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Frisco founder confused for DoorDash worker goes viral
Sharing the encounter online, Agarwal wrote “SF is cooked,” to describe San Francisco's quirky blend of tech culture and everyday life.
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Rwittika Chakraborty
- Mon, 16, Feb 2026
- 01:23 EST
- 23
Indian-origin tech founder Mehul Agarwal. / X/@meh_agarwal
A casual moment has gone viral after Indian-origin tech founder Mehul Agarwal in San Francisco shared a light-hearted incident on X about being humorously misidentified as a DoorDash delivery worker despite being dressed in iconic startup gear.
His post, which highlighted how visual cues of profession and status are increasingly blurred in the city’s evolving urban culture, has captured internet attention.
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Agarwal, a founder from the Winter 2025 batch of Y Combinator, was wearing a Y Combinator jacket, carrying a Carnegie Mellon backpack, and sporting Meta Ray-Bans when a fellow Indian resident asked if he was from DoorDash, referring to couriers for the popular U.S. food delivery app.
Sharing the encounter online, Agarwal wrote “SF is cooked,” to describe the city’s quirky blend of tech culture and everyday life.
Indian uncle standing on apartment porch seeing me in my YC jacket with CMU backpack & Meta Raybans:
— Mehul Agarwal (@meh_agarwal) February 15, 2026
Are you from Doordash?
SF is cooked.
The post quickly resonated with many who saw the incident as both amusing and symbolic of San Francisco’s shifting identity, where tech culture and the gig economy increasingly resemble one another.
Delivery couriers from platforms like DoorDash are a visible part of daily life in San Francisco, often waiting outside residential complexes with backpacks and phones in hand.
While Meta Ray-Bans, YC jackets, and university-branded backpacks were once mostly associated with elite tech circles, they are now widely accessible and worn across professions, from founders and engineers to freelancers and delivery workers.
Agarwal’s joke pointed to how these symbols no longer signify success or seniority in a city saturated with startups, side hustles, and platform labor.
The phrase “SF is cooked” has become a popular internet expression blending frustration with humor about San Francisco’s changing identity.
Responses to the viral moment were largely good-natured, with many reflecting on how appearances in the city no longer reliably signal a person’s job or socioeconomic status.
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