A generation that is anything but medium rare

Today’s generation of twenty-somethings are misunderstood.

Gen Z has a reputation. And not just one for propelling Taylor Swift to being the world’s top pop star. Now, I’m not seated at the right hand of the mother like Travis Kelce is, but I think I understand my generation pretty well - even as one of its elder statesmen.

Well-documented statistics show that we favor spending money on experiences over saving, the most important issue to us is climate change, and prioritize working for companies that prioritize diversity and inclusion. I stan all of this completely, and am glad that these viewpoints have begun to gain traction on the national stage.

What Gen Z does not have a reputation for, though, is being a generation of hardworkers. You see the headlines that call Gen Z entitled, unproductive, or difficult to work with.

Although Gen Z’s expectations for higher salary or quicker career growth may be seen as entitled to some, I would track this higher expectation for life to a collective trait that I have seen play out in my social and professional spheres: we are a generation of creative innovators.

The generational mantle for innovators usually goes to the Millenials. Mark Zuckerberg, for example, created an entire pipeline of people who thought their big idea could turn themselves from a college dropout to a millionaire overnight. I know, because I’m one of them.

So yes, the millennials created the frameworks that created the social media generation. But something tells me that this generation of true digital natives - Gen Z - is going to not only continue the acceleration of the innovation economy, but is going to do so in creative ways that those before us have not been able to. Despite the many flaws of the social media lanscape, the rails have been created. So, where am I taking you on this high-speed journey through the heartland of innovation?

My former home, the East Village of NYC. (Where else tbh.)

Last Saturday, a group of twenty-somethings came together to do something that represents the best of Gen Z creativity and what’s to come as our generation takes the reins of the internet, startup, and VC world: they created a luxury NYC steakhouse called Mehran’s Steak House out of thin air, opened for one night only, had their friends staff the restaurant, and successfully sold their experience for greater than $100 a plate in one sold out evening. One diner said it was “the best steak of their life.”

I’m not going to spend much time writing about what they did - Mehran himself and the New York Times have already done so in a manner that I cannot (and should not) replicate. But I will write about the implications of this, as it is a fun example of the rise of the Gen Z economy.

The Gen Z economy is bound to be chaotic, as it is set to be one that is dominated by trends, opulence, and time-bound exclusivity. The pop-up shop model has grown from a format used by thrift shops to quickly offload products in high-traffic areas to a way for West Village trendsetters to find their next favorite grocery trend. The “drop” model once utilized for exclusivity by streetwear titan Supreme is now being employed by fast-fashion retailers like Temu that aim to capitalize on those looking for various deals on new products. And I saw a line across the block in torrential rain last night full of twenty-somethings waiting to get into the John Wick pop-up bar in the Financial District.

There will be casualties, though. Those who don’t adapt the digital world to the real-world in an authentic and trustworthy way will not fly in this environment. Showfields, which aimed to be the department store of the future by featuring digitally-native brands in irl spaces and marketing itself as “the most interesting store in the world,” unfortunately just announced that it was closing its NYC store this week. Its Miami store was also closed earlier this year to “better align with its profitability and expansion goals.” I was an online retailer that enjoyed working with them, but I can see where they went wrong in their quest to be an all-in-one shop.

Gen Z will focus on temporality and exclusivity, and will want to purchase products from the businesses that align themselves with the next big thing. Gen Z entrepreneurs will develop businesses that align themselves towards the actions of their peers. Not every business will look like or be as successful as Mehran’s Steak House. But, be prepared for an evolving landscape where if you’re not on trend, you’re not dropping new experiences, or you’re not evolving your offerings, you will be left behind.

Short commercial attention spans can seem annoying, but I think they will have a wonderful effect on innovation. We will see a blistering pace of development around new fields like AI and Web3, and ripple effects will follow in venture capital financing trends. I would argue that knowing these business trends would also be useful for politicians seeking to connect with a younger audience.

We will see where life takes us. But absolute kudos to the Mehran’s Steak House team. I am excited for a future that includes the ingenuity of combining a desire for fun with an incredible discipline to pull something off that is difficult and time-consuming. If this doesn’t represent the best of what’s to come, I don’t know what will.

Thank you to those in the past for building the rails. But I think it will take our generation to finally prioritize high-speed alternatives. Ok, maybe not actual high-speed rail: but we can do something about it. After all, that’s what Katniss wired us to do.