Bradley Tusk is a venture capitalist, political strategist, philanthropist and writer.
He is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Tusk Venture Partners, the world’s first venture capital fund that invests solely in early stage startups in highly regulated industries, and the founder of political consulting firm Tusk Strategies. Bradley’s family foundation is funding and leading the national campaign to bring mobile voting to all U.S. elections. Tusk Philanthropies also runs and funds anti-hunger campaigns that have led to the creation of anti-hunger policies and programs (including universal school breakfast programs) in 19 different states, helping to feed nearly 13 million people.
Bradley is the author of The Fixer: My Adventures Saving Startups From Death by Politics, Obvious in Hindsight, and Vote With Your Phone: Why Mobile Voting Is Our Final Shot at Saving Democracy (coming out this September), writes a column for Daily News, hosts a podcast called Firewall about the intersection of tech and politics, and is the co-founder of the Gotham Book Prize. He owns a bookstore, podcast studio, event space and cafe called P&T Knitwear on Manhattan's lower east side. He is also an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School.
Previously, Bradley served as campaign manager for Mike Bloomberg’s 2009 mayoral race, as Deputy Governor of Illinois, overseeing the state’s budget, operations, legislation, policy and communications, as communications director for US Senator Chuck Schumer, and as Uber’s first political advisor.
Tech & Venture
Time: Meet Tech Startups’ Political Mastermind
TechCrunch: Tusk Venture Partners just closed its third fund with $140M, double its predecessor fund
Politico Tech: Flying cars, political brawls and poking fun at tech politics
The Prof G Show – Scott Galloway: Bradley Tusk — The Intersection of Capitalism, Entrepreneurship, and Politics
Newcomer: 2024 Predictions from Garry Tan, Cristóbal Valenzuela, Lulu Meservey & Other Tech World Notables
TechCrunch: Bradley Tusk is seizing the moment: ‘We’re investing, we’re incubating, we’ve got SPACs’
Wall Street Journal: How Bradley Tusk Went from Political Insider to ‘Making Politicians Crazy’
TechCrunch: Silicon Valley’s favorite fixer: Bradley Tusk
Fortune: Early Uber Investor Explains When It’s OK for Founders to Break the Rules and Play Dirty
Slate: In a Political Bind? Call Bradley Tusk.
Wired: The Fixer Who Helps Startups Like Uber Beat the Government
Vanity Fair: Meet Uber’s Political Genius
Fast Company: The Rise Of Bradley Tusk, Silicon Valley’s Political Savior
The Observer: How Bradley Tusk Is Helping Startups Like Uber Wage Campaign-Style War on City Hall
Yahoo Finance: Tusk Ventures CEO: 'We’re looking at the thing that scares away most VCs'
Crain’s: Bradley Tusk made $100 million helping Uber conquer New York
Crain’s: Political operative Tusk puts his spin on venture capitalism
TechCrunch: Political ‘fixer’ Bradley Tusk closes second fund on $70M
Vox: Political consultant Bradley Tusk on Recode Decode with Kara Swisher
NPR Marketplace: This former political operative now helps tech companies wrangle government
Forbes: Marc Andreessen And Bradley Tusk Invest In New $25 Million Vices Fund
New York Times: To Do Politics or Not Do Politics? Tech Start-Ups Are Divided
Cheddar: No Slowdown in Investing for VC Firm Tusk Venture Partners Despite Covid-19 Outbreak
City & State: The Tech Power 50
Politics
Fast Politics with Molly Jong-Fast: Julian Zelizer and Bradley Tusk
Washington Post: The Daily 202: How Mike Bloomberg scared off Anthony Weiner from challenging him in 2009
New York Times: Bloomberg’s Inner Circle
Crain’s Chicago: 40 Under 40
People: Meet Bradley Tusk, Reform Strategist
Chicago Sun Times: The gov's 'superstar'
New York Times: Weakened de Blasio May Be Vulnerable to 3rd-Party Bid by a Democrat
DNAinfo: Black Pastors Join Bloomberg Operative's Plan to Stop de Blasio Re-election
Forbes: What Uber And Mike Bloomberg Have In Common
Fox Business: Bloomberg’s former campaign manager gives his picks for 2020
New York Magazine: Andrew Yang’s Insider Campaign How did he become the front-runner? Not simply by being a national celebrity and excellent campaigner.
New York Times: Leash Patrol Touts Victory In City Parks; Next, Pit Bulls
Mobile Voting
NPR: The Push For Internet Voting Continues, Mostly Thanks To One Guy
The New Yorker: The Campaign for Mobile-Phone Voting Is Getting a Midterm Test
Fast Company: It’s coming: Mobile voting expands, state by state
NBC: Utah to test out smartphone ballots with absentee voters
NPR: Exclusive: Seattle-Area Voters To Vote By Smartphone In 1st For U.S. Elections
Coindesk: City of Denver to Pilot Blockchain Voting App in Coming Elections
The Hill: Delaware to allow voters with disabilities to vote online in primary: report
Axios: Internet voting takes flight
Wall Street Journal: Voting By Phone - The Promise and Peril of Digital Ballots
USA Today: Voting by mail for Election 2020? How about by smartphone instead?
Associated Press: Blind voters fear loss of privacy with shift to mail voting
Fortune: A mobile, online voting effort doubled turnout last month outside Seattle, independent audit says
ABC News: Mobile voting: New York City councilman urges state to embrace new voting technology
New Yorker: Why you can’t just vote on your phone in the pandemic
Protocol: Could mobile voting play a role in the upcoming election?
