Building American Dynamism

Author: Katherine Boyle at a16z URL: https://future.com/building-american-dynamism One-line: The only way to reverse American stagnation post-Covid is through technologists building companies that support the national interest — what Boyle calls American Dynamism.

Key claims

• America’s stagnation shows up as institutional failure and loss of civic trust, economic/technological stagnation, declining birth rates, and derivative culture (after Ross Douthat’s The Decadent Society).
• The technology sector is the only part of the U.S. economy that has maintained its dynamism and growth through innovation over the last 25 years.
• “American dynamism” = technologists building companies that solve serious national problems (security, public safety, housing, education) rather than incremental status-quo fixes.
• Startups are increasingly usurping the responsibilities of government — e.g. Ryan Petersen / Flexport at the Port of Long Beach supply-chain crisis.
• Government has had a growing talent problem since the 1970s (“a quiet crisis”); a country can’t thrive without a vibrant public-service culture, especially against China.
• Mission-driven founders should aim higher than govtech efficiency or ESG (terms “defined for and by bureaucrats, not builders”).

Highlights

Verbatim excerpts Kyle captured on re-read, in source order.

• The New York Times columnist and Substack writer Ross Douthat released “The Decadent Society,” a survey of America’s general apathy toward building a more dynamic future.
• it was among the last public critiques of American stagnation before the world changed forever in March 2020.
• In the Before Times, Douthat noted four indicators of malaise in the Western world, some of which were magnified during the pandemic:
  • institutional failure and loss of civic trust;
  • economic and technological stagnation;
  • declining birth rates and sterility; and mimetic,
  • derivative culture.
• Institutional failure is the most glaring and far-gone aspect of American stagnation
• Other institutions like public schools and the medical establishment have lost so much trust during the pandemic years that they could go the way of mainstream newspapers, **plateauing into a distrustful malaise where only a fraction of the country cares about what they have to say at all. **
• Though the Manhattan Project and the Moon Landing happened when America was arguably at her most dynamic, the technology sector is the only sector of the American economy that has maintained its vibrancy, dynamism, and growth through innovation over the last 25 years.
• The top six companies by market capitalization in the U.S. are now technology companies, two of which were founded in the 2000s. In 1996, none of the top six companies were technology companies.
• From the Moderna vaccine to the uninterrupted service of Amazon Prime, Zoom and Netflix, the scientific and operational excellence of consequential technology companies made up for the shortfall of our flailing governmental institutions.
• I believe the only way to reverse the course of stagnation and kickstart nationwide renewal post-Covid is through technologists building companies that support the national interest. I call this american dynamism: it’s the recognition that seemingly insurmountable problems in our society — from national security and public safety to housing and education — demand solutions that aren’t simply incremental changes that perpetuate the status quo. These problems demand solutions from builders — and it’s never been more vital that startups tackle these serious American problems.
• But if software can stave off stagnation in all other industries — industries that have similar problems attracting the talent needed for 21st century innovation — why can’t software fix government? In some ways, it’s already happening.
• In 2018, I wrote in the Washington Post that startups have begun usurping the responsibilities of governments at breathtaking pace.
• When politicians panicked at the supply chain crisis at the Port of Long Beach in November 2021, the man to get on a boat and figure out immediate solutions was not an elected official but Ryan Petersen, founder and CEO of Flexport.
• Flexport isn’t often viewed as a government company, but at a time when government lacks critical tools and voices to understand complex national problems, founders like Ryan are doing important civic work and pushing solutions forward.
• These examples prove that dynamism in America is not being spurred by policy in Washington — it’s being driven by a growing group of technologists that are solving problems of immense national importance.
• And as technology becomes less of a “sector” and more of a means of acceleration that touches every industry and aspect of society, we’ll see more solutions for American problems coming from engineers, technologists, and startup founders.
• Some critics of the tech industry believe that software only touches the digital world and that we’re wasting valuable talent ignoring the physical.
• And these companies are often entrenched in the work and mission of government, such as in aerospace (Blue Origin, SpaceX), intelligence (Palantir), and defense (Anduril, Shield, Skydio).
• Venture capital is also better at monitoring outcomes: it turns out that professional investors, even in a bull market, care more about value creation than bureaucrats who are not measured by or compensated for their success.

  Kyle: Also expand on the idea that “means justify the ends.” Josh Wolfe still thinks there could be massive fraud in Tesla but they’ve produced more cars than any car company to be founded after 1950 whether there was fraud to prop them up or not

• Second, the U.S. government has had a growing talent problem since the 1970s. This is not an unknown problem: the government began studying its talent shortage and decline in public service ethos thirty years ago, calling it “a quiet crisis.“
• A country without a vibrant public service culture cannot thrive, especially when competing with countries with effectively mandatory public service in the technology sector, such as China.
• Many mission-driven founders are eager to innovate in govtech, i.e. companies that sell to government to make the bureaucratic operations slightly more efficient. They’re also eager to innovate in “ESG”, or “Environment, Social and Governance,” a term defined for and by bureaucrats, not builders.
• A Pew Research Forum poll recently asked Americans the famous political question: will your children be better off than you will? Sixty eight percent of Americans said no, putting the U.S. as the sixth-most pessimistic country in the survey. I don’t believe our outlook has to be this way. Technology is a solution, not the perpetuator of this crisis of faith.

Related reading

• Re-Read Investing in American Dynamism (a16z, Jan 14 2022) — the companion piece read the same day:
  • It explains why we believe there’s never been a better time to build companies that support the national interest and solve critical problems for the country.
  • The American Dynamism practice invests in founders and companies that support the national interest, including but not limited to aerospace, defense, education, housing, transportation, public safety, supply chain, industrials, and manufacturing.

How it connects

• Katherine Boyle — author. Her public writing on differentiated missions and “true believers” is the thread Kyle follows here.
• American Dynamism — the thesis this essay names and defines.
• It’s Time To Build by Marc Andreessen — the foundational “build” manifesto this argument extends.
• Ryan Petersen / Flexport — Boyle’s central example of a founder doing civic work.
• a16z — publisher (future.com) and home of the American Dynamism practice.
• SpaceX, Anduril Industries, Blue Origin — companies Boyle cites as entrenched in government missions (aerospace, defense, intelligence).
• Josh Wolfe — referenced in Kyle’s “means justify the ends” note on value creation vs. potential fraud.