Thread by @mschmidbaur

0/ Thread. Having spent some time with @Nicolas_Colin on his new book HEDGE about #tech, #entrepreneurship, social #policy and the future of the Safety Net, I'm sharing some things that stuck with me, and why HEDGE is one for the ☀️📚📝 #readinglist amazon.com/Hedge-Greater-…

1/ @Nicolas_Colin is thought-provoking not least because of his vantage point - graduated from the French ENA, worked at the top of the French civil service, set up his own company, and invests in startups all over 🇪🇺 with @_TheFamily

2/ Im not one for party politics, and HEDGE isn't about that. It's a book that speaks to the zeitgeist of the #techlash and ways for #startup #founders and #politicians to think about smart, sensible policies to build an inclusive Safety Net 2.0 📖

3/ Why now? The #entrepreneurial age is here and different. Never has it been easier to start/scale a company. Plenty of capital, commoditised tech (@stripe @awscloud), role models (though too many male ones still), and people want to be #entrepreneurs (vs corporate jobs)...

4/ ...and because we need to move on from 'Fordist' thinking of the past. 🚗❓Yes, mass production defined 20th century and economic boom our grandparents experienced, but need to see big picture of how economy is changing.

5/ Today's consumers are networked and empowered. 📱🕸️ The (tech) companies that do well today have realised this - hyper-responsive to customer demands & smart about using #data and insights to build 😍 for their products (ref @tesla @amazon)

6/ the way we work is changing. #genY and #GenZ aren't sticking to 20-years-in-a-job model of our parents. People move, change jobs, careers. @Nicolas_Colin & @Vitolae explain this well as Hunters vs Settlers mailchi.mp/thefamily/solv… Need to think more about hunters, or otherwise

7/ that also means being smarter about #tax, consumer #finance, #unions. Need to re-imagine old models, be more flexible, embrace technology. #entrepreneurs can help do this.

8/ to do it, need a shift in mindset that embraces entropy and #instability (read @nntaleb for more on this). 🦋 Entrepreneurs, especially new gen who understand what it means to '#disrupt yourself', get this. Do politicians?

9/ that said, @Nicolas_Colin reminds us of 'the lost art of state intervention' - business and government should never exist in isolation and gvt has a role to play. Will sound ultra-left to some, but just look at insights from @MazzucatoM amazon.com/Entrepreneuria…

10/ @Nicolas_Colin isn't alone on this. Ref @PedderSophie new @EmmanuelMacron biography: "if #postwar #welfare state was born to deal with accidents of life, Macron wants 21st century version to be flexible safety net that treats movement in/out of jobs as normal"

11/ 🇪🇺 Critically, #Europe has a role to play in this. If we don't like the extremes of US cowboy-capitalism or Chinese surveillance-society, we need to work as one Europe to define/devise a safety net of our own 🇺🇸🤠❓🇨🇳📹

12/ does this book have all the answers? No. But you can't start to figure out an answer, if you don't get some consensus on the diagnosis. [west wing gif for good measure]

13/ If my word isn't good enough - there's always @billjaneway @CarlotaPrzPerez @nick_clegg @azeem @kimmaicutler and @wadhwa for more thoughts on HEDGE 👉 check out what they said hedgethebook.com