was a 22-year-old aspiring writer, and the first time i saw san francisco, i decided i was never leaving, and i did not leave. this morning i woke up in the 100-year-old victorian my husband and i own where we have been urban pioneers, trying to pull that part of the mission into the light. my nanny was late. my husband was rushing to the terminal rather than taking a high-speed train. it was very obvious to me why it is so hard to live in san francisco, but there is one reason i can never leave the city. it is because i write about startups and technology, and although i spent 40 weeks

traveling the world, san francisco is still ground zero for all tech innovation in the world, and more importantly, the money that goes into tech innovation, so it is high time the mayor's office, the chamber, the parts of san francisco that affect our day to day life are in fighting technology to come in and solve the problems, and that is one reason i got about 7:00 a.m. to come here and talk to you because i really believe in what the mayor is doing, and the other folks do, su. the tech community was really instrument co, and now sf city has been formed. ron conway has galvanized the

tech community to help make these san francisco's worked together. he is one of the most famous angel investors in silicon valley. he was called one of the most influential people and rain 14 and the list of dealmakers. we also have katie and jacob stanton. katie joint witter -- joined twitter last summer. it is pretty important, because 70% of all tweets come from outside the united states. she was appointed by president

obama to serve as his director of participation. casey went to my college, so it is a bizarre coincidence. we also have the chief operating officer of sales force. i encourage you to learn more about these guys here regard i want to get right into the meat of the conversation, so let's talk about why san francisco is so important for sales force, because you are one of the first companies that refuse to move to the peninsula. >> we have been a san francisco company since our founding. i have been out the company for 10 years, and san francisco has been a huge differentiator.

it is not only a start-ups, but is all of the talent. it is a huge differential to create the products and differentiation. the talent continues to be the reason we are so excited about growing in the city, why we have well over 5000 employees, and why that is going to continue to be a great opportunity in the long term. >> twitter was the vague touch point, the face on this whole story. it was an empty threat twitter was going to move, or were you thinking about it? why why or why did you not? and no laxatives of 5-year-old

company, and the creativity and inventiveness of san franciscans has been molded into the fabric of twitter, and it was important to molten a city that has held us to build a talent, and one of our core values is how do we gildas business -- how do we build a business and makes us proud? what we found was when i started a year-and-a-half ago we had maybe 150 employees. today we have 800 employees. we are growing super fast. it is a fast-growing company, and we are bursting at the scene, and it is important to work to find a way we can stay in the city and really grow the business. >> empty threats?

>> no. >> i have noticed i am getting on the freeway much less. how much do you commute verses in the late 1990's? >> in the late 1990's, i lived on the peninsula. gooi came to the city may be onr two days a week. i have moved to san francisco, and it is the reverse. i commute one or two days a week, so it has been a complete flip-flop in migration of tech companies to send from cisco -- to san francisco. five years ago, 75% of our portfolio was located on the

peninsula. today 50% of our companies are on the peninsula, and 50% are for san francisco, and that is growing. by the end of this year and i would predict 60% of our portfolio will be in san francisco, so all of these companies are migrating here because you want to develop in an urban area. >> talk about why an urban area is so important. follow up on that you're a good -- on about. >> entrepreneurs are trying to solve real-life problems, so you have a company like foreswear that is founded in new york city. good jack dorsey, the founder of

twitter was solving a problem that was an urban problem that has spread to the world. >> they attract the risk seekers and creative entrepreneurs, so it is a magical combustion of ideas, and i would ask the ability to get these done. >> every generation has its major technology, so right now we are seeing three major trends. we were a startup 12 years ago,

so we have made 21 acquisitions. 17 have had some major presence in san francisco, and they have all been about cloud computing and even the client. -- cloud. >> another factor worth noting i

see them taking engineers from san francisco to the valley. that is an issue we cannot ignore. the data we are getting is staggering. some of those start-ups are the star companies. over 80% of their employees work and live in san francisco. that is not the case for a lot of other companies we know the names of, and we need to address those issues. we are working to adjust this. if you could sum up the goal, what affect you? in a couple of years, is there a way we track whether this has

been successful or not in real metrics? >> the tech community got involved in ed lee's campaign. he kept twitter in san francisco. when we looked at his opponent, that was even scarier. we got badly elected. i do not know if everyone saw the mc hammer and brian wilson video. a lot of people came out for adlai. two days after the election i was not allowed to communicate with the mayor because of the committee we had it up but i had dinner with at least after the election. we talked about, wait a minute, how do we keep the momentum with the tech community? i said, it was at that dinner we said, let's start an organization that all the tech companies joined and rally

