He began covering the field for the New York Times while living in San Francisco, and became a staff writer at that bureau in 2000, just in time for the dot-com bust, which he covered, along with other subjects that included internet gambling, video games, corporate espionage, identity theft, mobile communications, the culture and economy of Silicon Valley, and the potential for internet addiction. His column "VC" focuses on venture capitalism. Richtel occasionally covers another subject, as in 2006 when he covered the Adult Film Awards, the X-rated version of the Oscars.