00:00why was San Francisco so definitively
00:03the center of the tech industry why did
00:05it all like agglomerate here San
00:08Francisco is the place in the world
00:10where you can manufacture luck within a
00:12month of us moving in there they
00:13launched Twitter I was like I wow this
00:15place is like incredible everywhere here
00:18are people starting companies really
00:20ambitious companies and then Co hit in
00:23the last year some things have happened
00:25that have turned things around they feel
00:28the energy I actually think the biggest
00:29Factor is that they have all the
00:31building blocks to make San Francisco
00:33into the best city in the
00:41world welcome back to another episode of
00:44the light cone today we're talking about
00:47San Francisco it was dead but now like
00:51Lazarus it is back and not only that
00:54we've got a new thing to talk about
00:56which is cerebral Valley people from all
00:58around the world are coming to move to
01:00San Francisco to just a few
01:02neighborhoods we're in one of them in
01:04the Dog Patch to build the future to
01:07build the future of AI why is that
01:10on I think it's worth just charting the
01:13course of San Francisco over the last
01:14few years as a starting point when we
01:16all got to San Francis in 2006 San
01:19Francisco was coming out of its own Doom
01:231.0 from the do crash in the late '90s
01:26San Francisco was full to the brim again
01:30and then the dot bubble burst and when
01:32we got there it kind of felt like a
01:33ghost town like there was a lot of
01:35vacancy rents rents had crashed um and
01:39then what brought San Francisco out of
01:40the Doom Loop was the Web 2.0 boom all
01:43these YC companies like stripe and
01:44Airbnb and Dropbox moved to San
01:46Francisco and they started hiring
01:48employees who moved into apartments and
01:50like the tech economy just like dragged
01:52San Francisco back out of out out of the
01:54Doom Loop this is like very specific
01:56point like the Silicon Valley geography
01:58I I remember like when we were moving
02:012007 there was a real negative
02:03connotation about choosing to base your
02:05company in San Francisco instead of like
02:08pal Alto yeah paloalto Mountain View San
02:11Jose even like anything south and I
02:13think it linked to the do era where the
02:16perception the belief was that during
02:18the dot era all of the opportunists had
02:21come to and like moved into San
02:23Francisco because they wanted to like
02:24live in a cool City and have like cool
02:26things to do instead of like working and
02:28it was a real conventional wisdom that
02:31post that era if you were serious about
02:33starting a company you choose to be
02:35based in like the peninsula and if you
02:38chose to be in San Francisco you are
02:39like actively choosing to not be serious
02:42about your company it a real neg like
02:44investors really paid attention to this
02:46yeah and we put YC itself in the South
02:49Bay should should we talk about where YC
02:52has been over the years yeah why
02:54combinator got started in uh Mountain
02:56View on uh one of the most legendary
02:59streets at the this point it was uh
03:00called Pioneer way and as hard said in
03:022005 Mountain View was the place to be
03:05Google had based its headquarters there
03:07and people don't look at Google the same
03:09way anymore but in 2005 Google was the
03:12Undisputed king of innovation all the
03:13smartest people wanted to be affiliated
03:15with Google and so mement became this
03:17mecca for smart people it's the place
03:19where all the serious technologists were
03:21like conglomerating another major factor
03:23is just in that era people started
03:27people starting companies just tended to
03:29be slightly older right like even like
03:31the like the Google Founders were phds
03:33like late 20s maybe it's not old but
03:35like not like 21 22 just out of college
03:38and I think even late 20s early 30s and
03:42there was a lot of it from palal also
03:44because of Stanford right yeah and
03:46people like wanted to be in the suburbs
03:48basically and and the investors wanted
03:50to be in the suburbs CU they're all
03:51older so there just this natural pool
03:53and then the first sort of young founder
03:55Mark Zuckerberg chose to be based in
03:57like Palo Alto as well right so like the
03:59serious upand cominging startup was in
04:02Palo Alto strip was also initially in
04:05pal stri was also initially Palo Alto
04:07but then I think like YC actually um not
04:10because Paul wanted it to but like it
04:13ended up contributing to the move to San
04:15Francisco dramatically like we probably
