Why Entrepreneurs Are Becoming the New Politicians | Entrepreneur

There was a time when becoming an entrepreneur meant deliberately escaping the rigid structures of government and public service. Founders, inventors and innovators sought independence to build something greater, faster and freer than what the public sector could ever allow.

But in 2025, that story is reversing.

Today’s political arena is no longer dominated solely by career politicians, lawyers or military leaders. Instead, we are witnessing the rise of the entrepreneur-statesman — the founder-turned-public figure, the CEO-turned-candidate, the tech builder forced into policymaking not by ego, but by necessity.

Because the world is in crisis, and entrepreneurs are stepping in to fix what traditional systems cannot.

Related: 8 Entrepreneurs and Their Stint as Politicians

From Silicon Valley to Washington D.C.

Some of the most powerful names in tech and business are no longer sitting quietly in their boardrooms. They’re entering public life — influencing, legislating and sometimes outright running for office.

Here are just a few notable examples:

• Elon Musk – No official title in government (anymore), yet his influence over national security (via Starlink), public policy (through Tesla’s energy roadmap) and free speech (via X/Twitter) puts him at the heart of global leadership decisions.

• Mark Zuckerberg – Through Meta, he’s shaping how billions of people access information, communicate, and even vote. His appearances before Congress are not PR stunts — they are global governance moments.

• Donald Trump – Once a real estate mogul and media personality, Trump became the ultimate symbol of the business-to-politics crossover. A two-time President of the USA. Whatever your politics, he changed the game.

• Peter Thiel – A venture capitalist and PayPal co-founder, Thiel is influencing conservative politics and national defense through deep involvement in AI, surveillance tech and political campaign funding.

• Vivek Ramaswamy – A biotech entrepreneur who entered the 2024 Republican presidential primaries with a mission to bring “outsider logic” and innovative thinking to government.

• Andrew Yang – The former CEO and founder of a test prep company became a progressive voice on automation, UBI and digital currency, and ran for President and Mayor of NYC.

• Jeff Bezos & Eric Schmidt – Not elected, but operating as major advisors to government on space, defense, AI and infrastructure. They represent a quiet but powerful form of private-public governance.

• Jared Kushner & Ivanka Trump – Blending real estate empires and political clout, they embody the next-gen business-government crossover — powerful, global, strategic.

These are not fringe cases — they are the new normal. And it’s not about desire. It’s about necessity.

Why entrepreneurs have to step in

We are living in a time of extraordinary uncertainty and systemic failure:

• Global economic instability
• Historic inflation and collapsing public trust in fiat currencies
• Social unrest and polarization amplified by digital media
• The explosion of AI, crypto and blockchain technology — largely misunderstood by legislators
• Talk of World War III, cyberwarfare and weaponized information
• Generational shifts in how power is built and exercised

Governments are often decades behind these trends. Traditional policymakers simply aren’t equipped to understand, let alone regulate or innovate within, these new paradigms.

So who is? — The people who built them.

That’s why the brightest minds — founders, builders and innovators — are now entering politics not to “join the club,” but because there is no other choice.

Entrepreneurs are designed to solve problems. They are trained to spot inefficiencies, scale quickly and outmaneuver outdated systems. And today, the world’s most urgent problems require that exact mindset, not in Silicon Valley, but in Senate chambers and cabinet offices.

The risk of staying out

We’ve reached a point where not getting involved is no longer an act of humility — it’s negligence.

If our brightest engineers don’t shape AI policy, who will?
If blockchain experts don’t guide digital currency frameworks, who will?
If innovators don’t protect civil liberties in the digital age, who will?

In a time of rapid technological revolution, the government can’t be run by people who don’t understand the machine.

As Winston Churchill so brilliantly put it:

“To each, there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are tapped on the shoulder and asked to do something special… What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified.”

That shoulder tap is happening now, and many entrepreneurs are answering the call.

Public service is the new unicorn

What used to be a radical career shift — leaving your company to enter public life — is now becoming a moral imperative for the most elite minds of our generation.

This is about more than legacy. It’s about responsibility.

Governments need startup logic.
Public policy needs product thinking.
Civilization itself needs builders who understand scale, speed and the stakes.

This isn’t the end of capitalism — it’s the evolution of leadership.

Once, the dream was to build a billion-dollar company and stay clear of politics. Now? The dream is impact. And the deepest, most meaningful impact today lies in reshaping how our societies govern, grow and survive.

Entrepreneurs aren’t replacing politicians, they’re becoming the next generation of them…and our future might just depend on it.