On a recent Saturday night at Eldridge Terrace on the Lower East Side, a handpicked crowd of Gen Z creatives and entrepreneurs sipped absinthe, watched a magician work miracles with “A Wrinkle in Time,” and danced to house music until 2:30 a.m. Anyone not on the list was turned away — no matter where they worked or where they’d gone to school.
It was the 20th gathering of 3rd Space, an ultra-exclusive monthly event series that has become one of the most sought-after invites for young New Yorkers with big ideas and bigger ambitions. Guests have included Teddy Warner, 19, a Thiel Fellow building an emotionally capable robot, and Marc Baghadjian, the 26-year-old founder of Hypercard, the hybrid corporate-personal credit card backed by Sam Altman.
The series’ co-founder, Jake Sacks, said 3rd Space receives nearly 100 applications per week, but less than 3% of those who apply to attend events — typically 30-person dinners, priced around $150 — get in. Most are referred by other attendees. All are vetted via phone call so Sacks can gauge fit and curate the seating chart.
“It’s about personality type — and, are you working on something meaningful?” Sacks told NYNext. “There are a million founder networks and investor panels in New York, but what we don’t have are spaces for young people, across industries, to share work and become friends.”
Sacks, 23, studied entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California. And running 3rd Space is now his full-time gig thanks to sponsorship funding secured in December. He’s inspired by the Medici family of 17th-century Florence and how they brought together artists, astronomers, philosophers and physicists, encouraging cross-pollination.
Connection is the point, and for many, the piece they’d been missing.
“With the pandemic, our generation missed this pivotal time when we were supposed to learn to socialize,” said attendee Sophia Wilson, 25, a photographer and director who has shot campaigns for Serena Williams and Addison Rae. “We’re reclaiming our years.”
The idea for 3rd Space first came about in March 2022, when Sacks was still at USC and realized how disconnected he and many of his entrepreneurial peers were. After graduating in 2024, he brought it to New York and fine-tuned the concept with co-founder and creative director Sophia Almendral, 23.
Membership has expanded beyond traditional entrepreneurs to include anyone building a brand or body of work on their own terms.
At past dinners, Michael Vito Valentino — the 26-year-old editor-in-chief of major media company NowThis, which rakes in some 745 million monthly views — has mingled with the likes of Cameron Smith, 31, the executive producer of Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson’s “The Roomates” podcast, and Tim West, 31, CEO of global running brand Bandit.
Smith and West are outliers: Sacks said 95% of attendees are under 30. None are career influencers.
“People who expect everything for free, generally, are not overly generous with their network,” he said. “We want people who want to help each other.”
Results are tangible. At one dinner, fashion designer Chuck Ryan was seated next to Robbie Stinchcomb, then head designer at Brooklyn-based art collective MSCHF. The two are now collaborating on a boxing outfit for a celebrity-fighter with an upcoming bout in Miami.
“The room was full of people that are normally way too busy to go to these type of things,” said Ryan, 24, whose invitation came via Instagram DM. “This was people actually doing the work.”
Sacks is now building a larger ecosystem around the dinners. A 3rd Space newsletter launched earlier this fall, and there are plans to develop a media company built on the same premise: ambitious young builders, paired in unexpected combinations, writing their own future.
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For those who believe the entirety of Gen Z prefer screens, solitude and sobriety, 3rd Space is an emphatic rebuttal.
“We need more of these spaces that set you up for success,” said painter Vanessa Wilkes, 26. “Why else are we living in New York, paying this rent, if not to feel the buzz?”
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