04:17pulled it Forward by years yeah CU
04:20there's all a bunch of like young people
04:22who wanted to not be in the suburbs and
04:25they actually all ended up being in like
04:26the same building right like you guys
04:28were living in scraper and I lived in
04:30the same building um this building in
04:33North in the North Beach area of San
04:35Francisco called Crystal towers that
04:37came to be known as the Y scraper
04:39because there were so many y combinator
04:40companies in it we actually wanted to be
04:43living in the building but we were
04:45rejected really yeah we were rejected
04:48because we were we came to submit our
04:50application they told us there were lots
04:51of space um and then they told us just
04:54go around the corner to the leasing
04:55office to get it um uh filled as I was
04:59walking out I bumped into Justin Khan
05:01who at the time was working Justin.tv
05:02and so he'd walk around everywhere with
05:04a camera on his head um which it turns
05:07out the building did not like so they
05:09they saw me talking to Justin and they
05:11must have called the leasing office to
05:13say reject their application so by the
05:15time I got around they said there's no
05:18left what like one minute ago you said
05:20there was like plenty of room I was like
05:22um um but so we ended up like kind of
05:24living vicariously cuz we were try and
05:26come over to the building as much as we
05:28could for like dinnner and lunches and
05:30just every time we would learn so much
05:33like you had the fers of Dropbox in
05:35there scrip was in there uh Weebly
05:37there's actually a very important Point
05:39here I think which is for people who are
05:41Builders it's actually important to be
05:44around other people who are like that so
05:47go you anyone who has built something
05:49that you respect that you think is
05:51really good that you want to build
05:53things similar to that like try to be
05:55near them like actually just being in a
05:57in community with other people like that
06:00greatly increases your chance of success
06:03I mean I think that was true for for us
06:05I mean that's why we for posterous we
06:07applied to White combinator like we
06:08looked at you know Steve at Reddit or we
06:11looked at ad Drew from Dropbox or James
06:14from Heroku and we said those are the
06:16kinds of things that we want to build
06:19and I think you know today that that
06:21sort of continues like you want to be
06:23near people like that from my personal
06:25experience I grew up I was born and grew
06:27up in England YC reading po msas and
06:30hearing about YC and getting accepted to
06:32YC in 2007 is the reason that I moved
06:35but the initially I only planned on
06:36moving for 3 months like that's how long
06:38we could stay on a tourist waiver um but
06:42as soon as we got here it was just like
06:44a complete world of difference like I
06:45went from being around all of my peers
06:47working in banking consultancy just
06:51thinking I was unemployed or too lazy to
06:53get like a real job and being in San
06:56Francisco and the Bay Area especially
06:58amongst the YC Founders it was like hey
06:59like everyone's doing a startup
07:01everyone's like in the same boat we can
07:02all like support each other like it's
07:05just like in the water like it was my
07:07first time experiencing being in an
07:09environment that felt like nourishing
07:11versus draining for starting companies
07:13and you could feel that really intensely
07:15like just being in San Francisco and
07:17then you found yourself in one of those
07:19legendary rooms very early on with your
07:22first startup yeah it was again just
07:24like a total um Serendipity luck Factor
07:29Evan Williams the fan of Twitter had
07:31happened to be speaking at a conference
07:34at my college in like 2006 and he' we
07:39sort of my co-founder who's my cousin um
07:41cor we spoke to him and he is like hey
07:43like if you guys move out to San
07:44Francisco like we have some free office
07:46space and you should just like we have
07:48some desks and you should just like come
07:49hang out there which is what we did and
07:52that startup at the time was called
07:53audio um Odio which is a podcasting
07:56company that was not actually doing very
07:58well and you you could actually feel it
08:00in the office but I mean it's why they
08:01had space in free desks right like they
08:03had more space than they needed it was
08:04very much people were coming like 9 to 5
08:07and so it just wasn't like a a super
08:10Dynamic environment but within a month
08:12of us moving in there they launched
08:14Twitter and and twizz just like took off
08:16and then suddenly like the whole energy
