White House and San Francisco Mayor Announcement

1. SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR ANNOUNCES PROGRAM TO INTRODUCE
WORLD-CLASS ENTREPRENEURS TO THE $142 BILLION PUBLIC SECTOR
MARKET
Mayor Ed Lee invites entrepreneurs to develop technology-enabled products and services for
government, the largest consumer of products and services in the nation
SAN FRANCISCO – September 6th
, 2013 – Mayor Edwin M. Lee, in collaboration with the
White House and other strategic partners, today announced San Francisco’s Entrepreneurship-in-
Residence (EIR) program. “We need the top entrepreneurs to work with us on opportunities that
are actual pain points and needs of government. San Francisco’s EIR program advances our role
and vision as the Innovation Capital of the World,” said Mayor Ed Lee.
The program is inspired by President Obama’s call, “We’ve got to have the brightest minds to
help solve our biggest challenges." San Francisco’s EIR program will select talented
entrepreneurial teams and help them develop technology-enabled products and services that can
capitalize on the $142 billion public sector market.
“San Francisco’s program is one of the first EIR programs within government, who is by far, the
largest customer of products and services in the nation,” commented Jay Nath, San Francisco’s
Chief Innovation Officer. “The entrepreneurial products and services developed through San
Francisco’s EIR program should drive significant impact such as increased revenue, enhanced
productivity or meaningful cost savings.”
The program plans to attract world-class entrepreneurs and technologists by providing them with
direct access to government needs and opportunities, staff and their expertise, in addition to
product development, ramp-up support, and insights into a gold mine of government problems
and opportunities through the City and County of San Francisco.
“Products and services that successfully solve issues faced by San Francisco can easily expand to
addressing similar needs of other cities and states across the nation in addition to the private
sector,” said Rahul Mewawalla, a senior executive with leadership experiences across Fortune
500 and high growth companies who is leading the program. “We expect to drive significant
innovation and growth in areas of pressing importance such as data, mobile and cloud services,
healthcare, education, transportation, energy and infrastructure.”
San Francisco’s EIR program will offer selected teams mentorship from senior public leaders
across the Mayor’s office and San Francisco departments and from private sector leaders with
experience at companies such as McKinsey & Company, Nokia, NBC Universal, General
Electric, Yahoo and Goldman Sachs. The program expects to select 3 to 5 teams and announce
the selected teams in early October, during San Francisco’s Innovation Month. The program will
run 16 weeks from mid-October, 2013 through mid-February, 2014. Entrepreneurial teams are
invited to learn more and apply at http://entrepreneur.sfgov.org