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Claire Harris
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THE FIXER

Bradley Tusk

My Adventures Saving Startups from Death by Politics

The famed political advisor to Uber, FanDuel, Lemonade, Tesla and other startups reveals what really happens at the intersection of politics, tech and business.
Most new startups today are in highly regulated industries with strong incumbents - transportation, hotels, drones, energy, gaming, education, health care, cannabis, finance, liquor, insurance. The more startups try to snatch a piece of the establishment's pie, the more they risk running into a political wall. That's where Bradley Tusk comes in.

Described as "Silicon Valley's Political Savior" (Fast Company) "Uber's Political Genius" (Vanity Fair) and "Silicon Valley's Favorite Fixer" (TechCrunch) Tusk deploys the skills and knowledge he developed working with Chuck Schumer, Michael Bloomberg, Rod Blagojevich, and other political and business legends to help startups fight back. This book goes behind the scenes on how he helped stop the taxi industry from killing Uber in its infancy, how he held insurance companies at bay while startup Lemonade launched in each state, and how he helped online sports betting sites FanDuel and Draft Kings escape the regulatory death grip casinos tried to put on them.

As Tusk writes, "Every new company is essentially a tech startup. And when you disrupt someone in any industry, they don't say thank you. They punch you in the nose. These are the lessons startups need to learn to punch back and survive the clutches of politics." Combining a firsthand glimpse behind the curtain with tangible advice for how any new venture can play the political game, THE FIXER is a must-read for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Bradley Tusk writes about tech and politics for The Observer and for Inc, hosts a podcast called Firewall, and speaks about these issues regularly to audiences across the world. He also served as Mike Bloomberg's campaign manager, as deputy governor of Illinois, as Chuck Schumer's communications director, as Uber's first political strategist, as the founder and CEO of Tusk Strategies, the first firm dedicated to helping startups navigate political problems, and Tusk Ventures, the first venture capital fund dedicated to investing in startups facing political challenges. Bradley Tusk has been profiled recently by Vanity Fair, TechCrunch, New York Magazine, Fast Company, Inc., Fortune, Wired, Fusion, the Village Voice, the New York Post, the New York Times, Mashable, BuzzFeed, Time and others.
Available products
Book

Published 2019-09-18 by Portfolio

Book

Published 2019-09-18 by Portfolio

Comments

A must read for anyone in techor worried about being disrupted by tech!

Disrupting any major industry means disrupting its politics, too. Bradley's story about fighting for startups from Uber to Tesla, from delivering cannabis to marketing vitamins on Instagram, from mobile voting to fantasy sports, captures exactly what it's like trying to navigate your startup through the muddy world of politics. This is a truly great story.

Bradley Tusk is raw, smart, and focused. The Fixer will become the book you didn't know your business depends ondragging you through the mud and into the trenches of startups and politics.