The Pomp Podcast
Bradley Tusk, Founder and CEO of Tusk Holdings: Investing In Startups The Government Wants To Kill
- Bradley Tusk's transition from politics (Mayor Ed Rendell, Bloomberg mayoral campaign, Chuck Schumer's communications director) to venture capital and startup advising, particularly helping Uber overcome regulatory challenges from entrenched taxi cartels across multiple U.S. cities.
- How Uber mobilized millions of customers through the app to contact elected officials, flipping the political calculus and defeating bad legislation in Washington D.C., New York, and elsewhere—proving grassroots engagement could overcome traditional lobbying.
- The dual nature of disruptive founders: Travis Kalanick's ruthless determination was necessary to break the taxi cartel, but those same traits caused workplace culture problems that ultimately led to his ouster post-IPO when the board prioritized stability over innovation.
- Tusk's thesis on declining faith in institutions (government, media, Wall Street, churches) and how blockchain-based voting could increase voter turnout from 12–15% to 60–70% by enabling secure phone-based voting, reducing friction.
- Venture capital model investing exclusively at the intersection of politics and technology, backing startups (Bird, Lemonade, FanDuel) facing regulatory gatekeepers and running campaigns to solve those political obstacles.
- Gerrymandering and primary election dynamics: because most House seats are decided in primaries with <15% turnout, only the most ideological voters and wealthy donors have meaningful input, blocking consensus on major policy issues.