins other AI firms expanding in the South of Market area, including Scale AI, which signed the city's largest office lease of 2024 with a 178,000-square-foot deal. So far this year, office tenants have signed leases totaling 750,000 square feet in South of Market, a significant increase from last year's 370,000 square feet. 🚀 Co-founded in 2023 by former Salesforce CEO Bret Taylor and former Google executive Clay Bavor, Sierra raised $85 million earlier this year to develop a customer support AI tool for businesses. The firm is set to relocate from its current space at 215 Second St. by next month. San Francisco's reputation as an AI hub, bolstered by its talent pool and six major AI research institutions, continues to attract companies. Recent significant deals include OpenAI’s sublease of over 400,000 square feet of Uber’s former headquarters and Anthropic’s takeover of Slack's former headquarters. These developments reflect a resilient and adaptive real estate market. As a commercial real estate professional, I’m excited to see how these trends shape the future of office space in our vibrant city.

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🔔 Google to Vacate 300KSF at One Market in San Francisco; pushing CBD Availability Up ~.5% 🔔 🌁 One Market Plaza, a "trophy" office complex in San Francisco, faces significant change as Google prepares to leave its 300,000-square-foot space in Spear Tower by April next year. This move follows Visa's earlier departure to Mission Rock, highlighting a shift in tenant dynamics for this iconic property. 🏢 Despite vacating Spear Tower, Google will maintain a presence in the complex, retaining space in the Landmark building. This adjustment is part of Google's broader strategy to realign its real estate to better fit the hybrid work model, emphasizing efficiency and flexibility. 📉 The departure comes at a time when office availability in San Francisco have hit record highs of over 36%, yet One Market Plaza continues to command rents about 20% higher than other premium office buildings in the city. This resilience in rental value underscores the enduring appeal of top-tier office locations. 💼 The property owners, after successfully renegotiating a $975 million loan extension, are proactively engaging with potential new tenants to fill the upcoming vacancy. One Market Plaza remains a key asset, now with a 92.5% occupancy rate, despite the broader market's volatility. 🔄 This development reflects broader shifts in urban office space use and strategic real estate planning in the wake of the pandemic. It signals important trends that companies and real estate professionals must navigate as they adapt to new work patterns and economic landscapes. https://lnkd.in/gzdyE2zx

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⚡ Generative AI is capable of true wonders. It's not without its quirks, though. 👀 Have you ever wondered what watching your ideas materialize right before your eyes is like? Well, some of the developers working at Applandeo already know what it's like. That's their daily reality now, all thanks to the magic of generative AI. 😎 From automating the most repetitive and tedious content creation tasks to whipping up code snippets on demand, no task is too challenging for AI. 🚨 Speaking of which, just last week, we published an article on our blog titled "Generative AI Explained: An Introductory Guide—Part 1." In it, we tried to provide you with a primer on generative AI without flooding you with technical jargon. We also explored how this technology can go beyond the all-too-familiar content creation. GenAI has many use cases. Many different tasks you can now complete in minutes instead of days. 🚀 Curious about specifics? Click right here to get a clear picture: https://bit.ly/4czpEoo 🤖 Let me share a short story with you real quick. A few weeks ago, while testing the latest invention of my developers—you can read about their work with the SLMs on the Applandeo blog, too—I asked our model to develop an email template for a newsletter. Can it get any simpler than that? Well, it included some completely made-up facts for some unknown reason. AI can suggest, but humans still should supervise. That's my takeaway. 😅 And don't get me started on what we jokingly call 'AI-clop.' Generative AI can bring immense value to your business even right now, but only if used properly. Start learning how on our blog.💡 #Applandeo #generativeAI #GenAI #generativeAIexplained #AIinnbusiness

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Another great example of Seattle's tech ecosystem attracting investment, promoting growth, and potentially freeing up talent to either start their own new firms or attract new employers to enter the market to hire them. Transactions like this are part of the reason why Seattle remains one of the fastest growing regions in the country. #SeattleTech #TechInvestment #GrowthOpportunities #RealEstate

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In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, Generative AI stands out as a transformative technology capable of driving significant impact across various domains. This one-day workshop is designed for executive and departmental leaders, aimed at fostering a deep understanding of GAI, aligning strategic vision, and catalyzing actionable insights. Participants explore practical applications, engage in hands-on activities, and develop strategies to leverage GAI for enhanced business outcomes. While the primary focus of the sample workshop is on marketing, the workshop framework is adaptable for other functional areas such as engineering, operations, finance, administration, HR, and recruiting. #generativeartificialintelligence #generativeAI #GAI #AI #digitaltransformation #CIOs #CTOs #CDOs #CDAOs #CMOs #CFOs #CEOs #EQengineered

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💥 $1.6 𝑩𝑰𝑳𝑳𝑰𝑶𝑵 𝑫𝑶𝑳𝑳𝑨𝑹 𝑷𝑫𝑭?!! 💥📚 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘢 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩-𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘙𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘌𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 This report is so massive (and expensive) that the San Francisco Public Library had to wheel it out on yellow trolley for me… and this was only Chapter One!! 📚🛒 When we talk infrastructure and buildings, most people don’t realize the vast quantity of regulatory paperwork and consultants required to get construction projects started. The environmental reviews, approvals, and impact assessments are not just formalities—they’re a mountain of regulatory work that can take decades to complete and cost millions… or in this case, 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐚𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬. Is this the most expensive document ever written? 🤔 #infrastructure #regulatorycompliance #environmentalreview #californiahighspeedrail #buildingsustainability #transportation

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There you have it! BREAKING NEWS! New model comparison feature up on all Ask Sage, Inc. tenants! This feature enables you to compare prompt results across LLMs on a single screen with RAG, live, file attachment options. Did you know we can support any commercial and OSS models and deploy on any environment (air gapped, cloud, on premise... ?) Great convenient feature!

