Inside the AI Era’s Favorite Hacker Houses

A basketball court, a speakeasy, a group egg-freezing session: These nerd dorms aren't like the ones of the past.

Which hacker house came first? No one’s exactly sure. But what’s certainly clear is that such hostelries have become enduring Silicon Valley staples even as many other rhythms of startup life have significantly shifted.

A whole new crop has bubbled up lately as AI fever has taken hold, presenting investors like Lightspeed Venture Partners’ Amber Yang with a road map toward identifying some of the industry’s best young talent at a time when recruiting is at a frenzied high. “There’s always this question of how you identify talent very, very, very early—before other people,” said Yang, a Lightspeed partner. “A lot of that is from trying to stay on top of these communities.”