08:18in the place changed there were always
08:20like interesting people coming in and
08:22out of the office and just like you got
08:24really energized by being around
08:26something that was clearly working so
08:28well and it made you want to like put in
08:30more effort and like feed off the energy
08:33and what's funny is har startup was in
08:36the same office as Twitter and it the
08:39same time I was running a different
08:41startup and Twitter moved offices after
08:44they outgrew that space and they moved
08:46into my office building and so my
08:48startup was actually across the hall
08:50from Twitter's second office and this
08:52kind of like this might seem like a
08:55bizarre coincidence it's actually like
08:56not that unusual because all of Tech was
08:59concentrated into this very small area
09:02in like downtown and Soma like people
09:04who haven't been here don't don't
09:06realize just how dense it was where like
09:08you could go from any startup to any
09:10startup in San Francisco in like 15
09:13minutes yeah I mean I remember a very
09:15specific example of that like we we left
09:18the office to get lunch and we step
09:20outside and we bump into Ron Conway like
09:22the like legendary angel investor and he
09:25just starts asking us some questions and
09:27we start and we met him at a YC event
09:29um and we just told him like we've got
09:31like a bunch of problems we really want
09:33like to get blah blah blah as a customer
09:35and by the time we got back to our
09:36office he'd like shot off these intros
09:38to all of the companies for us um to
09:41help us like with like making sales like
09:43wow this place is like incredible I mean
09:45the crazy thing I think San Francisco is
09:48the place in the world where you can
09:49manufacture luck and startups for them
09:53to really get big lots of things need to
09:56happen to be right there's something
09:58special about being surrounded with all
10:00the people that kind of know how and
10:02they're all here and they're willing to
10:05help because starting companies is
10:06actually a very anomalous than in other
10:09parts of the world it's a strange job
10:11and to your point harsh starting a
10:13company could be looked at oh you're
10:15just a bomb you're not really working at
10:16the beginning what is it going on but
10:19here people really celebrate it because
10:21people understand how hard it is how is
10:24it for you D I'm C like because you grew
10:26up in Chile like how was the move to
10:29Silicon Valley and being around this so
10:32it relate a lot to the story of being a
10:34misfit so in Chile when I grew up I was
10:37always a weird kid to stay indoors
10:39because also was very difficult being
10:41the only Asian kid there were no other
10:44Asian kids around and I really loved
10:46reading books and when I got a computer
10:48I really like um also building a lot of
10:52these RPG games back then emulators I
10:55got a lot into that and internet was
10:58like my bubble but didn't know anyone
11:00like that and what was cool is I always
11:06admired all the builders and my dream
11:10was that at some point I would move to
11:11be in Silicon Valley and be there and
11:15what was special that I didn't know and
11:17there was this poll is that when I got
11:20and moved to with to Silicon Valley I
11:23started working at intel was my first
11:25job it's the first time I felt at home
11:28there were a lot of people like like
11:30me who really like to nerd out and
11:33really to go deep on subjects and
11:36building and it wasn't judged because I
11:38was judged back then I had to sort of
11:40hide and not talk about my interest when
11:43I go in that super deep and that was
11:46special where it was celebrated and you
11:49can build and there's also the experts
11:51in different areas and everyone is just
11:54as deep as you with building and it's
11:57just as exciting and an optimist instead
11:59of being judg on why you like this weird
12:01thing uh one of the funniest things that
12:02I remember from Reading Paul Graham
12:04essays that I think was one of the
12:05reasons why a bunch of us found his
12:07essays um was he would always describe
12:10what it was like in high school to be a
12:13nerd and then I I think that that might
12:16be a common experience for us where you
12:18know you sort of grow up in the in
12:20default Society default Society you
12:23realize is a little bit foreign it has
12:25different values than you it um you know
12:28sort of value appearance more than sort
12:31of the substance um's way to do it right
12:35and that kind of keeps going even after
12:37college let's say you um for young
