Garry Tan

Garry Tan (; born 1981) is a Canadian-American venture capitalist who is the CEO of the startup accelerator Y Combinator and a founder of the venture capital fund Initialized Capital. He previously co-founded Posterous and Posthaven. He was an early employee at Palantir Technologies, and previously a partner at Y Combinator. Tan is also known for his engagement in San Francisco politics, both as a commenter on social media and as a political donor.

Early life and education

Tan was born in 1981 to a Chinese Singaporean father and a Burmese Chinese mother in Winnipeg, Canada. The family settled in Fremont, California, in 1991, and Tan graduated from American High School. He co-founded Posthaven after the shutdown of Posterous. He joined Y Combinator in 2011 as a designer in residence and partner. At Y Combinator, Tan helped compile a directory of "the best and the brightest interaction designers and visual designers" and wrote Coinbase's first seed round check in 2012. While at Y Combinator, Tan and fellow Y Combinator partners raised $7 million in venture capital funding to support Y Combinator alumni companies, including Instacart and Coinbase. Through Initialized, Tan led investments in Instacart, Coinbase, and Flexport.

Tan has been listed on the Forbes Midas List from 2018–2022.

In August 2022, Y Combinator announced that Tan would become president of the company in January 2023, replacing Geoff Ralston. As president, Tan restructured Y Combinator’s investment operations by winding down its Continuity Fund and transferring follow-on investment decisions to group partners. He also initiated a consolidated fundraising effort with a stated goal of raising $2 billion across new funds.

Politics Tan has been actively involved and influential in San Francisco politics, both by directing attention to various topics via his social media presence and through donations totaling to approximately $400,000 as of March 2024 Tan has focused his political giving primarily on housing development, public schools, and public safety. In 2020, Tan said in an interview that he supported housing of all kinds, including market-rate housing, affordable housing, and homeless shelters. He promoted and raised funds for the recall of members of the San Francisco School Board. Tan himself donated $20,000 to the campaign, and fundraised from friends like Cyan Banister. He promoted the recall and raised money from his Twitter following. Tan blamed Boudin for physical attacks on Asians. Tan alleged that Boudin failed to hold violent criminal offenders accountable and failed to protect the general public, particularly the least advantaged. Tan has also encouraged tech leaders to participate in San Francisco local politics in 2023.

Tan is known for his controversial, "bombastic" and "pugnacious" presence on X (formerly Twitter), where he is vocally critical of San Francisco politicians and other figures who oppose his policy recommendations. Tan later apologised for the tweet and deleted it, Several police reports were filed about the tweet.

Tan is vocally critical towards what he describes as legacy media, specifically newspapers. He has described The New York Times as upholding "Woke Capital". Tan is known for having blocked tens of thousands of accounts on Twitter/X, including public figures and journalists who have never interacted with him.

Personal life As of 2023, Tan lived in Noe Valley, San Francisco, with his wife and two children. In July 2026, Tan announced in a Facebook post that he was divorced.