October 20, 2010

My Platform for CA Governor 2014

If I was running for governor of California, my platform would be pretty simple:

(1) Rip up the state constitution;

(2) scale back direct democracy & eliminate ballot initiatives;

(3) move the state capital to a point equidistant between LA & SF; and

(4) set a goal to re-write the constitution within the 1st year.

Then, after this was done, I would leave to spend more time with my family, and let the state refresh and renew, like so many of the great ideas that have been born here.

Semil Shah

Semil founded Haystack, an early-stage investment firm now investing out of its sixth institutional fund, Haystack Ventures VI, with his colleagues Aashay Sanghvi and Divya Dhulipala. He is also a Venture Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Prior to investing, Semil held various product and operational roles at earl-stage startups, the most recent one being acquired by Apple. In 2017, Semil was named to Midas Brink List by Forbes, and in 2022 and 2023, he was named to the Midas List for seed investors by Forbes. While working and investing, he has also been a long-time consistent writer about technology and investing at outlets such as Harvard Business Review, TechCrunch, and Quora.