12:40Founders their friend who may not be
12:42Founders end up getting whatever the
12:44standard job being an investment banker
12:47consulting or whatever or the big Tech
12:50job and they end up having this Standard
12:53Life where it's like okay they get the
12:55promotion they get the nice vacations
12:57they get the time off and a lot of their
12:59meaning is more outside of work and then
13:02when you're friends with uh nothing
13:04against that by the way with when your
13:06friends are like that and you're doing
13:08your startup and you're working 247 and
13:11working very hard and not really having
13:13a lot of money to take the vacations the
13:15fancy vacations you kind of get a little
13:17bit judged implicitly not directly and
13:20that can be a bit demotivating and I
13:22think what's special being here is you
13:25surround yourself with people who
13:27are in that same mode in that same Vibe
13:31we those who working hard and you're
13:33chasing your dreams to build something
13:36and it's not look down that you're not
13:38taking a fancy vacation or going to the
13:39fancy dinners is actually on the other
13:41hand celebrated that you're working hard
13:44and really taking taking the lead got
13:47such a deep Point Di and I think that is
13:49actually the true reason why startups
13:52and startup Founders conglomerate in
13:54Silicon Valley like some people think
13:56it's transactional reasons like oh this
13:59is where the investors are so you have
14:00to be close to the investors or like
14:02this is where the like employees are so
14:04you have to be like the place where you
14:05can hire employees and like those I
14:07actually think those are like factors
14:08probably more minor factors I actually
14:10think the biggest factor is that it's
14:12like people become the average of the
14:13people who they surround themselves with
14:15when you're in a city that doesn't value
14:18this kind of thing it's really hard to
14:20stay motivated it's really hard to be as
14:22ambitious when you move to Silicon
14:24Valley and you're surrounded by people
14:26like everywhere here are people starting
14:29companies really ambitious companies
14:31people who are you know who are who are
14:34really trying to change the world in a
14:35very serious very dedicated way it just
14:38like wears off on you and it makes you
14:40motivated to want to do the same thing
14:41it's also like um there's a particular
14:43sense of like long-term ambition here um
14:46where like startups just take so long to
14:48actually work out and make any
14:50difference that everyone who starts out
14:52here is on that journey and it's just
14:55you know I think out generally like
14:57alistic and wants to make a difference
14:59but you're also just very incentivized
15:00to think longterm and um not pay
15:04attention to like short-term stus games
15:07you care you kind of care about like
15:08your relationships over a long period of
15:10time and if you contrast that to say
15:12like a finance Hub like New York there's
15:14a huge amount of ambition there but it
15:16is tends to be more like how much money
15:18are you making right now and one thing
15:20we all see is people come to San
15:22Francisco or YC with maybe like they
15:25their ambition level like they think is
15:27at like you know like on two out of five
15:29scale but like they grow from all the
15:31other people and especially if the
15:33company starts doing well like their
15:34ambition changes right and so like and I
15:37think that's a very unique thing here
15:39where if you're working on like
15:41technology like there's almost no bound
15:44to like how far like your ideas can go
15:46it's just like how long do you want to
15:47keep pushing them and working on them
15:49for and if you're around like other
15:50people who are also interested enough in
15:53what they're doing to keep doing it
15:54versus trying to hit some like end state
15:56of success I think that's how you end up
15:57with these companies where you have Like
15:59Larry Ellison working on Oracle for like
16:01decades like anything that happens
16:02anywhere else this is actually a place
16:04that generates social movement like we
16:07believe X like I believe that uh Ai and
16:11large language models might regen
16:14recreate uh every type of enterprise
16:16software and that's happening like right
16:18before our eyes right now or we believe
16:21that um you know El electrification and
16:24you know decarbonization will remake how
16:27we use energy in the world like that's
16:28sort of happening before our eyes and
16:31then being around people who have those
16:33ideas like not all of them are going to
