Given the mess that our political system is in, I wonder why professionals have not seriously looked at creating a political startup. Present service providers have been providing low quality services for decades in what really should be a buyers’ market given that we are a democratic country. People have been crying for a better deal but those who can make a difference seem to be indifferent.
The present political parties are beset with the following problems which in turn have resulted in a loss making entity called India.
1. Corruption at the highest levels of governement and the bureaucracy
2. Short sighted decisions based on electoral concerns
3. Putting self (i.e. power) before national interest
4. Nexus with criminals and businessmen
5. Low level of education
These are all surmountable if the political party consists of highly motivated professionals who run the show (and the country) like any well managed company which treats the shareholders (citizens in this case) with respect.
The founders will require a transformational mindset.
The opportunity is huge and so is the required investment. Are there any VCs/Angels willing to invest in a political party startup which will function like any professionally managed company and provide a clean and effective government?
I would love to be part of such a startup. We owe to ourselves if not to the country. If anyone in this community of entrepreneurs is interested do let me know.
- Why Not A Political Startup - December 3, 2008
- Is Manufacturing the future of Banking? - June 25, 2007
- eLearning for all - June 12, 2007
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=QqW6a2hd8Mo
2 cents,
Rahul
http://iamyuva.blogspot.com/2008/12/why-not-political-startup-but-how.html
One more supporting hand for the idea. I was reading somewhere that–its time for silent majority act & react (middle-class and non-farmers,..) but how,why,what,who,where,.. is the question(s)!
my suggestions/questions/cautions:
• Objectives/Goals & strategy:
o We need to create detailed case-study/white-paper why & how it works? I think, its too simple to say- politicians are corrupt and given a choice majority of people would elect non-corrupt individual ignoring other facts & reality. If somehow we can create franchises to built and grow informed citizen with a hope that will translate into best judgement then we might be historically wrong in thinking that way.
o if motivation is power and/or money then we fail into same old crap(may be in different form). To me, its much better for stupid people with bad ideas to run the country then by smart people with bad ideas.
o Organisation has its own culture & objectives and people sign-up to be part of it with their own objectives (and might have different culture believes). how do we reconcile that?
o Politics is very wide spectrum and our idea can be killed very soon since historically market space has been smart enough manage monopoly. M&A will soon change objective & implementation strategy.
o We will need Gandhi like many individuals (or Steve jobs like popular to-die fan-base)/market leaders/experts for every single issues (education, poverty, political reforms,…)
• Implementation:
o Once basic principals & ideals are defined (with do’s & don’t’s, what/how to support and not to, based on what!,..). then we will need to gather like-minded people(like TED conference) to brainstorm implementation strategy which would very different for each region/communities/demographic.
o We will then need to gather support/fan base(brand loyalty) –(like obama’s campaign organization) by creating awareness, website, mailing list, web2.0 communities..to create fan based and NGOs networks to participant to show the presence over time without losing site of initial objectives/goals and implementation strategy.
o Then how do we avoid been (liberal)biased and not to ignore national ground-reality & sentiments? because most people how sign-up would be from similar walk-off life(lack of diversity) thus branding would become problem.
• Returns:
o Any such venture needs investment and any investor wants to cash-out sometime. How we do that here?
o its very easy to keep discussing without much impact in market space (thus cause investors unrest and wanting to cash-out sooner with any other possibilities)
List will grow without any clear agreeable answers for most of it but certainly its worth discussing with more specific & details.
[woo..its big comment i guess. will reproduce in my blog post @ http://iamyuva.wordpress.com/ ]
Thanks..Yuva
An interesting thought, Shashank.
If I view your thought as a fundamental one where we need better professionals to come forward and take on the management of the country, that is perfect.
The structure and the method that you propose may not be quite right for some of the following reasons:
a. A ‘political’ unit which you relate to as a startup, will be the equivalent of a political party. And in that case, it cannot have maximizing profits as a goal. Whereas business startups (ultimately) would have that goal.
b. A political party can view citizens as their ‘customers’ if you will, but not as shareholders. The shareholders are the party members. A government can view the citizens as shareholders. And potentially, a government could even have generating reserves as a goal (though, still not the ultimate goal for its being). Singapore government is a case in point.
c. The political unit that you refer to can be possibly an equivalent of an NGO, which have also been debated and discussed on this forum. But which discussions, to be honest, I have not followed in detail.
Having said that, there is merit to look at the bigger thought that you make here.
That a professional and credible alternative be nurtured.
Successful entrepreneurs who have built (and perhaps sold) ventures, could consider these as prime areas of engagement today. So far, getting into or starting a VC fund has been a preferred next-life for most of these persons. Their contribution in being VCs, is to create multiple successful corporations, and perhaps, millions of billions of dollars of wealth creation.
That is the ongoing “contribution” that these successful entrepreneurs are making beyond their own ventures.
However even if the corporations become successful, it is still some finite amount of wealth creation.
Whereas, if the same time, knowledge, experience, skills of these successful entrepreneurs, is used to potentially make a difference to the country at large, that contribution would be of infinite value.
The opportunity is clearly there. I urge that this idea is driven further, on this forum.
Rohit,
Your point is indisputable and the idea behind the politcal startup is precisely to revive the public and give people an alternative.