Washington Post: Voting by smartphone in Seattle area pushes the limits of electronic balloting
The Hill: Turnout almost doubles in Seattle-area election after mobile voting implemented
State Scoop: Mobile voting arrives for 1.2 million Seattle-area voters
Solving Hunger
The Gist: Using Bare-Knuckle Politics To Fund School Meals
Politico: States put free school meals on the menu
Yahoo News: Tusk Philanthropies Announces 2022 Anti-Hunger Campaigns As Food Insecurity Remains High Across U.S.
Vermont Digger: Horton & Tusk: House has passed Build Back Better, but don’t let up on child hunger
WSAZ3: Trying to remove the “barrier to breakfast” in Kentucky Schools
The Hill: Congress must end child hunger now
K-12 Dive: School nutrition group to USDA: Provide free meals for all students in 2020-21
The Hill: The looming USDA deadline to guarantee access to school meals
The Washington Post: Kids could go hungry this summer with school lunch programs in peril
FOX13 Salt Lake City: Bill expanding free school breakfast for needy kids is resurrected and passes Senate committee
Business Insider: Maine Signs Historic Student Hunger Bill Into Law; More than 45,000 Maine students to get Breakfast After the Bell through critically needed new law
PhillyBite: New Jersey Students Access to Nutritious School Breakfast
Tyler Morning Telegraph: New Texas Law Simplifies Access To SNAP For Vulnerable Populations, Aims To Reduce Senior Hunger
Books
THE FIXER
Headway: 94 Best Politics Books
Wall Street Journal: ‘The Fixer’ Review: A Technocrat at Work
New York Times Book Review: Why Start-Ups Need a Regulatory Strategy to Succeed
Observer: How a Bare-Knuckled Political Brawler Got His Mojo in the World of Venture Capital
Axios: What startups should know about politics
Chicago Tribune: In new book, former aide says he posed as Rod Blagojevich on national security call governor refused to take
New York Post: Bloomberg considered Oprah for his Cabinet if he became president
OBVIOUS IN HINDSIGHT
ABC’s Good Morning America: 15 new books to read in November 2023
Fast Company: Flying car companies should prepare for a regulatory fight. So says this political strategist—in a new novel
The Information: A New Novel By ‘Silicon Valley’s Favorite Fixer’ Is Coming for Everybody
Happier with Gretchen Rubin: Ep. 471: Allow a Tradition to Evolve, Easy Ways to Block Annoying Lights, and a Funny Look at Work
Politico New York: Life imitates New York political art
Zibby Mag: The Best Books of 2023
Moms Don’t Have Time to Read: Bradley Tusk, OBVIOUS IN HINDSIGHT
CNBC Squawk Box: Bradley Tusk, Tusk Ventures CEO and ‘Obvious in Hindsight’ author, joins 'Squawk Box'
The Gist: Flying Cars Grounded By Red Tape And The Russian Mob
The Pomp Podcast: Insane Story Of How Startups Beat Politicians
Lost Debate: Can Eric Adams Survive? Biden's Path To Victory, Flying Cars
Bloomberg TV: Tusk Ventures Co-Founder on OpenAI's Governance
FAQ NYC with Harry Siegel: A Novel About Flying Cars Lands Right on Time
Books for Men: Obvious in Hindsight
POLITICO - California Playbook: Life is Satire
Shelf Awareness: Bookseller-Author Bradley Tusk's 'Early Access' Offer
City & State New York: Book excerpt: Bradley Tusk takes on fiction with ‘Obvious in Hindsight’
Forward with Andrew Yang: Flying Cars & Mobile Voting
Zibby Mag: Zibby’s Most Anticipated Reads for October, November & December
Litro Magazine: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: EXPLORING THE LITERARY DEBUT OF BRADLEY TUSK’S ‘OBVIOUS IN HINDSIGHT’
New York Amsterdam News: So many books to read …
P&T Knitwear and Gotham Book Prize
New York Jewish Week: On the Lower East Side, a corporate ‘fixer’ honors his Jewish roots with a unique, NYC-centric bookstore
USA TODAY: Why we love P&T Knitwear, the bookstore that keeps New York's Lower East Side well read
New York Times: Writers Are Rewarded for Their Books About New York
Time Out New York: The 2023 Gotham Book Prize finalists have been announced; add these NYC books to your list
New York Times: The Independent Bookstore, as Imagined by a Corporate Lobbyist
The Shopkeepers: 2022 Best Shops
Wall Street Journal: This Is NYC’s Hottest Neighborhood
NYLitHub: A new community-oriented bookstore has opened on the Lower East Side
New York Times: The Independent Bookstore, as Imagined by a Corporate Lobbyist
WNYC “All Of It”: Summer Reading Review/Preview
Bowery Boogie: ‘P&T Knitwear’ Indie Bookstore Joins Hotel Indigo Retail on Orchard Street
Eater NY: A new cafe for that one friend who wants to start a podcast
Washington Post: 'Invisible Child' wins $50,000 Gotham Book Prize
Associated Press: Gotham Book Prize Created to Help NYC’s Writers in the Midst of Pandemic Recovery
Forbes: Gotham Book Prize To Award Winning Author $50,000 For Book About Or Set In New York City
Washington Post: New literary prize is $50,000 honor for best New York story
Pix11: New writer’s prize aims to keep mistique of NYC alive through literature
Literary Hub: James McBride has won the inaugural Gotham Book Prize for literature that celebrates NYC.
Academia
Northwestern Kellogg School of Management: How Uber Took Manhattan
Columbia Business School: The Economics and Politics of Digital Disruption Course with Professor Bradley Tusk
University of Pennsylvania: Meet the Penn alumnus who saved Uber in New York and is now trying to change how we vote
University of Chicago: Bradley Tusk, '99: "Silicon Valley's Political Savior"
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business: The Media and Nonmarket Forces
Harvard Business School: Can Entrepreneurs Make Mobile Voting Easy and Secure?