16:35be right even having a culture where
16:37being wrong is okay uh that's very rare
16:41and I think that's like you know having
16:43a truly inclusive place where it's uh
16:47basically what do you believe and what
16:49do you believe that nobody else believes
16:51yet that that's the very unique reason
16:54why I think San Francisco is the most
16:56special place in the world like right up
16:59it was clear that San Francisco was the
17:01center of the startup and Technology
17:03world right like you completely right
17:05like every neighborhood was becoming
17:07busier like rents and property prices
17:09kept getting like more and more
17:10expensive like it was very clear the
17:12center of everything and then takies
17:15more and more yeah yeah like I think
17:17that was probably sping the backlash
17:19office vacancy was like
17:210.5% yeah new apartment buildings
17:23especially in like the area where the
17:24Salesforce Tower was built I I always
17:26felt that felt like another Turning
17:28Point like huge Tower like that whole
17:30are we had a um startup office was based
17:33right around the corner from there and
17:35just the new apartment buildings going
17:37up on every block like it really felt
17:38the center of everything I remember in
17:402019 it seemed like one of the biggest
17:43problems that weissy had was it there
17:45was not enough place to put all the
17:47people who wanted to move to San
17:48Francisco like there was not enough
17:49housing there was not enough office
17:50space we were just like bursting at the
17:52seams yep and then Co hit what happened
17:55in Co yeah how the things come kind of
17:59turn around so downturn in a matter of
18:02few months yeah everything changed in a
18:05matter of a few months I think right up
18:08until covid everything we said is very
18:10true like there it was clearly the
18:11center of the tech world like everything
18:13people were moving but there were
18:15clearly problems with the city like
18:17beneath the surface like homelessness
18:19was increasing like crime was increasing
18:21like there were all these like tensions
18:24that people looked past because like you
18:27had to be here and I felt like Co hit
18:30remote work became like necessary and it
18:34was a chance for a lot of people to
18:37finally move out and experience living
18:40in another city where they didn't have
18:41as many of these problems as San
18:43Francisco did it's like I would meet
18:45people who would talk about San
18:47Francisco as though like Jared puts it
18:49this way like Gotham City right if you
18:51were on Twitter or if you were just
18:52bumping into casual people they're like
18:57like it was really like was just like
18:59wow you're from San Francisco I'm sorry
19:02you go out at night yeah and it was and
19:04this was basically all of I think like
19:062021 and like most of
19:092022 and then in the last year some
19:12things have happened that have turned
19:14things around and are starting what
19:16Gary's calling this boom Loop like what
19:18what happened in the past year well the
19:20clear thing is AI right like the um chat
19:22gbt launching um was like a complete
19:27like reset and brought everyone back and
19:29I think like to like the broader point
19:32in order to work on AI pre like CH the
19:35chat gbt 3 launch you have to be sort of
19:38like counterculture Misfit it was not at
19:40all a mainstream thing to be working on
19:42it was kind it was not cool to work on
19:44AI if anything actually you know it was
19:48a little bit of a dead end for some
19:50people at that point like it was a bit
19:51of one of the AI Winters back then and
19:54people were keep going because they knew
19:57something that everyone it didn't this
19:59is that part of being counter I think
20:01it's a really important point because
20:03pre that like and during the covid
20:04remote work period there were multiple
20:06hubs that had the claim to be like the
20:09next Silicon Valley and I don't think
20:11anyone was claiming that like any one of
20:13them would be as big as Silicon Valley
20:15but there was just like a a general view
20:17that hey like the future of innovation
20:18just going to be distributed and
20:20dispersed in like some of it will be New
20:22York some of it will be in La some of it
20:24will be in London like all around the
20:26world but the thing that actually drove
20:28the wave happened in San Francisco and
20:31it doesn't seem coincidental like if
20:33anything you can argue the fact that the
20:34city got so bad and it's still like it's
20:37come back and it's like now the center
20:40again is just evidence of how strong the
20:41like Network effects are here yeah and
