San Francisco’s current synonymy with startups could not exist without the city’s now mythological history as breeding ground for counterculture of the “tune in, drop out” variety—the antithesis of Silicon Valley, in many respects.
Over the last 10 to 15 years, a lethal combination of draconian housing regulations and a surge of upwardly mobile Silicon Valley types drove the local cost of living so untenably high that many of San Francisco’s native misfits, radicals, artists, musicians, writers and the other kinds of freaky marginal characters who shaped the local flavor sought refuge in other cities.
Despite their increasing physical absence, it could be argued that the influence of the counterculture looms large on the startups that in part displaced them—even if it’s just lip service. Look no further than Apple’s “Think Different” advertising campaign from the late 1990s for proof. Steve Jobs himself was a self-professed hippie who sat in on Timothy Leary and Gary Snyder lectures as a Reed College dropout.
Here are 5 up-and-coming San Francisco Startups that continue the Bay Area’s local traditions of innovation and reinvention.
Slack is a group chat app that is already making strides to replace email and instant messaging as the dominant form of communication among workplaces—by combining the best parts of each. According to Business Insider, Slack allows users to “share files and work collaboratively, in addition to setting up private groups and sending direct messages to individual users.” Founded in 2013 by Stewart Butterfield, Slack moved up the ranks quickly with $340 million in VC funding from the likes of Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Social + Capital, KPCB, Google Ventures, Horizons Ventures, IVP, Spark, DST and Index.
Founded by Doug Simpson and Karl Guttag in 2013 with $30 million from Upfront Ventures, Shervin Pishevar, Naval Ravikant, Eric Ries and Brad Feld, Navdy is touted as what it should feel like to drive in the future. The buzzworthy heads-up display (HUD) is akin to an automotive Google Glass—without the glasses. Navdy projects whatever’s happening on your phone onto your windshield, allowing you to talk, text, select music, podcasts and, of course, follow directions without taking your eyes off the road.
It will be curious to see how Navdy may fair down the road (no pun intended) with Otto, the self-driving software and sensors designed by a crack team of former Apple, Tesla and Google employees to “retrofit” into driverless fleets. This Wired exposé says Otto autonomous trucks could make the roads safer, the air cleaner and deliveries cheaper. Otto trucks promise to “handle themselves on the highway, safely keeping within a lane, maintaining a set speed and slowing or stopping as necessary.”
Dubbed Apple’s Most Innovative App of 2015, Workflow “connects apps and actions together to automate things you do on your device.” In other words, the app renders all users power users. Workflow’s tagline—“powerful automation made simple”—is an understatement. The app allows users to add shortcuts to their favorite apps and “set workflows” to perform tasks like uploading photos, recording voice memos or making PDFs.
Mountain View–based 23andMe is a private genomics and biotechnology service that “reinvents the way you see your ancestry” through FDA-approved personal genetic services. 23andMe offers two major tests for users: The $99 Health + Ancestry test “examines your genes to tell you about your ancestry, carrier status, wellness and traits.” The $199 Ancestry test “analyzes, compiles and distills your DNA information…to help you understand who you are, where you came from and your family story.”
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