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Now the big question following Kamala Harris's VP announcement, how could the final ticket impact her support, particularly within the business community? Here to discuss this, we've got Leslie Findzag. She's the founder of VCs for Kamala, joining us. And Leslie, thank you for making the time. I I want to start on the reaction that you are hearing from the folks who signed this letter published by your organization supporting uh Vice President Kamala Harris's run for president. What are you hearing from folks in the VC and tech community about her VP pick this morning?

Very little because I've spent most of the morning putting my kids out to have breakfast and preparing to uh speak to you guys. But I think that over the past few days, um she had really, really good uh choices to pick from. And uh the first tweet that I saw this morning was that we're about to get a Minnesota nice uh uh vice president uh in uh in the administration. So I'm really excited to learn more about uh about the future vice president.

Leslie, talk to us a little bit more just about why or how critical is this election for the tech industry and why is Kamala a better pick for tech than former President Donald Trump?

Yeah, this is a critical election for the business community and for the country at large as well. And I think, you know, I have been saying this a lot lately and I I do realize that it is not the sexiest talking point, but we need stability to have prosperity. Any business owner, anybody who has ever tried to launch a business, launch a startup, knows how hard it is to launch and grow a company. How hard it is to make payroll month after month after month. And, you know, the the founders that we invest in as venture capitalists that are not only trying to start companies, they're trying to scale them to be the next public companies of tomorrow. That is an extraordinarily hard thing to do. Now, try doing that under an erratic government with inflationary policies that's picking a trade war with China. You wake up one day, you don't know what else is going to happen. It just makes it really, really, really hard. So, we can't have an innovation economy that is taking big steps and big risks if we have a government that we can't rely and count on. So, that is the big message uh that the business community feels. But I think on top of that, you know, Kamala Harris has shown an openness to the business community, especially the tech sector. She's been working across the aisle on the Chips Act. She's been wanting to bring innovation home and this campaign is a pretty new campaign, right? It's only a couple weeks old, but already it feels like her agenda is about creating wealth and opportunity for the middle class. And that is what all of us want.

Leslie, do you think that's a shift for them? Because I was going to say she hasn't necessarily gone easy on the tech industry. When you take a look at what she's done in the past, she's supported laws on digital privacy, online harassment, gig worker protections. Are you confident, I guess, from what you've heard and maybe some of the conversations that you're having with your colleagues there that a Harris presidency will look a lot different, maybe, than some of her approaches and how she's dealt with the industry in the past?

So listen, when we are dealing with technological innovation that is going to shift the future for every single person, not just the people running it, but every user out there, every family, I think we do need a government that uh works collaboratively with the tech industry to create sensible legislation. And I feel like the first thing you need to do that is to be technologically savvy. So, uh you know, I think age is a major factor here. The fact that she is a Bay Area native and has deep connections to Silicon Valley, she appears to be listening, she is taking a better uh stance around uh M&A activity. And you know, we have her ear and we believe that this is a leader that we can collaborate with.

What do you mean by we have her ear, Leslie? Have you spoken with Harris yourself?

I really, really wish I had, but no, I have not. Uh but I think, you know, uh I don't know that uh ordinary everyday people understand uh the venture capital community. We're not necessarily known for being uh activists. We're not really known for being like um terribly collaborative necessarily. So, the fact that you get uh 700 venture capital investors, like these are the people that are picking the titans of tomorrow, to agree on one sliver of an idea, and that is that this is the president that we want for this next election. Now, this is not a political coalition, right? Like we are a very broad variety of voices from every part of the political spectrum that have signed into uh this pledge. And it does not represent where in the political spectrum they are. Uh what it is is, in this election, we believe that this is the the future of the country that we want to see.

All right, Leslie Findzag, we have to leave it there. Thanks so much for joining us here this morning, uh founder of VCs for Kamala. Thanks, Leslie.