All startups struggle, but some struggle more than others. Especially the bootstrapped ones.
Organize Together, a civic tech startup that builds engagement tools for activists and volunteers working on progressive campaigns, is scaling back operations. Founders Tony Arias and Annie Carlson plan to transition the entity “to a mostly self-sustaining side project,” according to an email campaign.
Organize Together was founded by Arias and Carlson in March 2018 as a result of the pair's longtime interest in volunteering – in education for Arias, and justice for Carlson. Their activism streak turned political after the 2016 general election. When their search for local activist groups in the new neighborhood didn’t get off to a good start, the pair decided to rely on their tech savviness to mobilize tools for activists. At last count, the startup had between 60-70 organizations and over 10,000 volunteers managed.
The software - which lets volunteers and organizers schedule events, invite members and keep track of attendance - was built by four techies out of an Allston apartment with bootstrapped capital of $45,000.
When asked why the team didn't pursue investor money, Arias cited ethical concerns of those they intended to serve.
"We were in a position where the majority of the groups we were working with didn't trust investor money," Arias said. "A lot of organizations had data privacy concerns. And when we were talking to funders, we ran into some that wanted us to be open to selling data in the future and working with political campaigns across the spectrum, which we weren't comfortable with."
According to the email blast sent to its supporters, the Organize Together team noted it will keep the servers running as long as people continue to use the tools. The team will also fix bugs and make occasional content pushes, all while continuing to recruit new users.
But what will change?
"We'll be slower to push out updates, we won't have the same gusto," Arias noted. "It's frustrating that we reached this point but I don't want to understate how proud we are what we have built. We felt that this was very badly needed and we are very happy to have made it far enough."
Currently, the team is looking for new career opportunities, seeking to work at smaller mission-driven companies.
