Democrats claimed rural Ohio Republicans were too racist to back Vivek for governor. But Ramaswamy won 82.5% of the primary vote and every county. Their delusion will end up biting them. Ohioans care about issues over identity politics. Here's my op-ed in today's Dispatch:

Ohio is one of the hardest states in the country to poll, and recent cycles show the polls overstating Democrat support. Part of the problem is who picks up the phone. Guys like me enjoy talking to pollsters. Normal people don't. I said on TV this weekend that I think the polls will be far off in this race, and that it'll be a good surprise for Republicans.

Workforce policy people talk about stackable pathways constantly. A certificate here, an apprenticeship there, a degree across town. Then visit a state's education website. A landing page linking to thousands of programs, nothing tying them together. The learner is left to guess how any of it stacks.

Causation not coincidence

My theory on political advertising is that the calendar matters more than the budget. Voters don't tune in before Labor Day. Campaigns buy airtime all summer anyway, so the spots run and nothing registers. Then kids go back to school and people start forming opinions. Whoever happens to be on the air that week looks like a genius. You can buy airtime whenever you want, but people still won't pay attention until they've decided to care.

I’ve said this for weeks… spend $200,000 on a minuscule amount of ads leaking to non voters, or spend $200,000 shifting perceived momentum on a “prediction” market the media reads as gospel. Easy choice for a D operative

Our product process at Flashpass is reverse engineering government. I listen to state agencies, legislators and employers describe what's missing in the workforce, then carry it back to our tech team. Build what the state actually needs instead of pitching what you already made.

The bar to get on TV is way lower than people assume. Stations need guests. Producers are actively looking for people to put on air. Reach out, build the relationship, show up prepared. They'll give you time. You don't need to be a polished TV persona.

I can't write a line of code, and this year I've been more involved in product than at any point in my career. Turns out translating between a customer describing a problem in their own words and a person who can build the answer is a technical skill too. Just not the one I expected to learn as a founder.

I've done about two dozen TV appearances. Election nights, the RNC floor, regular commentary in Columbus. Never had a minute of media training. I'm not even that good at it. People underestimate their abilities constantly, then wait for permission that isn't coming.

Hot take: government procurement rewards first movers more than the private sector does. Bureaucrats are risk averse by design. Getting a state past its first hesitancy toward something new is the hard part. Once you clear that hurdle, you become the vendor they trust to operationalize, and competitors have to clear that same wall from the outside. The product gets you in the door. The trust keeps everyone else out.

The unemployment rate only counts people actively looking for work. It misses the sidelined workforce. People who stopped searching because the industries that are hiring look nothing like the ones they left, and that's intimidating. Getting them back into the workforce matters more for the country than any single jobs report. Share this with someone thinking about getting back to work.

I've done about two dozen TV appearances. Election night recaps, a piece from the floor of the RNC, regular political commentary in Columbus, etc. I've never had a minute of formal media training. I'm also not that good at it. There are people with sharper wit who are much smoother on camera. Nobody has ever told me I did a terrible job, but nobody would say that to my face either 😂. What those appearances taught me is that the bar to get on TV is far lower than people assume. Stations need guests. Producers are actively looking for people to put on air. If you reach out, build the relationship, and show up prepared, they'll give you time. You don't need to be a polished TV persona. And the payoff is disproportionate. A few segments buy you a kind of localized, industry-specific legitimacy. People see you on a Sunday show and decide you must be the authority. The actual qualification was a willingness to put on a suit at 7 pm and drive to a studio after a full day of work. People underestimate their own abilities constantly, then wait for permission that isn't coming. I might not be great at this. I keep doing it anyway, and it has opened more doors than almost anything else in my career.

Perceived momentum is worth a fortune in a campaign. Donors back candidates who look like winners. Consultants steer money toward races that look close. So anything that works as a public scoreboard becomes a target. -Polls -Headlines -Thinly traded prediction markets The cheapest way to move money in politics is to move the perception of who's winning first.

YC concentrating its portfolio in one corner of the country is arrogant (and bad business.) Markets are dictated by consumer preferences, and a huge share of American consumers live in Middle America. A portfolio that only reflects one region's preferences misses the upside everywhere else.

An unemployment check bridges you back to a job that may no longer exist. A workforce aligned credential bridges you to one that does. Only one of those is a durable use of public money.