INNOVATE2016: Lobbying The Future

Can we lobby for the future?

Garrett Johnson, the founder of the conservative think tank Lincoln Labs, thinks that we should. Indeed, Lincoln Labs has just released a white paper which does exactly that. We need more Ubers and Lyfts and less regulation, Johnson told me about the white paper which, he says, was written on behalf of the many start-up entrepreneurs who can’t afford expensive inside-the-beltway lobbyists.

Johnson, whose day job is the founder of the Y Combinator founded B2B communications platform SendHub, believes that we need to support what he calls “work 2.0” – a manifesto in favor of “permissions innovation” which allows entrepreneurs to “move fast and break things.”

Johnson is bullish about Republican candidates who can represent entrepreneurs. In particular, he sees Jeb Bush and Carly Fiorina as Presidential candidates who get the disruptive idea of permissionless innovation. He is more ambivalent, however, about Donald Trump who, he says, hasn’t said much yet on behalf of bootstrapped entrepreneurs.

Many thanks to Mike Montgomery at CALinnovates for its help with producing the show.