Inspired by the Occupy movement and Arab Spring, a Brown student and an alum launched the Providence-based startup LoveGov this spring with the goal of revolutionizing the political world.
LoveGov CEO Joschka Tryba '12 said he devised a plan for an online network to promote meaningful discussion about politics and unite people with similar political opinions. When Tryba first started work on the business plan while still at the University, the idea of implementing it in real life seemed out of reach, he said.
But after Tryba entered LoveGov in the University's Annual Startup Competition, it attracted considerable attention, including that of Tom Pincince '86, who became the organization's first investor. Assisted by Pincince, Tryba began to raise money and recruit a team for the startup, including Max Fowler '15, co-founder and lead developer of the organization, who is currently on leave from the University to work on the business.
LoveGov takes a bottom-up approach, matching users based not only on political ideologies, but also on geographical location, Tryba said, adding that the website aims to promote involvement in local politics.
The website is user-friendly, with clean graphics and a tutorial for new users. Users are presented with a series of questions on topics ranging from health care to environmental issues to sex education. After answering the questions, the user is directed to a page listing presidential and vice presidential candidates that shows how their opinions match up to the user's. The website prompts the user for his or her address, and then shows local politicians with similar political viewpoints. The site also displays online communities of like-minded individuals that the user can join.
"It's like the closer to home you get, the further away from you (the political world) feels," Tryba said. But the basic premise of LoveGov is that through local politics, people can get involved in the legislative process more easily and more directly see their effect on their immediate political spheres, he said.
LoveGov, which launched its beta version over the summer and is coming out of testing this month, already has around 800 users and is still expanding.
"When you begin to construct a profile on LoveGov, you also learn quite a bit more about yourself," said Pincince, who is also an active user on the website. "When you begin to answer more and more questions about your political beliefs, you also begin to have an understanding about who you are as an active citizen."
"We have plans for new features we want to build - lists on lists of things we want to add to the website," Fowler said.
LoveGov is now focusing on attracting more users, adding tools to track campaign finance and research legislative data and continuing to expand its information database.
Barrett Hazeltine, professor emeritus and adjunct professor of engineering and entrepreneurship, said he is optimistic about the startup's future.
"There are a lot of people who really would like to be involved in government, to know how the government works, to be better voters, but really don't know how to get into the business," he said. "What I hope (LoveGov) is going to end up doing is helping people be involved in civic decisions all the time."
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