Dogpatch, Mission Bay, Mission Creek, and Potrero Hill have emerged as San Francisco’s latest technology node. Uber re-located to Mission Bay in 2021. OpenAI, situated in Mission Creek since 2015, moved its headquarters to Mission Bay in 2025. Y Combinator, a darling of the tech world that helped launch companies such as Stripe and Airbnb, repositioned to Dogpatch in 2023.
In computer science, a Y combinator is a unit of code that generates other units of similar nature. Analogously, Y Combinator, the company, nurtures businesses. Every quarter, roughly 125 startups – “a batch” – are chosen from tens of thousands of applicants. The selected founders receive a half-million-dollar investment and three months of intensive business counseling in return for at least a seven percent stake in their concern. The program culminates in a “Demo Day” at which the founders present their enterprises to potential investors.
Over the 90-day training batch members’ lives revolve around the Dogpatch campus, two 20th Street buildings immediately east of the RH store. The Y Combinator structures were once part of a giant shipbuilding facility owned by Bethlehem Steel, which, at its World War II peak, employed upwards of 18,000 people. Salesforce, San Francisco’s largest private sector employer today, has a local head count of around 8,500.
Y Combinator moved to San Francisco from Mountain View to create a physical environment that encourages chance encounters among and between batch members and artificial intelligence innovators. In addition, Garry Tan, Y Combinator’s president and chief executive officer, and many of the company’s fifteen partners, live in the City and wanted to work closer to home. Dogpatch offers ample office and meeting space, a rash of new apartment buildings in which batch members can live, and a lower density of unhoused people than South-of-Market.
On a recent afternoon, the block that’s home to the Y Combinator campus bustled with movers unloading furniture for an upcoming conference. A few young men, dressed in the plain, functional style favored by tech workers, perambulated along the sidewalks, talking intently into their phones or to a companion. Several people got into Ubers or other cars. Little Sweet, a boba shop located across the street from Y Combinator’s buildings, sat empty.
Y Combinator’s main building, at 560 20th Street, was constructed as an office for Union Iron Works, the shipyard’s predecessor. It’s a formal, symmetric, red-brick affair with forest green accents and a central arch that extends into the structure, creating a tunnel-like entryway. At 580 20th Street, the company’s second edifice is painted white and features large arches and a red-tiled roof. The building once housed large compressors that supplied pneumatic pressure to the shipyard; now it’s used primarily for conferences.
Across the street, two massive brick buildings, featuring an abundance of arches, are connected by an elegant, white entryway. These former shops were used to manufacture steel and iron parts that were fitted onto ships. Today, the structures host two Y Combinator graduates: Astranis, which builds and operates satellites, and Gusto, a payroll software company.
The Y Combinator press office didn’t respond to multiple emails from the View. A 2024 episode of the Lightcone podcast by Tan and three company partners – Diana Hu, Harj Tagger and Jared Friedman – focused on how, after dispersing during the pandemic, the startup world recoalesced around San Francisco. But the City is different now, the partners warned, making careful neighborhood selection critical. Recommended areas for newcomer founders include Dogpatch, Mission Bay, Potrero Hill, Bernal Heights, Glen Park, Noe Valley and Mission Dolores.
On a recent midday, 20th Street was filled with attendees of a conference for users of Supabase, a suite of software development tools. As they passed the main Y Combinator building, several conference-goers paused to snap photos. One participant approached two men associated with Y Combinator and expressed his admiration; “they’re where I want to be,” he said.
Two Fall 2025 batch members showed little interest in exploring Dogpatch. An individual who’d been part of earlier batches said he enjoyed Sohn, Long Bridge Pizza Company and a nearby ice cream shop, and was promptly teased by his companion for being a foodie. A company security guard said he buys takeout from Third Street eateries daily.
Batch members, expected to work 80 to 90 hours a week, largely have limited interactions with the neighborhood. Still, once they graduate, if successful, program participants may stay in San Francisco and have time to become part of their community.
Tamala Motta 
Mark Steensland