Each generation experiences the others as something of a mystery.
And Gen Z certainly has its enigmas: What’s with the chill? How do you catch a vibe? And what ultimately makes something hit different? But here’s something that’s clear: the numbers, which show that Gen Z’s influence and purchasing power are on the rise. Consider: Gen Z commands more than $450 billion in global spending power, and some studies show that even those who are still teenagers are spending.
At 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, over breakfast potatoes and coffee, four Gen Z founders and investors took the Fortune Brainstorm Tech stage to talk about what it means to communicate effectively with their cohort, and what their generation actually values.
“For a lot of my friends who’ve just graduated college and are starting their first jobs, they’re going much more on values and vibes than pay and prestige,” said Alexandra Debow, CEO and cofounder of photo sharing social app swsh. That Goldman Sachs job is all fine and good, but if the vibes are off, Gen Zers would simply rather be somewhere where they like the people and are treated well, Debow added.
This dynamic emerged in all sorts of ways throughout the conversation. When thinking about Gen Z customers, lifestyle in the truest sense of the term is deeply important. Yes, Gen Z has “mimetic desire” as Debow deftly put it—they want the houses, cars, and pools they see on social media. But this also means lifestyle in the more literal sense of the term: Do you feel good, at ease in your day-to-day life?
“We care about lifestyle at the end of the day,” said investor Marc Baghadjian, CEO and cofounder at Sam Altman-backed Hypercard. “It doesn’t matter who you are. At the core of it, your lifestyle is the most important thing.”
Sure, you might be reading this thinking: Values and vibes? Lifestyle? What am I supposed to do with that? (At least one study shows that 74% of business leaders say they struggle working with Gen Z.) But dismissing their rhetoric also ignores harsh realities. This is a generation whose formative years played out in the isolation of COVID-19, and amid escalating political polarization and economic uncertainty. Gen Z is more likely than any to have (or need) a side hustle, and their struggles with mental health are well-documented: Gen Z’s suicide rates are astonishingly high. They’ve also lived all their lives with social media—which emerged in the conversation as the ultimate double-edged sword.
On one hand, social media has made so much possible that was once impossible. For example, Baghadjian vividly recounted the story of a TikTok influencer who gained millions of views posting about her Chick-fil-A job. Though Chick-fil-A fired her, Baghadjian says Shake Shack swiftly picked her up.
On the other hand, social media has often left them grasping for a life that doesn’t exist.
“Social media can be very isolating for Gen Z,” said Zehra Naqvi, Headline Ventures investor and founder of The Z List, a community for early-stage founders and VCs. “It's not social at all as an individual experience. You're just consuming other people's lives.”
“It’s a little unfair for young people to have to have so much self-discipline at such a young age around these interfaces,” said Snap designer and engineer Suraya Shivji, who’s also founder of high school-focused app HAGS. “It’s like candy. You're always gonna want to have it.”
At the end of the session, the panelists went down the line offering advice to executives about communicating with Gen Z. Baghadjian doubled down on the importance of lifestyle, while Debow reminded the audience that Gen Z wants to be in-person, too: “I think so much communication gets lost on text.”
“Be more vulnerable than you think you need to be,” said Naqvi.
"Just be chill over coffee,” Shivji added.
I’ll come clean: I overall find Gen Z really compelling for their commitment to authenticity and humor about the awkwardness of being alive. (I’m also an undeniable fan of poetically messy Gen Z pop stars.)
But I’m also a hustle culture millennial—so of course I think there’s such a thing as too much chill. Still, at the end of the hour, I understood something I didn’t before: If you think Gen Z’s insistence on chill is rhetoric or laziness, you’re missing the point.
Chill is their rebellion.
See you tomorrow,
Allie Garfinkle
Twitter: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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