Stephen Campbell knows cigarettes did not land him one of his biggest deals, but he says they helped set the tone. The cofounder of Revamp AI was in Shenzhen meeting with a large Chinese tech company, where the evening moved from barbecue to baijiu to cigarettes, then to a cocktail bar and a karaoke bar.
'By the end of the night, it's us and our prospects ripping cigs in the karaoke lounge,' Campbell says. He says that kind of setting can move a relationship from vendor-customer to something more personal.
That idea has found a home in parts of tech, even as smoking has fallen sharply in the United States. In 1966, more than 40% of US adults smoked, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By 2022, the rate had dropped to 11.6%. Smoking is especially rare in tech, where longevity is practically a core value. For nicotine, many workers have turned to vapes and zyns instead.
Still, some founders and investors say cigarettes have become a kind of social signal. Campbell says smoking gives him breaks from the founder grind and more chances to talk with strangers. He says it is also how he has met neighbors in San Francisco's Rincon Hill neighborhood and tenants in his office building.
Jake Jolis, the general partner of Zeno Ventures, says the founders who smoke often seem less concerned about VCs, and that can make them more interesting to investors. He says that attitude sets them apart from 'central casting, ruffle no feathers, middle of the road' founders. Jolis says he is not looking for smokers, but sees smoking as a sign that a founder's 'guard is down.' Two smokers he has invested in have performed 'extremely well,' he says.
The same social logic shows up in other deals. One seed-stage investor says he felt more confident after watching a founder smoke Marlboro Reds at a bar because the founder could 'hang.' Campbell says, 'When you're smoking, you're networking by accident.' He says he has hired some Revamp employees after sharing cigarettes with them.
Jamie, a crypto alum who did not share his last name, says he met a backer for his raw milk startup at a Miami kava bar. He describes the crowd there as partly 'recovering opioid addicts from Appalachia' and partly 'Wall Street and Silicon Valley refugees looking for shelter from taxes, pandemic restrictions, and leftist ideological hegemony.' He says he struck up a conversation with an investor while chain-smoking Marlboro Reds, and the investor signed a check a week later.
The broader message is simple: in a high-trust business, founders will keep looking for cheap ways to build rapport. Sometimes that means a pitch deck. Sometimes it means a cigarette break. The founders who see smoking as an edge are betting that social access is worth the cost.
The math is simple. Whatever lowers the guard can also raise the bill. For a market that prizes efficiency, smoking is a strange reminder that deals are still made by people, not just spreadsheets.
