AUSTIN, Texas ‒ Brian Cruver helped invent a successful germ-killing robot and an emergency alert system and wrote a best-selling book that turned into a TV movie.
The tech entrepreneur is accustomed to solving problems, thinking quickly and figuring out what people need. About a month ago someone asked Cruver if he considered running for public office, but he had “zero interest” in putting those skills into politics.
Other tech gurus already play a large role in our daily lives, from cell phones to internet search engines and the country’s most popular electric car. Men like Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg’s and X’s Elon Musk have access to where people go, what they buy, who they talk to, what they read, and even what makes them laugh. Other lesser-known elite tech leaders’ factor into daily decision-making in ways people don’t even realize.
Although technology leaders like these run Americans’ lives they don’t run the government. Why not?
“Tech leaders are used to working collaboratively and solving complex problems at a quick pace and are equally used to both success and failure. Why would they want to jump (into politics) right now? said Corey Cook, a longtime political analyst and provost for St. Mary’s College of California. “There’s deep gridlock, extraordinary dysfunction and extreme party polarization that doesn’t bring a lot of optimism.”
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Some have tried.
Michael Bloomberg was a popular New York City mayor, but the founder of a financial news and data company did not fare well as a Democratic presidential candidate in 2020. Nor did Carly Fiorina, former CEO of tech company Hewlett-Packard, who ran as a Republican in 2016, nor Andrew Yang, who also ran as a Democrat in 2020.
This campaign cycle two technology experts have entered the fray: tech entrepreneur Jason Palmer was a long-shot Democratic candidate for president, and philanthropist and lawyer Nicole Shanahan is independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vice presidential running mate.
Neither is likely to win office, political scientists say.
Shanahan, a self-proclaimed “technologist,” is also a research fellow at CodeX, the Stanford Center for Legal Informatics, which focuses on “humanistic coding.”
As she joined the ticket last week, Shanahan told a live crowd of about 500 along with more than 30,000 online viewers that as vice president, she would use electronic medical records to better understand and address the chronic health conditions that plague so many Americans.
Palmer’s electoral high point so far was beating President Joe Biden in the Democratic caucus in American Samoa on last month’s Super Tuesday. The 52-year-old claimed 51 votes to Biden’s 40 to win the island’s six delegates.
“I’m the longest of longshots,” admitted Palmer, who has already suspended his campaign to run his initiative, “TOGETHER!, which includes a political action committee, a fund to support emerging candidates and encourage youth voter registration and political engagement.
Palmer, who has no prior political experience, told USA TODAY he hoped to use his technological expertise to help the U.S. government become modernized, more efficient, and less polarized.
“I do think tech leaders can be great political leaders as we need to leverage the power of technology to upgrade the government,” said Palmer, a partner at New Markets Venture Partners, a venture capital firm, and alumnus of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Microsoft and Kaplan. “We’re decades overdue in creating a more modern government structure.”
For example, Palmer said he would want to create a one-stop shop where Americans could apply for benefits ranging from housing to healthcare, instead of going through various departments for their needs. He compares the method to aspiring college students who can apply to more than 1,000 institutions worldwide using the Common App.
“I’m always telling young entrepreneurs that when you start a company there’s a 95% chance of failure,” Palmer said. “Tech leaders are used to failing regularly and getting up dusting ourselves off and trying again and that’s what I’ve been doing this whole campaign. Politics is hard.”
The speed of progress is very different
Tech leaders get frustrated with the pace of government.
“Technology moves too fast and the government and Congress act too slow,” Palmer said.
Pascal Yammine believes tech innovation is the best way to solve real-world problems in real time and the government should court tech leaders for help.
“There could be a more cohesive strategy. Innovation requires trial and error and I think you don’t see that much in government because of the hurdles you have to go through,” said Yammine, CEO of Zilliant, an Austin-based startup focused on price optimization, a technique used to determine what companies will charge for products and services, especially as America still struggles with inflation.
Yammine said there’s a trust value in politics that has been eroding for at least a decade. When President Biden mentioned gun control in his recent State of the Union address, for instance, why didn’t both sides applaud, he wondered aloud.
“We don’t have to always agree, but where are the healthy debates on issues? … Where are the shared values? The accountability?” Yammine said. “Ultimately, it comes down to getting things done.”
Katina Kenyon, 45, a co-founder of Applaudo, an Austin and El Salvador-based startup that provides engineering talent to companies, thinks Washington politicians are unwilling to work collaboratively. “They create these massive walls of hierarchy that most tech leaders would tap out of before their frustration sets in,” Kenyon said after participating in an international founders panel at South by Southwest.
Lawmakers are “behind the curve on the pace of innovation,”Aaron Allsbrook, founder and chief technology officer of ClearBlade, an Austin-based startup connecting devices across multiple industries utilizing Internet of Things (IoT) technology (like that smart fridge for your kitchen). Allsbrook said he’s more interested in being a “change agent” by joining advisory boards versus politics.
