Together We Go Far: Mergers & Acquisitions in Political Tech
Over the past 6 months, there have been a number of acquisitions in the political tech space including several in our portfolio. Mobilize, CallTimeAI, Outreach Circle, The Tuesday Company, and FactBase have all found a home at larger companies and have continued to do their work from a new perch. We see these transactions as […]
Pitfalls of Political Tech
There has been an explosion of new ideas, startups, and outside groups in-and-around the Democratic Party over the past two years. Higher Ground Labs has helped focused, disciplined founders begin to build profitable, high-impact companies that are now saving thousands of campaigns time and money. I’m as ecstatic about the surge of innovation and entrepreneurship […]
Investing in Innovation in Relational Organizing
In 2018, Democratic campaign committees, local campaigns, and outside groups invested in new relational tools to impact midterm election outcomes in some of the tightest races across the country. The theory behind these tools and programs is a timeless organizing principle: a person is most likely to change behavior if asked by someone they already […]
The role of presidential campaign technology in 2020: Part Two
We’re less than a year away from the Iowa primary. In order to win, campaigns will have to be smart about their hiring, messaging analytics, polling, targeting, and all the technologies that help them meet those objectives. In part one of this series, we shared general best practices in building out a campaign’s early tech […]
The role of presidential campaign technology in 2020: Part One
The 2020 Presidential Primaries will be a competition bounded by scarcity. More campaigns mean fewer available staff, fewer dollars, fewer volunteers, and fewer voters. A winning campaign will just have to do more with less. Smart technology decisions can empower under-resourced campaigns. Higher Ground Labs has put careful thought into how early Presidential campaign organizations […]
Innovation is a Process, Not a Destination
Whether we like it or not, the 2020 campaign is underway. Every four years, large presidential campaigns attract a lot of money and talent. But after the campaign is over, the people brought in to create innovative and cutting-edge technology usually disappear, and with them, the continued evolution of those tools. Instead of building on […]
How to Get Involved in the Midterms
We’re two weeks away from the midterm elections and races across the country are heating up. If you’re looking to get off the sidelines during this home stretch, here are six ways you can help progressive candidates and take immediate action today. Be an informed voter. The most important thing you can do before election […]
HGL start-ups arming Dems with tools for the midterms
The midterms are quickly approaching and political action has never felt more urgent. The events of this past week underscore the importance of this upcoming election and why every vote matters. Across the country, we’re seeing Americans rising to challenge in record numbers. In this cycle so far, there are record voter registration numbers, 20 […]
Investing in Political Tech Matters. Here’s Why.
Last Tuesday, voters in Florida took to the polls in one of the last primary elections before the November midterms. In a surprising upset, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum inched past North Florida Congresswoman Gwen Graham to clinch the Democratic nomination for governor. Except Change Research, an HGL-backed polling firm, wasn’t surprised at all – they […]
What we’re seeing in 2018
Higher Ground Labs launched our second open call for applications in December of 2017. The sustained surge of interest and applications exceeded our expectations: we were pleased to read through over 90 applications, more than we had received for our inaugural accelerator class last year. This was a strong pool of applicants! We moved almost […]
Running Harder and Faster
Last month, we launched Higher Ground Labs and opened applications for our first accelerator cohort and fellowship program. The response has been unbelievable. We have received 74 applications for our first accelerator cohort and 49 applicants for our fellows program. Our applicants range from field organizers to voter protection lawyers, from product managers to senior […]