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. He also recently launched Tusk Ventures, an equity-for-service firm offering world-class regulatory, communications, and strategic expertise to help startups and growing businesses to navigate regulation, expand into new markets, and reduce regulatory and political risk.
Bradley’s family foundation, Tusk Philanthropies, is funding and leading the national campaign to bring mobile voting to all U.S. elections, a mission he outlined in his recent TED Talk,“Why you should be able to vote on your phone.” The foundation also runs and funds anti-hunger initiatives that have driven the creation of new policies and programs in 22 states, including universal school breakfast programs. As a result, nearly 14 million people now have access to food through these efforts — including 4.75 million people fed every day, 93% of them children — representing more than $6.8 billion in new government funding for hunger relief programs nationwide.
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, 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. 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. He was also an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School.
Tech & Venture
Forbes: How A Political Consultant’s Bet On Uber Fueled A Niche Career In Venture Capital
Time: Meet Tech Startups’ Political Mastermind
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
Wall Street Journal: How Bradley Tusk Went from Political Insider to ‘Making Politicians Crazy’
TechCrunch: Silicon Valley’s favorite fixer: Bradley Tusk
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
Crain’s: Bradley Tusk made $100 million helping Uber conquer New York
NPR Marketplace: This former political operative now helps tech companies wrangle government
New York Times: To Do Politics or Not Do Politics? Tech Start-Ups Are Divided
Politics
New York Times: New York City Council Approves Bill Shifting Broker Fees to Landlords
Crain’s Chicago: 40 Under 40
Forbes: What Uber And Mike Bloomberg Have In Common
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
New York Times: Will People Trust Voting by Phone? Alaska Is Going to Find Out.
State Scoop: Creators of the new and open-source VoteSecure say mobile voting is finally ready
Wired: Inside the Multimillion-Dollar Plan to Make Mobile Voting Happen
CBS News: New York venture capitalist betting big on smartphone election voting
The Chronicle of Philanthropy: The Philanthropist Who Wants to Transform 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
Stay Tuned with Preet: What if we could vote on our phones? (With Bradley Tusk)
Wired: Would You Vote From Your Phone?
Forward with Andrew Yang: How This Simple FIX Could Triple Voter Turnout — And SAVE Democracy!
The Grio: Want to expand access to the ballot box? Let people vote by mobile phone.
CNN: National campaign is pushing for mobile voting in U.S. Elections
Daily Mail: Tech boss unveils simple way to get MILLIONS more people voting… but would you trust the results?
CNBC Squawk Box: Bradley Tusk on the case for mobile voting in elections
Inside Philanthropy: Meet a Philanthropist Who Wants to Fix Voting - And Tackle Hunger
Fast Company: It’s coming: Mobile voting expands, state by state
NBC: Utah to test out smartphone ballots with absentee voters
Wall Street Journal: Voting By Phone - The Promise and Peril of Digital Ballots
Solving Hunger
Food with Mark Bittman: Bradley Tusk Knows Firsthand: Feeding People Is a Solvable Problem
The Gist: Using Bare-Knuckle Politics To Fund School Meals
Politico: States put free school meals on the menu
Vermont Digger: Horton & Tusk: House has passed Build Back Better, but don’t let up on child hunger
Books
THE FIXER
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
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
FAQ NYC with Harry Siegel: A Novel About Flying Cars Lands Right on Time
City & State New York: Book excerpt: Bradley Tusk takes on fiction with ‘Obvious in Hindsight’
Forward with Andrew Yang: Flying Cars & Mobile Voting
VOTE WITH YOUR PHONE
Ability Magazine: Vote With Your Phone: Why Mobile Voting Is Our Final Shot at Saving Democracy
CBS News: Voting by smartphone? New York entrepreneur bets millions on future of U.S. elections
Politico: The Case of Voting by Phone
Wired: Would You Vote From Your Phone?
CNN: National Campaign is pushing for "mobile voting" for all U.S. Elections
AJC Politics: You can pay your bills and see a doctor on your phone. Why not vote?
US News: How Mobile Voting Could Save Democracy
NPR: The Push For Internet Voting Continues, Mostly Thanks To One Guy
P&T Knitwear and Gotham Book Prize
Time Out: This buzzy Lower Manhattan street was just named one of the coolest in the world
CNN: The world’s coolest streets have been named. Here’s what locals really think
New York Post: Historic NYC street named among the ‘coolest in the world’: ‘Character you just can’t manufacture’
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
USA Today: 10 bookstores that inspire and unite in celebration of Independent Bookstore Day
New York Times: Writers Are Rewarded for Their Books About New York
New York Times: The Independent Bookstore, as Imagined by a Corporate Lobbyist
The Shopkeepers: 2022 Best Shops
Associated Press: Gotham Book Prize Created to Help NYC’s Writers in the Midst of Pandemic Recovery
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
Northwestern Kellogg School of Management: How Uber Took Manhattan
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?