This week, we’re excited to share a conversation with 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate and Venture for America founder, Andrew Yang.  

Andrew is not your typical politician. In fact, he’s a serial entrepreneur, more known for starting and leading companies than waging political battles. He’s also running on a bold policy platform that proposes universal basic income. Last but certainly not least, he’s Asian American which will make him the first Asian American to ever run for President of the United States as a Democrat. 

Being the first Asian American President is not Andrew’s motivation for running. But his run is opening a dialogue about the the future of humanity and the role Asian Americans should play in civic life, politics, and broader society. 

In this episode, we talk to Andrew about: 

• His upbringing,

• His brief stint as a corporate lawyer which then led him into a career of entrepreneurship, 

• His thoughts on Asian American civic involvement, 

• Why he’s running for president, and ultimately 
• Why we all need to wake up to the economic realities of our time.


Andrew will also serve up a brief primer on his campaign platform. Get your notepads ready. 

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To learn more or make a donation to Andrew’s campaign, visit yang2020.com

 Learn more about Venture for America, the entrepreneurship fellowship program that Andrew started in 2011: ventureforamerica.com

A brief primer on Universal Basic Income: https://www.yang2020.com/what-is-ubi/

And...don’t forget to fill out our mid-season survey! Your feedback is really important to us and will help us make the podcast more relevant and engaging for Season 2. If you send us a voice memo, you might even hear it in our last episode! http://bit.ly/RTBMidseasonsurvey

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Andrew’s bio: Andrew Yang is an entrepreneur and author who is running for President as a Democrat in 2020. He has worked in startups and early-stage growth companies as a founder or executive for almost twenty years. In 2011 he founded Venture for America, a national entrepreneurship fellowship that has helped create almost 3,000 jobs in Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and other cities throughout the country. In his book The War on Normal People, he explains the mounting crisis of the automation of labor and makes the case for the Freedom Dividend, a Universal Basic Income of $1,000 a month for every American as well as other policies to progress to the next stage of capitalism. Andrew was named a Presidential Ambassador of Entrepreneurship by the White House under the Obama administration and a Champion of Change for his work with Venture for America. He lives in New York City with his wife and two sons.

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Thanks to Lucy Huang for mixing and editing this episode. 

As always, please subscribe and share this episode with anyone who you think could benefit from it. Leave us a kind review and a 5-star rating :) 

Finally, we’re heading out to LA and SF in early April, and looking for folks with a fresh perspective or story in the media, entertainment, or tech industries. If you have suggestions for a Season 2 or Season 3 guest, email us at [email protected]. You can follow our journey on Instagram and Twitter @rocktheboatnyc, and sign up for monthly newsletter updates on our website gorocktheboat.com.

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Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rocktheboat/message