SF Tech Week Tops 50,000 Attendees and 1,500 Events, and Its Host Says It Has More Than Doubled

San Francisco Tech Week, the citywide run of startup meetups presented by venture firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), passed 50,000 attendees by Thursday, according to the event's own account on X. The week runs through Sunday, Oct. 11, so the final count is likely to be higher.

a16z partner Andrew Chen called it the largest Tech Week ever and said attendance has more than doubled since the firm started hosting in San Francisco.

No main stage, on purpose

Tech Week bills itself as a decentralized conference. There is no central venue or badge. Instead, startups, big companies and investors each host their own events across the city, from hackathons and panels to dinners and demo nights, and most are free with an RSVP.

Organizers said San Francisco's calendar has more than 1,500 events this year, out of more than 2,300 submissions across San Francisco and Los Angeles. Bigger doesn't mean bigger rooms, though. The typical event is built for about 100 people, and dinners of fewer than 30 guests are up 40% from last year, according to the organizers' figures reported by Skift Meetings. More than 120 hackathons and other technical events are on the schedule.

AI agents everywhere

If one topic defined the week, it was AI agents, software that can take actions on its own. Organizers counted 213 San Francisco events that mention agents in their title or description, roughly one in seven, compared with about a dozen such events in 2024.

Chen also pointed to a shift in geography. Tech gatherings used to cluster in SoMa, he said, but this year the Financial District emerged as a hub, along with the Mission and Dogpatch. a16z hosted events at its new Jackson Square office.

What it means for the city

The turnout lands during a heavy week for San Francisco crowds, overlapping with Fleet Week air shows on the waterfront. It's also another sign of the AI-fueled demand that has pushed up office activity and rents in the city this year.

The format now moves south: LA Tech Week runs Oct. 12 through 18, with a heavier focus on deep tech such as aerospace and defense.