TheBridge profile: Eric Wilson
Name: Eric Wilson
Current city: Washington, DC
Current job: Managing Partner, Startup Caucus & lots of other projects
Past job: Digital Director - Ed Gillespie for Governor, Marco Rubio for President
Q. Favorite spot for a coffee meeting? Rosslyn Starbucks across from my office with an outdoor patio
Q. Describe how a skill you learned in a previous job helped you in your current job. When I was an early Engage employee working for Patrick Ruffini and Mindy Finn, I learned how to manage client relationships with consistent communication and how to manage projects with clear communication. Combined, these skills have served me well over the years.
Q. Job advice in three words? Always be curious
Q. How are you (or your company, org, nonprofit) currently bridging the gap between innovation and regulation? In my work with Startup Caucus, our biggest challenge is marrying two disparate cultures – startups and campaigns – despite the fact they are very similar. We help startup founders who are building campaign tech better understand who their customers are, how they make decisions, and what problems they face. We help campaigners understand how to use new technology effectively to keep ahead of their competition.
Q. What can innovators learn from policymakers? Policymakers typically have a broader worldview than innovators who tend to narrowly focus on a single problem. Policymakers spend more time considering how their decisions will affect others, whether those effects are worth the costs, and if are there other alternatives available.
Q. What can policymakers learn from innovators? Innovators have a bias towards action that policymakers often lack.
Q. Favorite book/podcast/long-form article you recommend? The Lean Startup by Eric Ries informs most of my professional thinking.
Q. Best advice you’ve received? Respice finem (consider the end)
Q. Most underrated virtue in an employee? Always report your action to the one who requested it.
Q. Favorite app? Flight Radar 24
Q. Living person you admire? Bishop Robert Barron, he's using new media to evangelize unaffiliated audiences and is an intellectual powerhouse that can hold his own whether the topic is Aristotle or Zoolander.
Q. Startup to watch? All of the companies in the Startup Caucus portfolio!
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