San Mateo CA— Silicon Valley Entrepreneur, Tim Draper today via YouTube issued a public engagement challenge to find innovative ideas to solve the governance challenges in California.
“California-based businesses are on the cutting edge of technology – constantly pushing the envelope,” Draper said. “Most good ideas come through Californians innovating and collaborating with each other. We should be able to do the same with government, but unfortunately, our government is still stuck in the 1980’s. They can’t complete a project, like building a bridge or updating a computer system, without it being late, over budget, or even obsolete by the time of completion. That’s why we are launching the ‘Fix California Challenge.’”
Last year Draper proposed the “Six Californias” plan as a solution to the problems the state faces with education, infrastructure and business climate. Six Californias failed to qualify for the 2016 ballot, but Draper said he has not given up on improving the state.

“I realize that not everyone was a fan of Six Californias, but most people agreed that something needs to be done to fix the state. That’s why I’m asking Californians if they think they have a better idea. If so, I want to hear it. If you have an idea that will transform government, bring it to me and maybe we can get it on the ballot,” Draper said.
The “Fix California Challenge,” is looking for ideas from Californians to fundamentally transform California and get it back on track. The ideas should result in:

• Transformation: Challenge the status quo by fundamentally transforming and modernizing California with a “fresh start” or an “entrepreneurial” mindset.
• Representation: Provide for better representation and engagement of citizens and accountability of leaders to the people they represent.
• Education: Improve incentives in education to achieve long-term economic prosperity and create a more educated workforce that is better prepared for the jobs of the future.
• Accountability: Incentivize governments to be accountable to their citizens – compete for customers.
• Opportunity: Create opportunities to improve the quality of life for hard working Californians across key sectors such as housing, infrastructure, social safety net programs and the environment.
• Renewal: Clean up the failures and update methods of the last several decades that are preventing further success and progress.

The “Fix California Challenge” is being run by Innovate Your State – a nonprofit organization founded by Draper that is dedicated to educating and encouraging public participation to fundamentally improve government.
Draper said, “As a venture capitalist I see innovation everywhere and invest in bold ideas everyday. We need to bridge the gap between innovation and government, and this requires a ‘Venture Governance’ approach where everyone’s ideas have a chance to be heard and backed if they’re good enough. Similar to a business plan competition, we’re going to run a ‘government plan competition’ to find the best ideas and implementation strategies out there.”
Tim Draper is a venture capitalist with a history of entrepreneurial innovation. Draper’s suggestion to use viral marketing in web-based email was instrumental to the successes of Hotmail, YahooMail, and Gmail. His entrepreneurial successes include investments in Skype, Overture, Baidu, and Tesla.
Innovate Your State, through “The Fix California Challenge,” will promote the ideas of everyday Californians as they pitch their ideas to fix California. To submit your idea, visit www.FixCal.org and for more information on the organization, visit www.InnovateYourState.org.