In this episode of the It’s Not What It Seems podcast, I have an entertaining conversation with Bradley Tusk. Bradley is a venture capitalist, political strategist, and writer. He’s the founder and CEO of Tusk Holdings, which is the world’s first venture capital fund to work with and invest solely in high growth startups facing political and regulatory challenges. He’s worked closely with companies like Uber, FanDuel, Tesla, Lemonade, Handy, Eaze, and Bird. Previously, Bradley served as campaign manager for Mike Bloomberg, as Deputy Governor of Illinois and as Communications Director for Senator Charles Schumer. Tusk Montgomery Philanthropies, Bradley’s family foundation, funds and runs campaigns in states across the U.S. to increase funding for anti-hunger programs like school breakfast and food stamp enrollment. They are also working to create mobile voting so people can vote in elections on their phones. Bradley authored the brand new book, The Fixer: My Adventures Saving Startups from Death by Politics, and he writes a regular column for The Observer. He also hosts a podcast called Firewall.

In this conversation, we’ll discuss:

The real motive of almost every politician (18:18)
The power of the vote-getting gene (19:43)
What Travis’ Law is and how you might be able to leverage it (24:40)
Three things you’ll need to highly consider before you take on a massive challenge (32:22)
The most compelling reason why you should absolutely be voting (38:21)
Bradley’s answers for They’re Not What They Seem (42:15)
Bradley’s take on the 2020 presidential election (50:59)

LINKS & RESOURCES:

Read Bradley Tusk’s book The Fixer: http://bit.ly/TheFixerTusk
Check out Bradley’s work on mobile voting: http://bit.ly/TuskMontgomeryPhilanthropies
Bradley’s startup investment firm, Tusk Ventures: http://bit.ly/TuskVentures
Bradley’s strategies consulting firm, Tusk Strategies: http://bit.ly/TuskStrategies

BOOKS FROM EPISODE:

Advise and Consent by Allen Drury (a book that’s changed Bradley’s thinking): http://bit.ly/AdviseandConsent

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