LAST WEEKEND, 150 of tech’s most gifted engineers traveled to an Arizona resort to spend three days at an event that, despite having never happened before, is called Reunion. The group ranged from the semi-famous, like PayPal founder Max Levchin and Microsoft chief technology officer Kevin Scott, to the spectacularly promising, like Stanford junior Nancy Xu. There were a few panels, some company presentations, and a smattering of horseback rides and hikes in the afternoons. The retreat is the formal beginning of a new kind of institution, one that’s becoming increasingly popular among Silicon Valley’s elite and soon-to-be elite. It’s an ostensibly modern take on a very old idea: the social club.
Image: COURTESY OF ALI PARTOVI
