I’ve read a lot on Twitter about tech leaders leaving the Bay Area.

COVID-19 has unlocked opportunity for technology to be built from anywhere. I think that’s a good thing: more talented people from more places building the future.

But the tone of many leaving has bothered me.

Cities thrive as innovation hubs when they cultivate the right mix of capital, talent, and lifestyle to attract entrepreneurs — but the exchange of value goes both ways.

Companies are also accountable to their communities.

Whether it’s homelessness, equality, education — business can be the greatest platform for change to solve the world’s most pressing problems.

I hope those people leaving the Bay Area commit to serving their new communities and not treating them as resources to be harvested.

I was born in Oakland, and I’m excited to stay in the Bay Area — to create local jobs and help solve all of the problems we face as a community, in partnership with non-profits and local government.

And I have never been more optimistic about the future of California.