around making san francisco a better place. our first initiative is all about jobs. san francisco has a jobs board called hire sf. a lot of the tech companies did not know that. i did not know that. we have a majority sf city member companies which represent 90% of the tech population in san francisco. there are posting all their new jobs on hire sf. we're using the existing infrastructure. we want to get more companies in san francisco to hire san franciscans. and so we're going to develop initiatives around that. there is a big mismatch in the qualifications of those who are not employed in san francisco versus the jobs the tech community wants to hire and we

will job that -- bridge that with job training. we have a plan around that. we think employment will solve a lot of the social ills in san francisco. we're focused on jobs. later this year, sf city will dip its toe in policy initiatives. we're watching closely the proposals that will be coming out of the mayor's office around tax reform. twitter stays in san francisco. it was not a bluff. i am the one who ran to city hall and said, it are going to lose this company if you do not do something. that is how i started the friendship with adlai. i did not know this person at all. -- that is how i started the friendship with ed lee. >> it was surreal for me, maybe you guys to when we were looking at the slides and a survey earlier this morning and it was showing that homelessness and jobs and the economy were the

biggest concern. what you were worried about. we live in a reality where we cannot hire people fast enough. i am doubling my company's staff next month. i have had to hire outside of san francisco because i cannot find the people here quickly enough and i have a tiny company compared to the two of you. i want to get your thoughts as a company representative. do you think the asaph city -- sf city approach will work? >> we have 3000 employees. we are suffering from hiring fatigue. steve mentioned 37,000 tech jobs. we can clearly go to 5000 and beyond that. there's no reason while -- why salesforce.com could not have 10,000.

we do feel like an anomaly. i think that with san francisco -- what san francisco needs to think about, we talk about startups. if salesforce gets bigger, what are the obstacles to do that? a lot of things that we were talking about our basic quality of life challenges. that become more relevant to a larger company once that -- you look at our demographics changing. the demographics were much closer to the start-ups. we are in demographic mohde whee will hearing people, the head of to do with the daily commute. these are things that basically, education is a huge issue. these are the kind of court challenges the chamber is tackling. these are the things that will

make or break whether salesforce.com will hire the talent. that can make or break whether we can be successful in that vision. >> i will ask you one last question for twitter. you worked in the obama administration. you must have witnessed how legislation can positively or negatively impact business prosperity. you also ran from government and back into the private sector. what do you think the city can do to help companies other than saying, pass money. >> there is this interesting study that noted that between 1980 and 2005, nearly all internet jobs were created by companies that were five years old or less. and that is an amazing stat. someone like twitter fits into

that type of group where we're trying to hire fast and we're moving fast. we have great ambition. i think what happened here in san francisco is a perfect example of how government at the city level, local community groups, advocates like ron and the private sector can help facilitate these job creation opportunities. it is not a bailout that helps out economies, it is startups and creates jobs. i think this is a tremendous example. the shining light and a standard i am hopeful that more city government can help replicate. >> the job creation by the tech industry in san francisco is staggering. we're doing what tech typically does. we're analyzing all of our employment data before we start our initiatives. we asked our member companies how many people are you going to hire this year? i was thinking the answer would

be 2000 or 3000 and i was going to go to beed lee and read about that. it is 8000 new jobs and counting. it is staggering. >> your not counting the companies that do not exist yet. -- you are not counting the companies that do not exist yet. >> that is the beauty of it. >> we have one minute. one minute on the hot seat. i have been reading all this great spot -- stuff habout how this would be a modern campus. that is changing. explain the news. >> we're growing faster than a year and a half ago. we have been experiencing spectacular growth. 37% over the last few quarters. that is more than anything we

could have thought about when we were in the recession and we were thinking about applying for the future. we are -- we have had to rethink our real estate strategy in light of that. rather than basically focusing on mission bay, we found downtown makes more sense to us to expand and grow to the size and speed that is critical for us. well certainly we have -- we were excited about mission bay at some level we were hoping it would work out. we're more excited about the story of our growth and being downtown, it is a fantastic place. there are more jobs for san francisco which this is all about. the theme of the conference, we're excited about that. >> i have a feeling a lot of people are thinking this in the room and i want to make sure i asked. if the tax waiver were rescinded, would tech companies leave? why do they get to play by

different rules? as i was writing about this last year we had tons of commons saying twitter is corporate welfare. why should we give a millionaire's tax breaks? he is asking, do they get to play by different rules if a tax rule were rescinded, would tech companies leave? >> i believe it would. this thing about tax breaks for millionaires, no, thank you. twitter has 800 employees. 10, 20 will be millionaires and the earned every nickel. they created the hundred jobs -- 800 jobs. this is about giving people a break. this is about jobs. tech companies are very frugal. part of it is the resentment that they are being taxed for creating jobs. i do not blame the tech community. that is why we're sitting here. >> i think the point is san

francisco is small. a 7 mile by 7 miles city and if you could go anywhere around it and not have to pay taxes, that is your duty. you have investors to answer to. that is the point. you can go outside the border and not have it. it was clear was not an empty threat. another mentioned challenges for air travel in sf. please give us some international flights. china is the only place i can fly to directly. that is my plug for the morning. i want to thank our wonderful panel for getting up early. we work 10 hours which is usually working all night and sleeping in tel 10:00 a.m. give them a big hand of applause for being here. [applause] >> ok.

