Sachin Agarwal

I started GrowSF because San Francisco is the greatest city in the world. We win local elections, hold city leaders accountable, and publish voter guides that people actually read before they vote. You should be able to afford to live here, build something here, and walk home safely. That is not a radical ask.

Before that I spent twenty years building software. Out of Stanford I went to work for my dream company: Apple, back when it was still struggling. I spent six years on Final Cut Pro. A generation of editors cut their films on it.

Later I built the first version of Posterous to get photos off my iPhone and onto my blog. I never thought it would turn into a company used by millions of people. Twitter acquired us in 2012. I worked on the core experience: profiles and direct messages, used by hundreds of millions of people every day.

I don't believe you have to sacrifice quality or your users' privacy to build a great business. Bezos said it best, back in 2001:

We are firm believers that the long-term interests of shareholders are tightly linked to the interests of our customers.

The companies I admire most prove it. Apple would rather ship late than ship junk. Costco caps its own margins on purpose. American Express takes the customer's side.

I was born in London and grew up in Torrance, California. My parents ran restaurants, so I spent a lot of time as a kid waiting tables, making deliveries, and keeping the books.

I moved to New York in 2006, where I met my wife, Kate, and fell in love with dense cities: the transit, the neighborhoods, the food. (And with Kate. Mostly Kate.) We moved back to San Francisco together, and I've been here ever since. I care deeply about making this city better.

Outside of work I love cars, food, wine, Legos, and travel. And I love spending time with my friends and family in San Francisco.