ITK Radio | Michael O'Brien

On this episode of ITK Radio, a conversation with Michael O'Brien.

Michael is the founder and principal of MOB Advocacy. He has more than ten years of experience as a state and local lobbyist. Michael has lobbied governors, mayors, legislators, state and local agencies, and regulators in more than 40 states.

Before launching MOB Advocacy, Michael was the leader of the nationwide state and local program for RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment).

Prior to RISE, Michael launched Molina Healthcare's political and grassroots advocacy programs, created strong public-private partnerships as the director of state government relations for The Washington Center, and developed a federal, state, and grassroots advocacy program for The National Conference for Community & Justice.

You can find Michael on LinkedIn here.

Insights + Ideas:

+ Understanding the speed of government relations and advocacy at the state and local level

+ The value of building relationships at the state and local level coupled with a strong data partner

+ The 50 US states are known as “laboratories of democracy”

+ Executing a "toolbox" of advocacy tools

+ "what is the path of least resistance to yes"

+ Pro-tips on engaging governors and mayors

+ "find the hero governor"

+ Insights on living and working in Tbilisi, Georgia

+ How his global experience has helped him work at the state and local level

+ How to get an internship in Washington, DC and state capitals

+ Watch: HBO's Succession and Apple TV's Ted Lasso

+ Read: Only Cry for the Living: Memos From Inside the ISIS Battlefield by Hollie S. McKay

ITK Radio | Robert Atkinson

On this episode of ITK Radio, a conversation with Robert Atkinson.

Robert is the founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), recognized as the world’s top think tank for science and technology policy.

Robert leads a prolific team of policy analysts and fellows that is successfully shaping the debate and setting the agenda on a host of critical issues at the intersection of technological innovation and public policy.

He is an internationally recognized scholar and a widely published author whom The New Republic has named one of the “three most important thinkers about innovation,” Washingtonian Magazine has called a “tech titan,” Government Technology Magazine has judged to be one of the 25 top “doers, dreamers and drivers of information technology,” and the Wharton Business School has given the “Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award.”

President Clinton appointed Robert to the Commission on Workers, Communities, and Economic Change in the New Economy; the Bush administration appointed him chair of the congressionally created National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission; the Obama administration appointed him to the National Innovation and Competitiveness Strategy Advisory Board; as co-chair of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s China-US Innovation Policy Experts Group; to the US Department of Commerce’s National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship; and the Trump administration appointed him to the G7 Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence. The Biden administration appointed him as a member of the US State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information, and a member of the Export-Import Bank of the United States' Council on China Competition.

Robert also served on the UK government’s Place Advisory Group to advise the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation on how policy can drive innovation in more regions. He is a member of the Polaris Council, a body of cross-sectoral, interdisciplinary science and technology policy experts who advise the US Government Accountability Office’s Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics (STAA) team on emergent and emerging issues.

You can find Robert on LinkedIn here.

Insights + Ideas:

+ "Free markets are irrational"

+ The power of cultural norms to shape commerce and communities

+ The increase of distributed teams and leaders not working in an organization's headquarters

+ The need to radically change the US building codes and allow for more 3D printed of homes

+ Why the United States needs an advanced industrial policy to compete with China

+ Issue Brief: Time for Congressional Action to Speed the Arrival of Self-Driving Cars by Ashley Johnson

+ Issue Brief: A Policymaker’s Guide to Connected Cars by Alan McQuinn + Daniel Castro

+ Issue Brief: Semiconductors, CHIPS for America, and Appropriations in the US Innovation and Competition Act (S. 1260) Congressional Research Service

+ On the need to simplify communications and embrace: "You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother." -- Albert Einstein

+ "We are in competition with China, and we should recognize that.”

+ "We are in a cold war, which is a good framework to understand the world."

+ "Every industry now is a tech industry."

+ What we should be thinking about AI

+ Extraordinary Attorney Woo Netflix

+ Mao's China and the cold war by Chen Jian UNC Press

+ Russians Among Us by Gordon Corera Harper Collins

+ ITIF Event: Reviving America’s Hamiltonian Tradition to Win the Economic Competition With China on Thursday, April 27, 2023 - 8:30 am to 4:00 pm ET. RSVP here.

ITK Radio | Abraham Williamson

On this episode of ITK Radio, a conversation with Abraham Williamson.

Abraham is currently the Founding Attorney @ Go With Canvas, PLLC.

GwC (Go With Canvas, PLLC) provides legal counsel to technology and emerging growth companies at all stages of growth, and their investors

Abraham assists early-stage startups in a wide range of legal issues from birth through maturity. His practice focuses primarily on angel and venture capital financings, and general corporate counseling (including negotiating commercial and technology agreements), with an emphasis on technology and consumer packaged goods industries. Abraham also advises clients in GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museum) industries with a focus on corporate governance, asset purchases, and strategic alliances.

Prior to co-founding Go With Canvas, Abraham was an associate at a top 20 international law firm in New York City, where he represented public and private companies in leveraged debt financings, equity offerings, and strategic alliances.

Abraham is also a former senior associate of a top Midwestern law firm, where he represented emerging growth companies and private equity funds in the technology, media, sports, robotics, real estate, AI, food and beverage, and healthcare industries.

Abraham has degrees from Harvard Law School, the University of Cambridge, Trinity Hall, and Howard University, plus he is the on-air host for the Diverse Tech Founders Podcast and a member of the African American Museum of Music and Culture.

You can find Abraham on LinkedIn here.

Insights + Ideas:

The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw Simon & Schuster

+ Knowing the difference between services business and venture-backable business

+ The start-up scene in Nashville, Tennessee

+ The power of hosting a podcast to meet founders and be a part of the venture and start-up ecosystem

+ Using a podcast to build a business, build credibility, and build relationships

+ Settling on a podcast as his preferred communication and connection tool

+ The power of asking uncomfortable questions on loss and failure to learn about entrepreneurship

+ Building systems to maximize business opportunities

+ What to know and understand about diversity

+ Learning from countries that have experienced conflict and disruption, like South Africa and Germany

+ Embrace "mutual authenticity"

+ "The recipe for success is finding a third-way that incorporates... your strengths... whether it is gender or race"

+ How to think about committing time and resources to domestic markets vs. foreign markets as a founder

+ Being exposed to Capitol Hill and political campaigns to understand people and trends better, as well as developing skills to build alliances and compromise for the bigger picture

+ The power of mission-driven start-up companies and opportunities

+ "Make yourself undeniable"

+ Advice for founders to get noticed and how to work with attorneys

+ "Talk to your customers - think customers first"

+ The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers Penguin Random House

+ The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett Pod

+ Get to know Nigeria and the United Kingdom for opportunities