20:43it's not just open AI basically all the
20:45AI ended up in San Francisco open AI
20:48anthropic scale AI basically all the big
20:50AI companies all the big all the big
20:52Tech AI research Labs it's all in the
20:55Bay Area and now we're saying like post
20:57chat gbt like we're seeing San Francisco
21:00really come back how is it different
21:02like what are we seeing that's like
21:04different in sort of this iteration of
21:06San Francisco versus like the peak
21:09preo well commercial real estate is
21:12down but um I guess the wild thing is
21:15like we still have some real big
21:17problems downtown and uh in large parts
21:20of Soma and S was sort of where they
21:22allowed to you they where they allowed
21:24developers to build housing and by
21:27default I think a lot of people watching
21:28this who are not from San Francisco a
21:30lot of them might end up in Soma and
21:32then realize oh this isn't a place where
21:34I want to live and then they'd leave but
21:36you know I think the thing I want people
21:38to sort of understand is like cerebral
21:40Valley is not Soma cerebral Valley is
21:43actually a play on Hayes Valley which is
21:44in the center of the city there's lots
21:46of incredible food and you know shops
21:49and like that's where a lot of uh the
21:51best AI companies are choosing to be uh
21:53right now we're sitting in the Y
21:55combinator offices we signed more than a
21:58100,000 Square fet here so you know the
22:00amazing thing now is we can have you
22:02know three different events going all at
22:03the same time over here like this is a
22:05very different part of town that uh has
22:09a neighborhood Vibe that's very safe and
22:12so you know explore the neighborhoods
22:14figure out don't just do the default
22:16thing which is live in fidai or Soma
22:19like there are so many neighborhoods
22:20that are incredible and they might cost
22:22a little bit more but you will get the
22:24real San Francisco experience if you as
22:25someone that moved back I think the
22:27single thing that struck me most that's
22:29different is how much the neighborhoods
22:31have changed like it really matters
22:33which neighborhood you're in now I feel
22:35like preco you sort of you knew like the
22:37tenlo in the Civic Center were like the
22:39bad areas of San Francisco and outside
22:41of that every neighborhood maybe had a
22:43slightly different flavor but it didn't
22:45actually matter too much if you were
22:46based in like s versus fi or all the
22:50even the mission but like now it's like
22:53it's very important that you pick the
22:55right neighborhood right um like and I
22:58feel like YC like now we're in like the
23:01Dog Patch which we sort of locked into I
23:05would say like what is probably the best
23:06neighborhood in San Francisco yeah how
23:08we talk about moving YC to San Francisco
23:10which is something we talked about for
23:12years but Co happened and other things
23:14happened and like now we were finally in
23:15a position to do that and you two
23:17actually led the search for YC's new
23:20headquarters do you want to talk about
23:21like the places that you looked at and
23:23how we ended up here I mean there were
23:24lots of neighborhoods lots of different
23:26other places but uh if anything we did
23:28at startup style which is uh Dog Patch
23:31is really safe um it's being redeveloped
23:35um and this was actually before openingi
23:37moved in over here and then there was a
23:40space uh right next to where we are
23:42right now that was the PowerHouse for
23:44pier 70 so it literally housed the uh
23:48the engines that generated the power for
23:51uh where we are which is the shipyards
23:53that built a third of the uh US Navy
23:56during World War I and two so it's sort
23:58of like this incredible uh symbolic
24:00significance of um so much power being
24:04generated in that that house so that's
24:06actually our main event area and then we
24:09just took over the uh the office next
24:11door and so you now we have a really
24:14sweet YouTube studio right here and
24:16across the street there's also two other
24:18YC companies astranis and also Gusto
24:21right the Dog Patch is great that's
24:23where our center of gravity is but
24:25what's some of the push back you all get
24:26from Founders about moving to San
24:29Francisco and things they worried about
24:30and what's the advice you give them
24:32especially uh International Founders
24:34there's a lot of uh the consumption of
24:37news is from Twitter and there's a lot
24:40of things about being not safe and being
24:43scared of coming here but when they
24:46actually move to the right neighborhood
