While Jake Sandler worked in political data analysis with a lobbyist, then on the Hill for U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, he couldn’t help but ignore the “myth alignment” between politicians and their voters, a system he said was misaligned by money coming into elections.
He spent two years making software for a financial consulting firm, but took a trip to Los Angeles that would eventually throw him back into the political sphere. His friend said he wished that when he read something that pissed him off, he could push a button on his phone and send money toward that issue.
“While it’s a simple concept, it has profound ramifications,” Sandler said. “To give this power back to the people, to let politicians know what they care about and foster some change.”
He brought on user experience expert Christian Cobb, and in January they went full-time into building ChangeRoots, an app that lets users send micro-contributions toward individual political campaigns.
On the app, users scroll down a feed of position statements by elected officials that for now include federal congressional representatives and the president. Each statement is flanked by two buttons. Click one side, you’ll contribute 25 cents to that politician’s next election campaign. Click the other side, you’ll contribute to the opposing campaign for that election.
“We’re trying to find instances of people crossing the aisle, things that are more accessible – headline news as well as appealing to a broad range politically and guiding political newbies into the more dense political world,” Cobb said of the pair’s content selection process.
“We try to see how each side thinks about issue, then give users options on how they feel about it,” Sandler added.
If the listed politician does not yet have an opponent, the money is put into a “nominee fund” for that specific race.
Users aren't charged until their 25-cent contributions on the platform add up to $10, when they pay that amount and a small transaction fee.
The startup launched a private beta version to 75 users for three weeks to refine the app earlier this year. It launched publicly about a month ago and has grown to 450 users.
The company, which has three full-time employees, raised an angel round primarily from Temerity Capital Partners, which gave it runway through the first quarter of 2019. It’s currently raising a seed round from investors.
The ChangeRoots team plans to add state and local politicians to the app once they navigate the trickier state-level campaign finance regulations. For now, Sandler said, it’s time to “learn and listen” as they fine-tune ChangeRoots and find term sheets to sign.
