The Great Battlefield Entrepreneurship in Democratic Political Tech with Danny Hogenkamp
Jan 30, 2026
Danny Hogenkamp, entrepreneur who led Grassroots Analytics and now runs dumb.co, explains why he left to build a movement for dumb phones. He discusses product lessons from scaling a political tech company. He describes device-less meetings, experiential marketing like phone-free bars, surprising Gen Z uptake, and how a synced secondary dumb phone can free attention and time.
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Iterate Fast, Accept Product Failures
- Grassroots Analytics succeeded by launching new products regularly while accepting many failures.
- The firm scaled from ~6 to ~100 people through iterative product launches and focus on fundraising tools.
In-Person Work Strengthened Culture
- Danny credits in-person work for stronger culture and mutual support among staff.
- He believes close relationships enable people to take big swings and help each other succeed.
Promote Internal Leaders Fast
- Let strong leaders take the wheel and promote from within to unlock growth.
- Rotate leadership every decade to avoid stale messaging and create promotion opportunities.
