Is San Francisco more like Paris, or New York? (Guest: Sam Lessin, Serial Entrepreneur)

This is Your Life in Silicon Valley

Sam Lessin is one of the top minds in the technology world. He was VP of Product at Facebook, where he was instrumental in building the Facebook timeline. He's now working on a new company called Fin. But Sam is also a San Francisco resident, and has given a lot of thought as to whether the city can be fixed (and where it's headed). .

A common question people have inside of, and outside of San Francisco is: why don't people in technology use their talents toward civic responsibility and fixing some of the problems that ail San Francisco? Why is it not easy to fix homelessness, the housing crisis, transportation, and other issues that everyone talks about daily (given that the city's residents have virtually unlimited resources)?

Sam puts together some pretty compelling thoughts on San Francisco's infrastructure, down to when the city was chartered, to make an argument on how things can be fixed. A lot of what Sam describes in San Francisco is applicable to many cities in the country. Sam describes why half of the residents of San Francisco want it to be Paris, and the other half New York.

If you want to go out and make a difference and fix San Francisco - or wherever you live - consider listening to this episode first.