24:49they're pleasantly surprised which is
24:51which is nice but this is not to say
24:53that the city doesn't have problems
24:55there's definitely neighborhoods that
24:57still should avoid which we actively
25:00advise them where to be
25:02actually which which are the
25:04neighborhoods where should people be
25:06based I mean personally I love you know
25:08Mission Dolores noi Valley these are
25:11great areas they're a little bit more
25:12expensive I think you know Glenn Park is
25:15actually an incredible neighborhood
25:17that's sort of you know hidden Burnal
25:19Heights is right over the hill from uh
25:21you know where we're at in the dog patch
25:23in petero Hill uh Mission Bay is brand
25:26new so and it's very close to YC so
25:30that's and open AI so you know I
25:33actually think that you know during the
25:35batch we actually tell people can you be
25:37within a mile of Y combinator in the Dog
25:40Patch and the reason why is you know
25:42you're going to be working 80 90 hours a
25:45week like writing code or talking to
25:47users but you know on those Friday
25:49nights you're going to come out to uh
25:51actually this office and we have you
25:53know uh a launch event where people demo
25:56their software and grab a beer and then
25:58afterwards they go out to the bar or
26:00grab grab pizza and then you know Friday
26:02and Saturday nights that's when you can
26:04let your hair down a little bit and
26:06actually you know see the other people
26:08in your batch and then those are the
26:09relationships that um you sort of take
26:12with you for frankly the rest of your
26:14life I mean one of the more surprising
26:16things that uh I'm still surprised by is
26:18you know when I got married after doing
26:20YC two whole tables were my Stanford
26:22friends but two whole tables uh were
26:24actually my y combinator friends and uh
26:27Paul Graham even came and he even wore
26:31pants there's a there's actually a
26:34Founder map that lays out where all the
26:37founders of the current batch are
26:38staying and the center of gravity is
26:42around our office here in Doc patch and
26:44that's not random reason that's by
26:46Design and maybe we can talk about why
26:48is that I mean I remember in my uh YC
26:50batch we actually did the manual version
26:53of this making a collaborative Google
26:55map in summer of 2008 and this was while
26:58it was was still in Boston and the
26:59funniest thing was uh that's how I got
27:02to know my co-founder Brett Gibson uh
27:05him and his co-founder were working on a
27:07different startup called slink set um
27:09and we actually would just grab beer
27:11pizza and beers every weekend and when
27:13they couldn't raise money we ended up uh
27:16sort of merging our companies and then
27:18so Brett Gibson who ended up being my
27:20co-founder for posterus uh ended up
27:22being my co-founder for post Haven and
27:25then also worked with us at YC the
27:28software team and now he runs uh
27:30initialized and it all started by just
27:33him happening to live next to you in
27:34Boston when you were going through YC
27:36and so where you live who you hang out
27:38with I mean it's pretty wild that these
27:40things end up mattering and you know San
27:42Francisco is the best place in the world
27:45to sort of build that Network that Fe I
27:49mean you're not building a network
27:50you're actually just making friends for
27:52life and that's like the real version of
27:54it and then you mentioned cerebral
27:55Valley it did actually start as Hayes
27:57Valley you could play on that but I
27:59actually think like cerebral Valley is
28:01this neighborhood it actually is this
28:02it's kind of weird that cerebral Valley
28:05became known as hay Valley I think the
28:07real Argent for that is just that there
28:08is this one Hacker House in Hayes
28:11Valley but it was literally just a house
28:14but again what we talking about during
28:16the period that that Hacker House
28:18started San Francisco was pretty dead
28:20yeah it was it was so dead that like the
28:21hacker house is probably like the most
28:23happening place you can become the
28:25center of San Francisco by literally
28:26having the one house like 10 hackers in
28:29it working on like AI stuff right but
28:32like it's not true today like open AI
28:34has this huge lease right around the
28:35corner from here in like Mission Bay
28:37which is next to the Dog Patch we're
28:39here like the startups are going to
28:40start being based here like this seems
28:42like it's the real real cerebral Valley
28:46right here this is the real cerebral
28:48Valley and I think a lot of the
28:49companies that we're working with right
