There are many ways to leave a party.
You can quietly say thank you and be on your way. You can stay for a while to clean. Or you could really be a shock about it by stepping down and complaining that it was a terrible party anyway – even though you drank more than your drink, ate the fine food and occupied it on the couch.
Unfortunately, too many of San Francisco’s technology leaders opt for the third option. They lifted the tax cuts and enjoyed the proximity to talent, universities and capital during the decade-long boom. Now they keep it to Austin, Miami or elsewhere as soon as it gets tough.
But that’s not the worst part. The worst is to explode San Francisco because he’s such a terrible host when they leave.
Jeff Lawson, founder and CEO of San Francisco’s Twilio, called on his fellow tech titans because not only were they targeting the city amid a pandemic, but that they were rude as they left.
‘This is the time to think about’ How do we give back? How do we help care for our communities and the people around us who may not be doing so well? ” He told me on The Chronicle’s ‘Fifth & Mission’ podcast. “This is not the time to look at the community.”
Since we could all use a metaphorical shot in the arm – after the news of how difficult it is to get a real shot in the arm, despite the COVID-19 boom, I invited Lawson to express his optimism about San Francisco to explain after seeing his recent thread on Twitter that went viral.
“With many of the richest companies in the valley fleeing the center of the Bay, I feel compelled to speak out,” the thread begins. ‘What I’m doing is that our leaders – people with resources’ leave our community when they need us most. Take advantage of Silicon Valley’s talent, technical incubators, mentors, professional network and culture until they no longer need it. ”
🧵 With many of the richest companies of the Valley fleeing the middle pandemic of the Bay, I feel compelled to speak. There is no doubt that California is imperfect. The cost of living, taxes and policies, among others, make it difficult for many people to succeed here. (1/9)
– Jeff Lawson (@jeffiel) 18 December 2020
He said he keeps his family and company in San Francisco and called on his fellow tech leaders to #committothebay. He also donated $ 8 million to Help Kitchen, a nonprofit that pays restaurants to feed hungry people. According to records, he also donated $ 500,000 to the Give2SF fund in the city to alleviate pandemic.
He explained that he understands why many people and companies are leaving San Francisco and the Bay: lower taxes, more home and backyard for your money, less crime and misery on the street, working remotely, making connections everywhere possible.
But he objects to the nasty things as it goes – especially since many technology companies thrived during the pandemic, as their teams could easily work from home and their technology became more important and profitable.
“What did you do to try to invest in the Bay?” he asked. ‘Were you civilly active? Have you tried to use your money philanthropically to alleviate the problems? I kind of doubt it. ”
Twilio is a cloud communication platform that adds messages, calls and video to web and mobile applications. It employs about 3,600 people, 30% of whom are located south of Market or Mountain View. Lawson has lived in the city for 11 years, and he and his wife are raising their two children here. Forbes estimates it is worth $ 2.9 billion.
So you want to hate him, but he looks much more in line with the thoughtful, generous billionaire in the Marc Benioff style than the disgusting Elon Musk type.
Musk said he moved to Texas, comparing California to a championship sports team that became inadequate and had a “win-too-long problem.”
Initial investor Keith Rabois said he was moving because “San Francisco is so badly run that it is impossible to stay here.”
Orion Hindawi, a Bay Area resident and CEO of cybersecurity company Tanium, moved his company to the Seattle area, saying: ‘San Francisco is not the city it was 20 years ago … Blind support for a place what makes you unhappy? It actually does not seem to me to be a good decision. ”
Joe Lonsdale, a venture capitalist who co-founded the software company Palantir, moves to Austin and writes in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that San Francisco is a place where feces cover the streets and haunt ‘abandoned’ men’s wives . He also said California’s cities are ‘ugly and unpleasant’. (San Francisco has a lot of problems. Ugly is definitely not one of them. Have you looked around?)
These guys are about as nuanced as President Trump in his assessment of liberal cities like ours. And while some of them are true, they are not the whole picture. On top of that, our problems are much more solvable when smart people work together to address them rather than skip the city to Texas and Florida.
Have you also noticed that people tend to think that San Francisco was idyllic on the day of their arrival and has never been so good since? Even if they did not support their local businesses, did not donate to local businesses, subscribed to their local newspapers, joined their neighborhood associations, voted, volunteered, wrote to their representatives or did anything else to maintain it?
If you want to draw, just move. The double fingers on the way out are not necessary.
Lawson, on the other hand, thinks San Francisco’s best days may lie ahead and that the pandemic offers the chance for a much-needed recovery. With so many people moving out of the city, rents have dropped significantly. This gives us some time to build more housing so that we are not as flat-footed as the next inevitable boom.
“I hope we do not waste this opportunity to put ourselves on a better track,” he said. “Ultimately, creating more housing supply is a way to alleviate many of the challenges facing San Francisco.”
He’s hopeful – and so am I – that San Francisco will be a city with all the amazing features we’ve loved before: the fantastic restaurants and bars, packed with Giants and Warriors games, fun concerts and cultural events, a spirit of creativity and innovation. But with room for a more diverse group of people who could not afford to live here pre-pandemic.
He is also hopeful that the city hall, as the vaccinations increase and the virus disappears, can go out of the “catastrophe mode from minute to minute” and tackle all the problems they did not have in 2020. And to think beyond the next week.
“What’s the five-, 10-, 20-year plan for the city of San Francisco?” he said.
I give him the honor of holding on to finding out.
“This is the house,” he said. “This is where our friends are. This is where our community is. This is where my company is. If you’re making a house somewhere, you want to make it better. ‘
He is committed to making it better. Me too. Are you?
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears on Sundays and Tuesdays. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @hknightsf Instagram: @heatherknightsf
Correction: An earlier version of this column contained incorrect information about Tesla CEO Elon Musk. He said he moved to Texas.