PUBLIC brings together experience from the public sector, technology and finance to help startups solve public problems.
Daniel Korski CBE is the Chief Executive Officer at PUBLIC. He has 20 years of experience in senior positions in government across the UK, EU and the US. Daniel was most recently Deputy Head of Policy at No. 10 Downing Street and Special Advisor to David Cameron. He was previously was adviser to the Vice-President of the European Commision and has previously worked for the UN and Foreign Office in Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen.
Alexander de Carvalho is the Chief Investment Officer at PUBLIC and a venture investor. He has had over eight years’ experience working in private equity and Austrian Bank Gutmann at the Alternative Investments department. He is also a non-executive director of Heineken.
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Highlights
I was looking for a way to get into the public sector and explain the power of technology to people in government.
What we’re trying to do is create an understanding on both sides of the chasm.
If you want new players to have a chance at transforming public services, they need to be put in a position where they can do so.
I realised early on that I was an entrepreneur when I tried to change systems and policies. I want to bring about change by looking at things from a totally different perspective and seeking solutions that don’t yet exist.
There’s focus on entrepreneurialism in the private sector, the public sector is now looking into that too.
We’re not very proprietorial about what we’re doing. We spend time thinking about where the Government is going and how the companies we work with could play into future opportunities.
Responsibility can go two ways. You can have fun with it, enjoy it and embrace it, or you can be crushed. I do better when I feel responsible for things.
People don’t talk about how many ‘no’s’ you will get. Over time we committed to banging our heads against the walls until they either fell off or we were grey-haired and grumpy.
We are making small inroads. We are proving the naysayers wrong and helping the yaysayers make a return on their belief in us.