When I read Twitter on my way into work every morning, the pit in my stomach tightens. The action or lack thereof coming from our elected officials right now makes me mad and sad. Like many of us, I am completely unwilling and unable to get used to the current state of our country as politics as usual.
The need for Democrats to run the best campaigns we can possibly run is greater now than ever. For our values to drive our politics, we need to win big…now. So what is getting in the way of us running the campaigns that we need to run?
Political technology is one broken part of the campaign ecosystem. We have failed to invest in this space for cycles and as a result, are falling behind our Republican counterparts. Today, political tech founders lack the support and capital they need to build smart businesses. Higher Ground Labs is actively changing that.
In our first year, we have already seen progress. Companies that were part of our 2017 Cohort saw rapid growth over the course of our program. In aggregate, companies increased their average monthly revenues 2.6x over the course of the accelerator program and had conversations with over 300 potential clients. The founders repeatedly talked about the value of the community we are building that they are a core part of. ‘
“Going through the Higher Ground Labs accelerator has been pivotal to our growth: from great advisors (including Ron Klain, Jill Huchital, Arun Chaudhary), to connections to campaigns, committees and partners, to constant support on getting our model right.” – MobilizeAmerica
“HGL has accelerated our progress tremendously. As a result of HGL we have met potential partners, customers, supporters, and advisors. We’ve learned how to better tell our story and we have set a vision for where we want to be – in 2018 and beyond. We would not be where we are, heading into next year’s midterms, without their support.” – Ballot Ready
The thing the unties the knot in my stomach throughout the day each day is seeing the amazing work our companies are doing and the impact that their products are having – in Virginia, with national organizations, and with local candidates across the country.
Will you join us next year?
If we want our politics to change, we need to elect more Democrats. If we want to win those seats, we have to run better campaigns. And to do that, we need to meet our voters where they are and have the technology to support that. Higher Ground Labs is focused on making that possible.