let's give our panel another great round of applause. they were great. this is the beginning of the chamber's relationship with the tech community. i want to give special thanks to ron conaway -- conway. no one has ever called me and angel except my mother. you really are an angel. you went out of your way. we will develop a strong working relationship with sf city, i promise you. now we're glad to end our program this morning with the man who has been the architect of putting tech on the map in san francisco and that is our mayor. please welcome back to the stage john mcnedo.

john. [applause] >> thank you. it is now my pleasure to introduce our mayor. edwin m. lee was sworn in on january 8, 2012 as the 43rd mayor of the city and county of san francisco. ed lee is the first asian- american mayor in san francisco history. [applause] mayor lee was elected on november 8, 2011 by the people of san francisco while he was serving as interim mayor. appointed unanimously as successor mayor by the board of supervisors on january 11, 2011. while serving as interim mayor, mayor lee championed balancing the budget to keep san francisco safe, solvent, and successful. reforming city pensions,

economic developments, a job creation, and public safety as his top priorities. mayor lee has worked hard to keep the economy and economic recovery on track, create jobs for residents, and everything that supports a thriving economic climate like parks, transit, housing, quality of life in the neighborhoods, and public safety. mayor lee's focused on job creation, taking responsibility for building san francisco's future. for helping each other and that government more efficient and accountable through innovation and technology. here to talk about the priorities, please welcome our 43rd mayor of the city of san francisco. ed lee. [applause]

>> thank you very much for that kind introduction. good morning, everyone. i want to thank john and wade and steve and the chamber for the invitation to address you. i am the last speaker. after that panel, i am almost eager to go back right to work. there is a much to do and thank you very much, katie and george. i very much appreciate that dialogue. as you can tell, when you hear about all that, i could spend hours going through all the tech companies and what they're trying to do. ultimately, it is about job creation. i do get excited about that. it does keep me going, getting up very early, sarah. regardless of how i get there. if i can create one job every day for someone here in sisk -- in san francisco, that will

satisfy me greatly. there are hundreds and thousands of jobs at stake. i will continue making this might mantra because i think it is the right thing to do for our great city. i might also acknowledged the members of the board of supervisors here today. they have been announced earlier. we all work as a team. it has never been about the mayor him or herself. if i have learned anything i have learned that working in concert with the board, making sure we have clear tones of communication and making sure we speak more and more in the language that is important for the city. language and policies and ideas that create investor confidence in the city. that is what i have been talking about more and more. we have got to have a city that is investment-confident. one that does not have a doubt because if your investment is your family, it is a small business, it is someone joining

another one's business, we have to have that level of confidence to see things through for you. your investment is one that is positively welcome, it taken care of, and prosperous. that is how we get to the theme of today's breakfast of prosperity and sharing of that prosperity. before began, i want to take a moment to thank my good friend. john has been at the helm of the chamber for the last year. he has been an important aspect of the work i have done over the years, as you know. i started at the human rights commission and i went to the purchasing which was the finest job i ever had. who could not have fun buying a billion dollars worth of supplies every year? the former mayor willie brown gave me a good job of director

of public works, picking up everyone's trash, engaging in conversations with everyone about what was wrong with our streets and making them right. it was in that toughest job i ever had that i found probably lifelong friends, people who care enough about the city that picking up somebody else's trash is nothing when you can work together and drew about how better the city can become. i want to recognize john because he is one of those few people who i can properly engage in the trash talk and still talk about the city in a positive way. thank you, john, for your wonderful service. [applause] when i came a year ago, san francisco. the unemployment rate was 9.5%. we heard a presentation about

how we made that change. at the time we faced the $380 million budget deficit and we were struggling. how to meet the increasing cost of our pension and health care obligations. you remember that discussion about our pension? have we come along way. it is still mentioned -- still prevalent. a year later our city, board of supervisors, the mayor, elected officials have come together with the help of great city department leaders that are also here today, doing everything we can to make sure that we tackle the pension issues and make sure that our budget is balanced. more importantly, we put people back to work. that is the most important thing all this have joined together in doing. the last 12 months, guess what we have done? we created jobs for an