About Us
A Brief History of OurGov
The idea for OurGov first began in 2013, when I (Taylor), was finishing my undergraduate degree. A friend working for a lobbying firm in Washington D.C. and asked me if I could build her a report showing how many bills relating to “calorie counts on restaurant menus” were being introduced, advanced, or had upcoming hearings in each of the 50 United States.
Her entire week consisted of navigating through each state legislature’s website in search of changes to the bills relevant to her firm’s clients, a laborious and time-consuming process. This could be automated, I thought.
I never ended up building that report, as the company decided to contract with a larger group, rather than a college student in the throes of finishing his C.S. degree (probably a smart move), but the idea stuck with me.
Over the next 6-7 years, I spent time working for a large software firm in Madison, WI, still thinking about this problem: tracking bills relating to a particular (and fairly specific) set of topics.
Eventually, the desire to have a bigger impact on society and strike out on my own overtook the rewarding career I was at the time pursuing, and I set out to start work on OurGov.
I reached out to a number of my closest or most trusted peers and to my surprise, two others, Luke and Jacob were willing to join me in drastically increasing the efficiency in which advocates can access and monitor legislative activity nationwide.
Our Mission
Our mission is to save time for anyone advocating for or otherwise monitoring legislative activity. This includes:
- legislators & their staffers
- trade associations
- for-hire lobbyists
- in-house government advocates
- news agencies
We consider ourselves a technology partner for our clients and prioritize building features that save the most folks the most time.
We do not currently or anytime in the near future intend to enter the following fields:
- journalism (or political commentary)
- polling
- campaign solutions
- constituency management for legislators
- regulatory compliance
Please reach out to us with questions (or to schedule a demo).
Our Promise
If you sign on with us here at OurGov, we will not just be a vendor, but we will be your partner. We’ll ensure you get trained on our software (if needed) and that you’ll always be able to get ahold of us.
If something is broken, we will fix it.
We will always have a relationship with you, and you’ll know us as “Taylor”, “Luke” or perhaps even “that OurGov guy”, but we fellow human beings will be there to make sure whatever software needs you have, are met.
