Growing Up and Handing Over

Abstract

Think big. Start small. Scale fast. That is way of the political enterprise. Once the political start-up has successfully entered Parliament on the regional or the federal level, the question is how can it grow further. This chapter presents how the portrayed political start-ups scale over time, what advice experienced political entrepreneurs have for the ones who are just getting started, and what challenges they currently face either in opposition or in Government. In the second part, the chapter presents two examples of how political entrepreneurs dealt with handing over the leadership of their political start-up. As this is a highly critical period, if the handover goes badly, it can threaten the very existence of the organisation. Many organisations fall into the “Founder’s Trap”, when it becomes over-dependent on the father or mother figure of the founder. If the handover goes well, however, it can spur growth, and form the foundation for its next stage.

In 2014, when the party really started at a Spanish level, it was me and an intern. That was it. And that was the reason I had to drive everywhere myself.

Fran Hervías