“I feel like I can make a bigger impact here than in politics,” Allsbrook, 44, said. “If you were to ask me what drove me to engineering, it’s simple. I like to build and deliver. Deliver.”
Getting something done
The current U.S. Congress is the least effective since the Great Depression, with only 34 bills passed since January 2023.
There’s also the constant chatter about regulating Big Tech, including numerous testy hearings over the past few years, but still no legislation.
“What’s gotten passed in the past year? What’s moving the needle in a meaningful way?” said Cook of St. Mary’s College. “Politics in the U.S. is pretty toxic right now and it discourages people from various walks of life wanting to engage in that way.”
Cook believes the partisanship in politics is so deeply divisive and personal that many tech leaders would rather work on creating policies than run for office.
“Tech folks are risk takers and if someone makes it to say, Congress, and can’t get anything done, that’s not rewarding. They’re asking where’s the payoff if you don’t see the likelihood of being successful,” Cook said.
But government is eager to have the input of tech leaders – at least some of the time.
California Congressman Ro Khanna, a Democrat whose district includes much of Silicon Valley featuring tech giants including Apple, Google, OpenAI and Intel, worth an estimated $13 trillion of market value, told USA TODAY that input from tech leaders is wanted in many areas including economic growth, labor and software development.
“We need tech leaders to help our government function better,” Khanna said. “We need all of our stakeholders to weigh in on long-term strategies including immigration, national security, AI-generated usage and disclosure, technology regulation and privacy. We need our best tech minds to help keep us ahead.”
Khanna was instrumental in Congress passing 2022’s CHIPS and Science Act, one of the few bipartisan measures where lawmakers overcame their differences to pass legislation to boost domestic production of computer chips and potentially avoid future supply chain shortages and heavy reliance on China.
“We’re not building new industries fast enough and we need business and tech leaders to help deliver the outcomes we set,” Khanna said. “Tech leaders are part of the mosaic of a messy democracy.”
‘Never say never’ to running for office
Ben Chapman, the CEO of Vital Interaction, an Austin-based software startup specializing in patient healthcare services, often thinks about whether he could improve healthcare, from costs to accessibility, especially for those who can’t afford it through public office. He said raising three kids, ages, 9, 7 and 2, definitely has put some perspective on his life.
“I enjoy being an entrepreneur and running a tech company, but I also fantasize about what being in politics would be like,” Chapman, 41, said, not ruling out any political aspirations. “But, I believe more in innovation versus regulation. I think that’s the fastest way to make changes. That doesn’t mean I’m not paying attention (to politics). I’m watching. Closely.”
Similar thoughts ran across the minds of venture capitalists Himalaya Rao-Potlapally, Rachel Wilson and Pilar Concepcion Johnson at a hotel lobby on a late Saturday night after spending the day participating and attending panels at SXSW.
Politics has been a frequent topic of late for the three friends. Rao-Potlapally, 34, and Wilson, 40, are partners in The BFM Fund, a Portland, Oregon venture capital firm focused on investing in entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds. Concepcion Johnson, 34, is a co-founder and managing partner at Debut Capital, a Miami venture capital firm investing in Black, Latinx, and Indigenous entrepreneurs.
They believe any political change they want starts at the grassroots level by working closely within their communities. Like most of their peers, the entrepreneurs feel politics is stagnant, especially in D.C. Those feelings fuel their commitment to helping others within their own spaces.
“I don’t need to be a figurehead, I’m not so ego-driven where I need to see my face or my name everywhere,” Rao-Potlapally said. “I want to build with the people and for the people and I think that’s not how current-day politics works.”
Wilson said she would someday consider running for local office, like on a city council or a board. “Never say never,” she said.
Concepcion Johnson nodded and chimed, “If something happens locally that really moves me and connects me to actual people, then maybe. Maybe.”
Rao-Potlapally is ruling out jumping into politics, for now. “We can be a part of any change,” she said. “No matter the roles we have.”
A day earlier, Cruver had gone to his floor-to-ceiling windows and pointed to the big tech companies that now comprise Austin’s skyline. To his left is Google’s headquarters, and to his right are Apple’s offices. Straight ahead is where Tesla’s headquarters are situated.
Cruver then pointed sharp left to a skyscraper still under construction where Meta, the parent company of Facebook, had planned to take up office space. Then Cruver, a father of two college-aged kids, guided his finger to the building where his companies are located, including a new startup, Scorability, to help student-athletes navigate the sometimes complex recruiting processes.
Then he looked at the historic Texas State Capitol building and wondered why there isn’t a better union between tech leaders and politicians. He shook his head in disgust.
“I just think there are a lot of smart people not in the government who can help solve these problems,” Cruver said. “In a perfect world maybe there’s a partnership, but then reality sets in.”