28:51now uh they're going to find product
28:53Market fit they're going to get their
28:54first million then 10 million then 100
28:56million then billion dollar a year in
28:58net revenue they're going to fill the
29:00office Towers in fidai and Soma they're
29:03going to build these businesses that
29:06create thousands of jobs and there's not
29:08going to be you know one Salesforce
29:10Tower there might be dozens if not
29:12hundreds in the next 10 years and so
29:15we're really talking about a real boom
29:17Loop here this already happening I was
29:19talking to companies from the last
29:22batches and there's this um office Bas
29:25in s where there are a bunch of YC
29:28companies that just got that just raised
29:30their seat around and they're surrounded
29:31around each other and they feel the
29:34energy there's this thing about being in
29:36the right Vibe they need a cool name
29:39like wi scraper then I think we're also
29:41seeing like another just a fact of being
29:44here is like the AI specifically like if
29:46you're working on developer tools like
29:48in a big area right now like you want to
29:51be here they all of the best Engineers
29:53who are going to be using your like
29:54Cutting Edge developer tool or
29:55infrastructure all based out here if
29:57you're building AI software you need
30:00someone especially enterprise software
30:02you need someone who's going to be your
30:03champion and Advocate and is going to
30:05take a bit of a bet on like a startup
30:08that's using some you know like Cutting
30:09Edge AI model that's not fully proven
30:12yet and they're all like those people
30:14tend to be here it's always clear that
30:16you can build companies outside of San
30:18Francisco and Silicon Valley like
30:19there's always going to be exceptions
30:20and maybe there'll actually be more of
30:22them over time but I just think all else
30:24being equal if you're starting out like
30:27you andone Play Just maximize the odds
30:29to be in your favor like you should you
30:32should be here despite the the fact that
30:34it will always be exceptions why don't
30:37you want to get more lucky here in San
30:38Francisco yeah maximize your luck so the
30:41great thing is I mean we want San
30:44Francisco to be hyper inclusive and what
30:46that means is uh you don't have to pay
30:48that much for rent uh you can feel safe
30:50walking down the street there's great
30:53small businesses that are uh you know
30:56thriving and then frankly this is the
30:58place where you should start your
31:00startup and Thrive here as well 100
31:03years from now what does San Francisco
31:06look like in Tech I mean I'm a big fan
31:09of uh Gan roddenberry's ideal for
31:12Starfleet command I mean this is the
31:15ultimate techno Optimus dream which is
31:18we unlock so much abundance in the world
31:20that money doesn't exist anymore and
31:23people can search the Stars to try to
31:26find and create their own meaning um and
31:30I I think that there's no mistake like
31:32Starfleet command from Star Trek the
31:35Next Generation and Star Trek you know
31:37the universe broadly it's like right
31:39there in the precidio in San Francisco I
31:43think that um if you take the
31:46agglomeration effects of the smartest
31:48people in the world the best builders in
31:50the world and you put them in one place
31:53and they create this scene like this um
31:57you know set of people who all run in
31:59the same direction create these
32:01companies that matter and then people
32:03stay here and you know they make the
32:06schools awesome they build housing they
32:10actually you know invest into Arts we
32:12actually make the city the kind of the
32:14best city in the world like we have all
32:16the building blocks to make San
32:18Francisco into the best city in the
32:20world where you know give us your
32:23Misfits give us your nerds give us your
32:26autists give us the people who you know
32:29just wouldn't fit anywhere else like
32:32they have this capability with their
32:34hands and with their brain to create
32:36something that has never existed before
32:38and we put them all in one city and they
32:41go and create software and hardware and
32:44technology and biotech and climate tech
32:47for that will touch billions of people
32:49and all of that wealth comes back into
32:52this one city and we make the city more
32:54and more awesome that's what San frano
32:57is that is what San Francisco could be
33:00and we will Manifest this the boom Loop
33:05guys so maybe that's a great place to
33:07end that's it for this week of the light
33:10cone we'll see you guys next
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