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I spent over half a decade working with driverless cars. I see massive potential for these vehicles to reshape NYC real estate. Waymo recently raised $5.6 billion in a Series C round led by Alphabet and supported by many other leading companies. Meaning the future of this technology feels closer than ever. These are the biggest Opportunities & Challenges Driverless cars present in the NYC market: 1. Reduced need for parking could free up valuable urban space, converting parking lots into housing, retail, or green areas. 2. Easier commutes may drive up outer borough property values, balancing Manhattan and other more densely populated areas of the City 3. NYC’s notorious traffic, pushback from unions on automation, unpredictable weather, and high foot traffic require advanced tech and regulatory adaptation. The next steps will be crucial as real estate, tech, and policy leaders navigate how driverless cars might reimagine our cities. How do you think driverless tech will impact real estate in NYC? P.S This is me in a driverless car back in 2017

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AI leaders have a crucial chance to address risks now and strengthen governance practices before playing catch-up to regulations, notes Kjell Carlsson, Ph.D. of Domino Data Lab. In a recent VentureBeat article, he shares his perspective on California's AI bill veto and why proactive governance is key to the future of AI innovation. Learn more about this addressing this opportunity: https://gag.gl/4WCTkP #AI #AIGovernance #AIInnovation #DataScience

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“AI’s “mirrors” look and sound a lot like us because they are reflecting their inputs and training data, with all of the biases and peculiarities that entails. And whereas other analogies for AI might convey a sense of living intelligence (think of the “stochastic parrot” of the widely cited 2021 paper), the “mirror” is more apt, says Vallor: AI isn’t sentient, just a flat, inert surface, captivating us with its fun-house illusions of depth.” the medium is the message, social networks the new medium and private networks the true repositories of value.

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San Francisco's real estate market faces significant challenges, with the office vacancy rate reaching a record 34.5% in Q2, up from 5% pre-pandemic. Despite the booming AI sector and major leases from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, the market struggles due to the shift to hybrid work and tech layoffs. Average asking rents have dropped to $68.27 per square foot, the lowest since 2015. While AI's growth offers some relief, broader issues, such as a move towards higher quality spaces and persistent vacancies, remain. The market shows some positive signs, but further declines in rent and rising vacancies are anticipated. #AINews #SanFrancisco #RealEstate #OfficeSpace #VacancyRate #TechIndustry #HybridWork #AIMarket #CommercialRealEstate https://lnkd.in/g23pJNSe

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All in on AI is a new series featuring interviews with Microsoft executives on how AI is empowering teams across our organization to tackle new challenges and discover creative solutions. In this episode, I sat down with our Corporate Vice President and Microsoft Chief Legal Officer, Hossein Nowbar, to chat about the integration of generative AI into our Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs (CELA) organization.      We discussed how AI can help our legal teams efficiently manage increasing workloads, particularly in immigration work, and deliver impactful results. Hossein emphasized the critical role of strategy, data, and culture in leveraging AI to transform legal operations, leading to enhanced services, smoother workflows, and more time for essential tasks.      Whether you are just starting your AI journey or looking to build on your current achievements, this series is an excellent resource for discovering how AI can elevate your work.       Learn more in this blog and watch a snippet from my conversation with Hossein below. https://lnkd.in/gHPsxqcE

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I spent five days in the SF Bay Area with B2B SaaS founders, funders, and senior software engineers. The talk is all about adding GenAI and LLM features to software apps, but they were unclear exactly how or when the AI big wave revolution will occur. AI is very cool and will be big, but it's still early to see how this will play out in the next year on the front lines of business. There's a lot of hurrying up to say you have AI features with a healthy skepticism about the user benefit of early GenAI attempts. Coders in big tech say, "Our product leaders told us we need to add GenAI features, but it still doesn't seem that interesting for users. We'll design it, code it, and ship it anyway." Founders in startup SaaS say, "We are running a lot of experiments and keeping up with the big AI platform changes. We're all more productive now but it hasn't made our app much more useful." Smaller SaaS funders say, "It's hard to tell where the winners will be to make our bets. AI tools help software companies grow more efficiently, so they don't need our funding as much. We're being very careful." Big enterprise SaaS buyers say, "We need to start investing, testing, and trying GenAI technology, which means we need to spend less on our existing SaaS apps in our tech budget." Big investors say, "It will be the next big tech wave, so we are making big early bets on chips, infrastructure, foundational models, and platforms. NVIDIA, Microsoft, Google--the big will get bigger." It's all very exciting, but it's still early and moving around quickly. That's a lot different from the last big software tech wave when SaaS apps on the web and mobile took over the last 15 years. It was easier to bet on the massive transition from on-premise Windows software to cloud-based web and mobile apps for businesses everywhere and billions of consumers. Despite that, I'm more excited about GenAI and other ML platforms than I was about VR, blockchain, and other platform opportunities that didn't materialize. It's early, but the practical AI wave will happen in ways we can't imagine or expect. What are you seeing in the current AI wave? #practicalfounders

