In some ways, Y Combinator president and CEO Garry Tan has already assumed the position of mayor of San Francisco’s tech world.
Since taking the top job at the startup accelerator last year, he has consistently acted as a cheerleader for the city, urging founders to move to San Francisco and base their companies here — with some success.
Tan — who has sought to use his clout and wealth to influence local campaigns, particularly going into the November election, has been subject to questions about his own future in politics.
On Thursday, he was asked onstage during the Reboot 2024 conference at Fort Mason when he would throw his hat in the ring for the job of the city’s chief executive.
“Never, or 20 years from now,” he replied.
Tan weighed in on this year’s mayoral race and, though he was mum on who has his vote, described both Mayor London Breed and Mark Farrell as candidates “who I really like.”
He said voters should look into the advisers and staff surrounding the candidates. For example, while Tan thinks Daniel Lurie “is fantastic,” he is choosing not to support the candidate because campaign spokesman Max Szabo backed former District Attorney Chesa Boudin. (Szabo said in a statement that he’s a former law enforcement official himself and called Tan “an unhinged keyboard warrior” who has an “uninformed obsession” with him.)
Reboot, hosted by the Foundation for American Innovation, a nonprofit focused on tech and public policy, was organized under the theme of a “new reality,” positing a theory of wide-scale disruption of incumbents in media, politics, and global affairs.
The organization has come under criticism — protesters rallied outside the conference venue — for its ties to Project 2025, a strategy by the conservative Heritage Foundation to reshape the federal government and the executive branch under Donald Trump. Among the Project 2025 proposals are withdrawing the abortion pill mifepristone from the market and abolishing the federal Department of Education.
The vibe of the conference was decidedly irreverent. One panel, focused on the “fracturing of a shared reality,” hosted academics to discuss decreasing trust in institutions. Others focused on Silicon Valley and the crypto industry’s political ambitions.
Interviewing Tan on stage was Mike Solana, the Founders Fund marketing executive who runs the website Pirate Wires, which describes itself as a voice that attempts to find the truth amid the noise of the Internet and corporate media institutions.
The conversation spanned a number of topics, from Tan’s controversial political efforts to his views on tech regulation. Tan referred to his political work as a “side quest” to his day job.
“My main duty is to Y Combinator and founders who go through that program,” he said.
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have opinions. Tan called SB 1047, the AI safety bill introduced by state Sen. Scott Wiener, a bad move for the growing industry and said he hopes Gov. Gavin Newsom will quash it.
“I hope Newsom doesn’t sign it. I hope he vetoes it,” Tan said onstage, adding that he has no inside knowledge of the governor’s intentions. “If we want California to continue to be this magnet for the world, we don’t pass things like this.”
Tan noted that he has found himself in a surprising alliance with Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan on the topic of how to support startups so they develop competitive environments and combat the ability of big tech companies to create unfair monopolies.
“She and I are very aligned on this idea of ‘How do we make a thousand flowers bloom?’ ” Tan said. “There is a role for government to try to open these markets and allow tiny startups to get a chance at surviving.”
When founders ask how they can improve San Francisco, Tan urges them to vote and join local advocacy groups such as Grow SF, he said. But the most important thing people can give is their attention: “All we have to do is, at dinner, when something happens, talk about it.”
The tech industry, he concluded, is a beacon of hope for the city.
“I’m thankful for people to continue coming to San Francisco despite all the problems,” Tan said. “The money is here. The talent is here.”
This story was updated to include comment from Max Szabo.