Working with family seems like a feat most wouldn't dare try in the tech world, but for the four Porter brothers, it's life as usual.
Inman, Stephen, Asa and Guyton Porter recently launched the "Kickstarter for political campaigns and nonprofits," SupPorter, in the Atlanta Tech Village and plan to raise $1 million in an ICO.
Misuse of funds and fraud are an all-too common story in the political and nonprofit world, the Porters say. In 2015, the American Red Cross collected half a billion dollars for relief in Haiti following the 2011 earthquake in the country, but had little to show for the donations other than six homes built with the funding, Inman said.
"The Cancer Fund of America in 2011, they raised $187 million, and of that, only 3 percent went to fighting cancer," he said. "The other 97 percent went toward cars, vacations, cruise lines, dating site dues, college tuition for a lot of the employees and their children...Something like that would never happen on our platform."
By using blockchain technology, Inman said SupPorter will fill the gap in campaign and nonprofit donation campaigns that allow money to slip through the cracks and go unaccounted for. The brothers hope to reduce bank processing fees normally associated with donations, increase transparency, better financial reporting and open the door for digital currencies to operate in political funding.
"The transparency element is mainly due to the distributed ledger," he said. "The distributed ledger is simply just an immutable tracking system for money. It’s what Bitcoin uses. Every single Bitcoin transaction of all time is recorded on the distributed ledger. So what the technology allows for is donors can actually donate to an organization and see exactly how that money is being used. It provides complete, clear, see-through transparency for use of funds."
SupPorter is on its way to completing an ICO in compliance with the SEC, after raising $20,000 in a presale with StartEngine, a regulated crowdfunding company, a few weeks ago. The goal is to raise $1 million from accredited and nonaccredited investors, Inman said. The brothers chose an ICO to allow the average person to participate in investing, he said.
"We're very confident we'll meet our fundraising goal," he said.
It's not just all work and no play for the Porter boys; fraternal twins Inman and Asa also live with their brother, Stephen, just as they did in childhood and college (Guyton is still located in New York, but hopes to move home soon). Fights and familial disagreements aren't part of their life, Inman said.
"I’ve lived with my twin brother my entire life," he said. "We were roommates growing up. We actually both went to the University of Georgia, all four of us pledged the same fraternity and me and my twin brother lived together all four years…So we’ve always been best friends. Having twins and close brothers was like having built-in best friends."
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Politics have been the Porter family business for generations. Their mother, Carol Porter, was the democratic nominee in the state election for Lieutenant Governor in 2010; Their father, DuBose Porter, is a former state representative, chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia and former gubernatorial candidate; and their grandfather, Lester Porter, was the long-time mayor of Dublin, Georgia.
"We dealt with fundraising a lot, and fundraising is absolutely the worst part of political campaigns," Inman said. "It's archaic, it is a nightmare. So we actually had an idea during our parents' campaign---why is there not a Kickstarter for political campaigns?"
The brothers have different skill sets that work naturally for the startup, Asa said. Inman, whose background includes five years on Wall Street, has a financial and leadership focus as CEO, while Asa, who worked on Capital Hill for a number of years, handles the government side of business as the director of government relations. Stephen, an accountant, serves as SupPorter's CFO, and Guyton, who works in talent management in New York, has helped market the business and support client outreach.
"I think we each bring different strengths, and not necessarily weaknesses, but things that I don’t know much about, but Inman does," Asa said.
The brothers each have their own hobbies to have their time away from family, but they typically never argue, Asa said. Having similar interests is also helpful when working together, he said. When there's a concert or event in town they might be interested in, they call each other first before any other friends.
"I can always ask things of my brother that I normally wouldn’t feel comfortable asking another employee," Inman said. "So there are a lot of benefits working with family. I wouldn't have it any other way."