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【Tech Events in SF Bay Area from 9/14 to 9/28】 I have summarized the 122 Tech Events in SF from 9/14 to 9/28 in a Air Table, and I will share it with you. If you have any other exciting tech events to recommend, please feel free to share them on the comment:) Event list👇️(There are tabs for AI events,VC and Investor events and Hackathon) https://lnkd.in/e_fYZDMn - 65 Ai Event - 4 VCs & investors Event - 6 Hackathon Event I would greatly appreciate it if you could share or like this with others in the SF community. 【Kyosuke's Newsletter】 https://lnkd.in/e5X896ZG It's a weekly newsletter where I provide updates on tech events happening in the SF Bay Area. Additionally, you can expect to receive complimentary tickets to conferences, recommendations for must-attend events, and exclusive invitations to SF's premier gatherings. #Sanfrancisco #SF #Bayarea #Techevent #YCombinator #Stanford #founders #VC #Investors #Networking

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🌉 San Francisco's Surprising Comeback: From 'Doom Loop' to Renaissance? Recent data suggests that San Francisco, once trapped in a pandemic-induced 'doom loop', is showing strong signs of recovery. Here's what's changing: 📈 Positive Trends: - Population Growth: Net gains over the past two years, with domestic in-migration positive for the first time since 2012. - Housing Market: Median home sale prices up 1.2% YoY to $1,427,500 in June. - Job Growth: The Bay Area added 7,400 jobs between January and June. Downtown Revival: Foot traffic beyond typical work hours has recovered to over 90% of pre-pandemic levels. - Crime Reduction: Property crime down 32% and violent crime down 14% in Q1 2024 compared to Q1 2023. - AI Boom: The city is positioning itself as a hub for the AI revolution. 🚧 Ongoing Challenges: - High office vacancy rates - Homelessness and drug crisis - Lagging tourism and business travel 🔑 Key Initiatives: - "Vacant to Vibrant" program offering free rent to businesses in empty storefronts - Increased police patrols and encampment sweeping - Crackdown on open-air drug dealing 💡 Expert Insight: "The rising AI empire is giving the city a new edge. Funding, talents, and culture related to the AI revolution will help the city turn the corner." - Lu Chen, Senior Economist at Moody's Analytics 🤔 What's Your Take? Are these positive trends sustainable, or is it too early to declare a comeback? How can other cities learn from San Francisco's recovery strategies? What role will AI play in reshaping urban economies, particularly in tech hubs? https://lnkd.in/gCnPCBRU

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We're launching the inaugural edition of Beyond Benchmarks, a deep dive into the metrics and trends observed across the early-stage enterprise cloud market. This is the first look at some of the business data around GenAI in SaaS. Some initial observations: 1) 60% of SaaS companies have already integrated GenAI into their offerings (60% of these as part of their current product and 40% as a new product), and an additional 20% are planning to do so this year. Almost half aren't monetizing these features. Those that are are primarily experimenting with both usage-based and flat fee pricing models. 2) Most companies are utilizing OpenAI as their primary LLM, but many are experimenting with multiple models - and we are noticing an early trend towards intelligently routing GenAI inference requests to different models based on cost, performance, and security. 3) Though we are in the initial innings of GenAI, we are seeing some positive signals - companies that implemented GenAI had 7% higher NDR than those that did not. Still early days, but we'll be doing this benchmarking report regularly to track and share how things progress in this new era. Link to report in comments.

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Read how this furniture giant just might have this AI thing figured out. They know how to pack many things into heavy boxes. And now, it seems, they've got the recipe for AI adoption, at scale, with ROI and employees that are embracing it. Their AI solutions are improving customer satisfaction, improving productivity, demonstrating commitment to their employees and making them a destination for top talent. I wonder if AI can help improve their assembly manuals. IKEA please add this to the backlog. CATO AI AI Solution Exchange #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #InvestInEmployees #AIAdoption #IKEA https://lnkd.in/gwvJhyv6

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AI Is Getting Better At Math - But Has It Learned To Cheat? ◾ LLMs may be memorizing rather than understanding ◾ A paper by researchers at Scale AI details how LLMs have been achieving impressive results on math benchmark tests. But, there’s growing concern about what is fueling the high scores. The LLM may be training in a way that prioritizes passing these tests rather than understanding the problem it’s trying to solve. This is like preparing for a math exam by memorizing answers instead of learning how to solve the problem. Is this good or bad? Read the full Tom's Guide article here: https://lnkd.in/enqhjPBY #ai #artificialintelligence #llms

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