James Wright: Is the Conservative Party Kodak, or can it be Apple?

James Wright is a farmer, agri-tech entrepreneur and policy director of the Conservative Rural Forum. He stood as the parliamentary candidate at the 2024 general election.

History is littered with businesses that believed they were too big to fail, until the world changed and they didn’t. Kodak, a pioneer of photography, invented the digital camera in 1975 but shelved the technology for fear it would cannibalise their film business. By the time they embraced digital, it was too late; their market share had vanished, overtaken by faster-moving competitors.

Blockbuster is another cautionary tale.

At its peak, it had over 9,000 stores and dismissed a $50 million offer to buy a small startup called Netflix. It failed to grasp the shift to streaming, and within a decade, it was bankrupt while Netflix became a entertainment unicorn (a business with over a billion in valuation).

Tesla and Nvidia are two companies that barely registered on the radar 20 years ago, now they sit among the most valuable businesses on the planet. But not every startup makes it. WeWork, once valued at $47 billion, collapsed under the weight of hype and poor leadership. For every Tesla, there are hundreds of cautionary tales, reminders that while innovation can create giants, it’s execution that keeps them there.

Apple is now old enough that you can say it’s an example of a company that has moved with the times, relentlessly pursuing ‘what’s next’. Its journey from high-end business computers to personal consumer tech is its greatest success. The iPhone was ahead of its time.

I’ve been lucky enough to have been directly involved in two startups and advised several more. There is a formula to maximise startup success. For those interested, Peter Thiel’s book Zero to One is a great starting point. And whilst a political party is not a company, we should look at what we can learn from startups.

Having a Defined Purpose, the strongest companies know exactly what they stand for, and everything else flows from that. Without a strategy, your tactical decisions and marketing will fall flat. Tesla was built to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

That single idea has guided product decisions and investment priorities, like investing in gigafactories rather than buying battery technology. They aren’t just a car company but now a solar roof and battery storage giant. Without purpose, companies chase trends, dilute their talent and brand, and ultimately erode trust with their customers. With clearly communicated values, they move faster and hire better.

Clock Speed, one of the clearest lessons from startups is clock speed, the rate at which a company can make decisions. In fast-moving markets, it’s not the biggest or even the most funded companies that win, but the fastest learners.

In a changing market, the company that can move from prototype to production, wins. The ability to try lots of things, identify what works, and then put more resource behind it is what separates incumbents, stuck in committees and quarterly cycles, from startups where small teams have high levels of autonomy. The recent spate of MPs walking, talking and just trying things are an example of this.

Hiring and Culture, the best lesson I learned is, hire slowly, fire faster. In a startup, who you hire, how decisions are made, and what behaviour is rewarded is even more important in small teams.

Tesla’s “first principles” culture isn’t accidental, it was built deliberately. Contrast that with the party chaos at WeWork, and the difference is obvious. Hire great people, hold them to high standards and reward them when things go well. In the long run, the companies that win are the ones where talent thrives.

Mastering the Pivot, even the best companies rarely win with their first plan. Finding product–market fit comes from trying, failing, and learning. Quickly and within the bounds of your values.

Nvidia started in gaming graphics. Today, it’s the company powering the AI revolution. Amazon went from books to cloud computing. The key is to stay within your values and direction but keep experimenting. This isn’t a lesson about flexibility, its having the judgement and flexibility to know when to double down and when to change.

Deliver Relentlessly, slowness kills startups, as does the inability to change, but equally, nothing replaces consistent execution. We must deliver on our campaigns, social posts, policy ideas, door knocking, candidate recruitment, every single day, and do it better than anyone else.

I have every faith in CCHQ’s new CEO, Mark McInnes, who over a number of years helped build Ruth Davidson’s successful leadership of the Scottish Conservatives. The Party has consistently outraised other parties so far this year, and there are signs of renewal in important functions of the party after a difficult restructuring.

But we need to communicate our strategy better. We need to move faster, try more things, pivot when things are not working, recruit great staff and candidates, fund them to hire talented campaigners and adapt to the digital age. We must deliver at pace; there is a long way to go to the next election.

Let’s make sure we’re the unstoppable and adaptable Apple, not Kodak.

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