First Time in San Francisco: Everything They Told Me Was Wrong (And Right)

"I like your uniform," the drug dealer casually remarked to the police officer before both parties simply walked away. This wasn't a scene from a dystopian movie – this was San Francisco on December 11th, 2024, and I couldn't believe my eyes.

Look, I'll be honest - I came to SF with some major preconceptions. I mean, how could I not? I've been doom-scrolling through those "SF is dead" YouTube videos and simultaneously watching every tech bro on X swear up and down that SF is still the place to build your startup. As a 26-year-old LA kid who somehow never made the hour-long flight up here, I figured it was finally time to see what the deal was.

The day kicked off pretty normally. Landed at the airport, got picked up by David Rabinovici (the GP and Partner of our fund), grabbed some bagels, and talked shop in a hotel lobby about the public markets. But then we actually drove into the city, and holy hell - who designed this place? The roads make absolutely zero sense, and I'm kind of obsessed with it. Every house looks like it belongs in a different storybook, and the streets feel like they were designed by someone playing Mario Kart level editor for the first time. Coming from LA's boring grid system, this was like entering urban planning chaos theory, and I was here for it.

Our primary mission was founder meetings, and they reinforced a crucial lesson: in-person connections matter. In our digital age, where Zoom calls and email threads dominate, there's an irreplaceable magic in sitting across from someone, reading their body language, and feeling their passion firsthand. Technology may have made networking easier, but it's also made genuine relationship-building rarer.

Between meetings, we played tourist – Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, Pier 39. But it was our drive back to the airport that showed me the city's stark duality. Hundreds of people just... existing in various states of crisis. Some clearly overdosing, others dealing drugs in broad daylight, and that surreal police interaction I mentioned earlier. Listen, I'm from LA - we've got our issues too. But this was different. This was like someone took all of LA's problems and concentrated them into a few city blocks.

Here's a wild thought that hit me while processing all this: maybe we need more schools. Yeah, I know, random. But hear me out - nobody fights harder for change than parents worried about their kids. You want to clean up a neighborhood? Put a school there. Watch how fast things change when parents get involved. Is it oversimplified? Probably. But after seeing what I saw, I'm just throwing ideas at the wall here.

As I boarded my flight home, I realized I'd been wearing a Steve Jobs shirt under my sweater all day.

Was this accidental concealment somehow symbolic of San Francisco itself – a place where surface appearances often mask deeper realities? Not really, it was just cold so I never got to show off the shirt…

Witnessing San Francisco's paradoxes firsthand left me certain of one thing: I'll be back. Beyond the headlines and social media debates lies a city that doesn't just exist to be observed – it demands to be experienced, understood, and perhaps even helped to write its next chapter.