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Walter Thompson on Muck Rack

Walter Thompson

Verified
(He/Him)
San Francisco
As seen in: Fund/Build/Scale, Fund/Build/Scale (Podcast), MSN, Yahoo Entertainment, Yahoo Life, The Guardian, Yahoo Canada, Yahoo News, Yahoo News Australia, Yahoo News Philippines, TechCrunch, Yahoo Finance and
Covers:  Technology, Northern California, transportation, urban development, politics, history, film.
Doesn't Cover: Blockchain, online gambling.
An independent journalist in San Francisco.
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Walter Thompson’s Journalist Portfolio

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Taxi driver

Taxi driver

Gazetteer — This is the first in a series of film columns called "San Francisco Plays Itself" that I'm writing for Gazetteer. Wayne Wang's 'Chan is Missing' led viewers past the tourist spots and deeper into San Francisco's Chinatown of the 1980s.
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How a Broke College Student Co-founded a VC-Backed Edtech Startup

How a Broke College Student Co-founded a VC-Backed Edtech Startup

Fund/Build/Scale — In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, Nectir co-founder and CEO Kavitta Ghai shares how she turned her frustration as a college student into a fast-growing, VC-backed edtech startup. Kavitta discusses the leap from student to founder, how she built an AI-powered tool for classrooms without a technical background, and the tactics that helped her and her co-founder land paying customers early. She also opens up about navigating the venture world as a first-generation founder and reframing risk as a competitive advantage.
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The Notes

The Notes

The Golden City — After I shared a photo on Twitter of a mysterious note I found taped to a utility pole in the Sunset District, resident Pete Mummert let me know that he's been collecting these messages for years -- and had a personal encounter with the elusive artist. This is the first episode of The Golden City, a podcast about San Francisco's past, present and future.
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A school's mural removal: should kids be shielded from brutal US history?

A school's mural removal: should kids be shielded from brutal US history?

The Guardian — Every day at a San Francisco high school, students pass artwork depicting slavery and violence against Native Americans
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The Fire Last Time

The Fire Last Time

The Internet Archive — Fifty years ago, Hunters Point exploded after a white policeman shot a black teenager. What, if anything, has changed since then?
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How Urban Renewal Tried to Rebuild the Fillmore

How Urban Renewal Tried to Rebuild the Fillmore

Hoodline — Part Two of a Hoodline feature on how 1960s–70s urban renewal efforts attempted to rebuild San Francisco’s Fillmore—but stalled under legal battles, flawed planning, and redevelopment failures. The story highlights government promises, community pushback, and the long-term struggle to preserve culture, housing and access.
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How Urban Renewal Destroyed the Fillmore in Order to Save It

How Urban Renewal Destroyed the Fillmore in Order to Save It

Hoodline — Part 1 of an award-winning feature story that examined how postwar urban renewal projects razed San Francisco’s Fillmore, displacing thousands of mostly Black residents and erasing the city’s jazz hub. The story examines the political forces, cultural losses, and neighborhood activism that reshaped San Francisco’s identity.
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