Background

  • Met Prof. Lessig because I sought his endorsement when I ran for state rep in Williamson County. 
  • I convinced WilCo Democrats to focus on campaign finance reform as "the first issue." 
  • My primary opponent, John Bucy, took up the Campaign Finance Reform flag and ran with it - so we decided he'd run for office and I'd focus on activism. 
  • Worked with Prof. Lessig as a consultant on the New Hampshire Rebellion.
    • Created Cartoon, did video, did website.

More Background

  • Geek for State Rep!
  • Campaigned almost
    solely on CFR

  • Frustration
  • New Zealand
  • My Issue Blocked By corruption. 

Lessig'S MayOne Plan:

Let's Kick-start (sort of) at least half of $12M that we would need to "flip" 5 competitive House races in 2014

This will prime the pump for 2016, and make Congress aware that people care very deeply about this issue.

Inception: A timeline of events

  • Last week of March: Prof. Lessig announces the MayOne.us kick-started SuperPAC, at TED Vancouver, setting the launch date to May 1, 2014.
  • First week of April: Lessig tries to use Kickstarter(TM) to raise the money, however, Kickstarter and Lessig are unable to do so.
  • Second week of April: Lessig's TED talk goes live on the Internet. 
  • Third week of April: Lessig emails me and asks me to build the site 14 days before the deadline. 
    • Quick caveat: I was not a web developer. 

My Initial Reaction:


Creation

  • Using the tools I was comfortable with (instead of what I really needed). 
  • Site ran on a single database which also hosted the application, FEC compliance information, targeting information, payment processing information, etc. 
  • No time to test. Was coding up to Midnight, April 30th. 


Launch

  • Site is live 12:01am May 1, 2016 EST.
  • Get a few pledges. 
  • Lessig tweets, Tumblrs, and e-mails all those who signed up after the TED talk at 8:00am EST. 
  • 8:30am EST, we're already at $10,000.  
    • Prof. Lessig messages me: "It would be cool to break $100k the first day."
  • 12:30pm EST: We break $100k. 
  • 11:59pm EST: We raise $250k.  

Day 2:

  • I wake up at 8:30 CST.
  • The site is -gone.- 
  • Somewhere around the $330k mark, the server literally could not handle the influx of traffic and quit. 
    • I did not have the technical skill to fix this problem.
    • Volunteers from the Internet came to our aid - the First Responders.  
      • Included software developers, the main developer for WordPress, Google Engineers, social media managers, volunteer wranglers... 

Day 2 part 2:

  • Around 3:30pm, I get dizzy/lightheaded. 
    • Blood pressure 174/128 (Hypertension Stage 2)
    • Prof. Lessig orders me to the emergency room, I ask Aaron Lifshin to take over the site, which (thank goodness!) he does, while I go to the hospital. 

The First Responders

  • While I recover in the hospital:
  • Separate the application for pledging from the database
  • Move to a cloud-based, rather than hosted, solution (Google App Engine)
  • Re-write the site using static web development tools (Jekyll) instead of WordPress (requires no database!) 
    • I get a crash course in web development. 

The First Million

We reached the first million on May 13, 2014

Here's what that tells us:

  • People CARE about Campaign Finance Reform.
  • The pundits are wrong when they say it's a "snooze" issue - and notice how it's only the "pundits" who say that campaign finance reform bores people. 

Stage 2:

  • Added Team Pledge Pages
  • Working with marketing (A/B testing, video sites)
  • Started actually buying ads, hiring consultants & press people.
  • Prof. Lessig is pressing the "Call Colbert" button as hard as he can.
  • Working on creating viral content.
  • Jason Alexander has already endorsed.
  • At least two other celebrity endorsements that I know about (that I'm sorry, I can't tell you.) 

Q & A & back to Q

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