Stabbing death of tech executive unleashes torrent of anger by VCs and techies who 'hate what San Francisco has become'

Officers responded at 2:35 a.m. to a call reporting the stabbing and found Lee, who was visiting the city after having recently moved to Miami, according to NBC Bay Area. He was declared dead shortly after he was taken to the hospital, per a statement from San Francisco police.

No arrests have been made, and police haven’t released any details about a potential suspect.

After Lee’s death was reported, an outpouring of grief and remembrances for the tech executive, who also was the chief product officer at crypto startup MobileCoin, flooded social media. And along with the grief came a flood of anger over the state of San Francisco, which tech leaders have previously called the “worst run city in the United States.”

“As a lifelong Bay Area resident I have more questions than answers tonight. I don’t know how to fix what’s wrong, but I know something isn’t working in our grey city,” wrote MobileCoin founder Joshua Goldbard in a Twitter thread. “Bob left this world too soon.”

1/ Thread 🧵

.@crazybob was an incredible human being. Saying bob’s name in the past tense feels ridiculous.

I don’t even know where to begin.

— Joshua Goldbard (@ThePBXGuy) April 5, 2023

Michael Arrington, the founder of news outlet TechCrunch and venture capital database CrunchBase, also joined the growing chorus: “[Bob Lee] was one of the best humans I’ve ever met. I’m so glad we were able to spend time together recently. RIP. I hate what San Francisco has become.”

I’ve been friends with @crazybob for 15 years. He was one of the best humans I’ve ever met. I’m so glad we were able to spend time together recently. RIP. I hate what San Francisco has become. https://t.co/UH171tyx4N

— Michael Arrington 🏴‍☠️ (@arrington) April 5, 2023

And even Elon Musk, the embattled CEO of Twitter and Tesla, waded into the fray.

Very sorry to hear that. Many people I know have been severely assaulted.

Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately.

Is the city taking stronger action to incarcerate repeat violent offenders @BrookeJenkinsSF?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2023

The death of Lee adds further fuel to the fire over the state of San Francisco, the northern California tech hub that both oozes wealth and is overrun with inequality.

For years, tech executives have complained about the city’s rates of homelessness, its increasingly outrageous housing market, and what they see as an unacceptable level of crime in the reliably liberal bastion.

And now, as the pandemic has accelerated a shift to remote work, and tech giants like Facebook and Salesforce have laid off thousands, the companies’ once-bustling campuses and skyscrapers have become noticeably vacant. Add in a $728 million funding gap due to the nation’s weakest office occupancies, as well as the fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, and the fate of California’s tech hub seems uncertain.

Even Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce and a reliable booster of the city, has lamented its current makeup. “We need more residential downtown. We need more museums downtown. We need more clubs downtown. We need more universities downtown,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Perhaps the stabbing of the well-known tech executive will lead the city and its host of tech executives beyond talk to action.

RIP @crazybob sending so much love to you, your fam, and everyone whose lives you touched.

This is fucking horrific. 🤮😢

Fuck you SF politicians, fuck you. Can we please stand up and completely purge SF politics now and start over? How many more of these are we gonna see? https://t.co/8466wGrQiX

— bradford cross (@bradfordcross) April 5, 2023