Higher Ground Labs recently convened our portfolio companies for our second “intensive” designed to accelerate their pace to political market in order to help progressives win campaigns.  We ran hard and wanted to take a minute to share our progress and celebrate some achievements with you.

Last week, our companies came to Chicago to work on pitching, product-market-fit, sales strategies, and pricing strategies in advance of a series of “Demo Days” scheduled in DC next month. Our entrepreneurs were greeted with an intense schedule that included:

• A session with President Obama’s chief strategist David Axelrod around narrative and storytelling
• Training from US Ambassador to Canada and former Goldman Sachs partner Bruce Heyman on sales strategies.
• Best practices on SaaS sales from serial tech entrepreneur Roselyn Lemieux.
• Coaching on press and digital branding from 270 Partner Lynda Tran and Lindsay Holst, former White House Director of Online Content.
• Free legal office hours from four high-powered attorneys with expertise ranging from IP & Patent Law to Federal Election Law to start-up work.
• SaaS pricing strategy session with our partner Andrew McLaughlin, a founding partner at betaworks and longtime tech leader.
• Round-robin rapid-fire pitch coaching from experienced political consultants and strategists.
• A public demo day before the progressive political tech community in Chicago.

Fear not, we celebrated our guests with our signature appreciation touch: lining up for a wall of high-fives with Chicago Bulls pre-game warm-up music blasting.  The energy was electric throughout and our entrepreneurs all emerged with sharper pitches and more coherent go-to-market strategies and narratives on price.

Next month, we convene in DC for a public-facing week where our companies will present to major Democratic campaign committees, labor organizations, and political consultants.  We will then test actively in the upcoming Virginia elections and continue to sharpen our tools for the 2018 midterms. Higher Ground Labs is focused like a laser-beam on helping progressives win campaigns. Please email us to get involved at info@highergroundlabs.com. Thanks!