Knowing how to build a sucessful tech start-up and how to be a good president are two incredibly different skill sets. All of them are smart people so will have some much more interesting and thoughtful comments than the average bear but more interesting and thoughtful is a long ways off from saying most interesting and thoughtful. I also find it surprising that you left Bill Gates off because he seems to have the most relevant knowledge. Candidates have to slowly build respect and support within a major party over several years before they can have a shot at president. Politicians are by their nature safe and careful individuals when it comes to campaigns. There are a lot of ways to lose and only a few to win.
Knowing how to build a sucessful tech start-up and how to be a good president are two incredibly different skill sets.
In both cases one of the most important skill is hiring the right people and delegating responsibility to them. A person who grew a startup to a massive company is likely better at that skill then the average senator.
I just saw that Donald Trump is running for president. Which led me to the following thought: would any of the big names in tech have a chance at being elected president of the US? Elon Musk? Sergey Brin? Jeff Bezos? Reid Hoffman? Peter Thiel? Edit: Bill Gates?
Some follow up questions/thoughts:
Edit: hypothetically, if one of these big-name tech people were to try to gain political power, how should they go about doing so?