Manny’s: Kara Swisher & Chris Larsen: Betting on San Francisco

Technology reporter, columnist, and podcasting queen Kara Swisher will be in conversation with tech executive and San Francisco native Chris Larsen.

The cofounder of Ripple has been one of the biggest supporters of San Francisco, consistently supporting different initiatives across the city. Most recently, Larsen gave $2 million to support downtown retail creating specific grants for local small business across downtown!

In a time where everyone is saying San Francisco is in a “doom loop”, finding folks to believe in this beautiful city is more important than ever.

But why should executives bet on San Francisco?

What has inspired Chris Larsen to double down on the City?

Join us for this very  timely conversation that is not to be missed! We will also be hosting a very special pre-VIP reception with Kara Swisher. Limited spots, so make sure to sign up.

Manny’s never turns away someone due to lack of funds. If you need a complimentary ticket, please email the title of the event and the word “grapefruit” to angelina@welcometomannys.com

Want to support community members? By purchasing a “Pay It Forward” ticket you will allow us to provide free tickets to those who may not be able to afford entry otherwise and ensure we can create a diverse socio-economic audience that represents San Francisco.

About Chris Larsen:

Chris co-founded Ripple in 2012 to use blockchain technology and digital assets to enable financial institutions to send money across borders, instantly, reliably and for fractions of a penny. Prior to Ripple, Chris co-founded and served as CEO of Prosper, a peer-to-peer lending marketplace, and E-Loan, one of America’s first online mortgage lending service providers and now publicly traded online lender. During his tenure at E-Loan, he pioneered the open access to credit scores movement by making E-Loan the first company to show consumers their FICO scores. As a first-generation college student, Chris graduated from San Francisco State University in 1984.

About Kara Swisher:

Kara Swisher is the host of “On with Kara Swisher” and the former host of “Sway,” the twice-weekly interview podcast about power by New York Times Opinion. She was a contributing Opinion writer at the New York Times since 2018 and writes a weekly newsletter.

Over her career, Ms. Swisher has hosted hundreds of newsmaking interviews, going head-to-head with prominent figures including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Rupert Murdoch, Stacey Abrams, Kim Kardashian and President Barack Obama. Her early and no-holds-barred coverage of the technology industry earned her a reputation as “Silicon Valley’s most feared and well-liked journalist.”

Ms. Swisher studied at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where she wrote her first technology story for the school paper (it was in 1980 — and the technology was pay phones). She subsequently received a graduate degree from Columbia University’s School of Journalism, became an editor at The City Paper in Washington, D.C., and interned at The Washington Post, where she worked her way up to reporter and covered nascent digital companies like America Online (a.k.a. AOL).

Ms. Swisher moved to the San Francisco bureau of The Wall Street Journal in the 1990s as one of the first reporters on the internet beat and eventually began her popular “Boom Town” column. With her longtime collaborator Walt Mossberg, she was a co-producer of the technology conference “D: All Things Digital,” where they interviewed major tech figures including Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. The duo later founded Recode, which was sold to Vox in 2015.

In addition to her contributions to The Times, Ms. Swisher is an editor-at-large at New York Media, host of the “Pivot” podcast and executive producer of the Code Conference. She is the author of “aol.com: How Steve Case Beat Bill Gates, Nailed the Netheads and Made Millions in the War for the Web,” co-author of the sequel, “There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere,” and currently penning a memoir that will be released by Simon and Schuster in 2022. She has previously appeared and consulted on “Silicon Valley,” a show by HBO, which is now a part of WarnerMedia, and also hosts a companion podcast for season three of HBO’s “Succession.”

She currently lives in Washington with her wife, various cats and dogs, and her three children.