Ron Conway begins cancer treatment, steps back from work, remains involved

Ron Conway, one of San Francisco’s most recognizable tech power brokers, said he is starting treatment immediately for a rare cancer and will step back from work while remaining involved. The announcement lands far beyond Silicon Valley boardrooms, reaching into the city’s philanthropy circles, startup politics and civic networks that Conway has helped shape for decades.

Conway said he did not want to identify the cancer type, saying that would invite speculation about his prognosis. He said the treatment is expected to last about a year. The San Francisco venture capitalist made the announcement on X Friday, putting an abrupt pause on the public pace that has defined much of his career.

As founder and managing partner of SV Angel, Conway has been active as an angel investor since the mid-1990s and helped back some of the most closely watched names in tech. SV Angel says he was previously co-founder, president and chief executive of Altos Computer Systems, and that he has been included on Vanity Fair’s 100 most influential people in the Information Age, won Best Angel at the TechCrunch Crunchies Awards and has appeared on Forbes’ Midas list since 2011.

His influence in San Francisco has extended well beyond startup investing. Conway founded sf.citi, the tech-backed civic organization that has long served as a bridge between the city’s technology class and local policy fights. He has also been a major donor to San Francisco civic causes and a familiar presence in local philanthropy, especially at UCSF.

During the Covid era, Conway was involved in efforts to secure protective equipment and help raise money for a drug therapy and vaccine effort at UCSF, underscoring how often his name has surfaced when the city’s public health needs intersected with tech wealth. That history gives added weight to his decision to pull back, even as he says he will stay engaged.

Conway, who was born in San Francisco on Sept. 9, 1951, graduated from San Jose State University with a degree in political science. He has been called the Godfather of Silicon Valley, a label that reflects both his staying power in venture capital and his outsized role in the civic life of the city where he was born.

SV Angel’s current site also describes Conway as part of an AI Ad Hoc Workgroup convening major AI companies to consolidate policy inputs and advocate for AI safety, a reminder that even as he steps back from day-to-day work, he remains tied to some of the industry’s most consequential debates. For San Francisco, his absence will be felt wherever startup money, philanthropy and civic influence meet.