OpenGov co-founder and CEO Zach Bookman emphasizes the scale of public spending at the state and local levels compared to the federal government.
Opinion
Bookman: Andreessen Horowitz Acted Like SoftBank a Decade Ago
“They were the soft bank, you know, like, 10, 10, 12 years ago.”
Assertion Contradicted
Bookman: 1% of Oracle public sector clients sue and over half dissatisfied
“Some of the stats, Oracle, apparently, one percent of its public sector customers end up in lawsuits. And more than half end up, quote, fully dissatisfied.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bookman: US aid sent shipping containers of laptops to illiterate Afghan councils
“Turns out we bought them a shipping container full of laptops. And he's like, the issue is we don't read and write. This is the type of stuff that was going on all over the place. It's actually good intentions, just preposterous executions.”
Insight
Bookman: Software companies must build systems of record before leveraging network data
“You come for the tool, you stay for the network.
We've got to build the systems of record before we get the data to do the amazing things that we always wanted to do.”
Opinion
Bookman: Aggressive government reform will fail without institutional empathy
“I do think this is an undertaking of extraordinary magnitude, and look, it's going to be extremely contentious, including to, you know, go full Twitter style on various government agencies, but there needs to be a level of, there needs to be a level of empathy…”
Insight
Bookman: Overcapitalizing Startups Without PMF Breeds Waste and Cultural Issues
“And it's small. It's not ready. It didn't actually have product market fit. You dump a ton of money on it and great things happen. Not usually, actually. All sorts of waste and pockets of waste and weird cultural problems.”