I've been at startups for my entire career and at the executive level for most of it. One of the nice things in the startup world is that the dress code has always been fairly slack.

But this seems to be changing. Recently I had the misfortune of having to find a new job. One thing that happened during that process was that it became clear that the interviewers were expecting nicer dress than I was use to. One even had concerns about my ability to present to the board – that made me laugh; I think the concern though came from the fact I wasn't wearing a nice suit and he was. I also go to networking events and I've seen the trend moving more and more back to wearing suits or at least a sport coat. A few years ago at similar events I would see maybe 20% of the crowd wearing ties and the ones I've been to this year it has been more like 70%.

I have mixed feelings about the trend, but I do wonder what is driving it…