Tag Archives: Nathan Boublil

Policy visualization tool

Thanks to David Bruggeman and his Dec. 2, 2012 posting on the Pasco Phronesis blog for this information about a very intriguing project, a policy visualization tool,  (Note: I have removed links),

ProjectPolicy.org is a startup effort established by a team of Cambridge researchers working to make it easier to access policy-relevant data.  …

They are looking for help, and are advertising for Policy Fellows and a Technology Associate. The Policy Fellows would work remotely, gathering and curating data for a particular geographic region.

I found more information about ProjectPolicy in a Nov. 23, 2012 University of Cambridge news release,

The winning project of the SVC2UK Cambridge Startup weekend, which took place at Cambridge Judge Business School between 9 and 11 November 2012, has gone on to win the Grand Finale in London.

ProjectPolicy.org is an online, intuitive tool to help make sense of policy information by aggregating data from different sources. Following a pitch by Nathan Boublil and Agastya Muthanna, the team behind ProjectPolicy was formed during the SVC2UK Cambridge Startup Weekend and together the five team members developed and presented the initiative as a viable business opportunity to a panel of judges.

This project is currently one of 15 semi-finalists in the Global Startup Battle which hosted 138 teams battling for a spot in the semi-finals. The online battle was waged from Nov. 9 – 19, 2012 (over two weekends) with 10,000+ participants in 100+ cities around the world. Here’s some information about the panelists currently judging the semi-finalists’ project in a Nov. (?), 2012 posting on the SW blog (Note: I have removed links),

TONY HSIEH 

In 1999, at the age of 24, Tony Hsieh sold LinkExchange, the company he co-founded, to Microsoft for   $265 million.

He then joined Zappos as an advisor and investor, and eventually became CEO, where he helped the company grow from almost no sales to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales annually, while simultaneously making Fortune magazines annual Best Companies to Work For list. In November 2009, Zappos.com, Inc. was acquired by Amazon.com in a deal valued at $1.2 billion on the day of closing.

BRAD FELD

Brad is one of the managing directors at Foundry Group, a venture capital firm that invests in early stage software / Internet companies throughout the United States. He is also the co-founder of TechStars, a mentor-driven accelerator, author of several books and blogs, and a marathon runner.

Brad has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures, a company that helped launch and operate software companies. Brad is also a co-founder of TechStarts.

LEAH BUSQUE

A true visionary, Leah Busque (@labusque) is the founder and chief executive officer of TaskRabbit.com, an online marketplace where you can outsource small jobs and Tasks to others in your own community. TaskRabbit is the pioneer in “service networking” – a concept Leah conceived and has since evangelized. Now an industry-wide concept, service networking describes the productive power of a web-based, social-networked community.

Since its founding in 2008, Leah has grown TaskRabbit to more than 40 employees and has expanded the service to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle with several more markets to come in 2012. Under her leadership, TaskRabbit was named one of the “Next Big Things in Tech” by WSJ Digits, Start up to Watch in 2012” by Inc. Magazine, and a finalist for “Mobile app of the year” in 2011 by both the Crunchies and Mashable Awards.

CHRIS HOLLOD

Chris Hollod lives in LA and works directly with Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, and Ron Burkle to help manage their venture capital fund, A-Grade Investments.

Chris’s responsibilities include evaluating new opportunities, managing deal flow, spearheading the investment process, executing deals, and coordinating with portfolio companies.

Chris also works as an Associate for The Yucaipa Companies, a private equity firm founded by Ron Burkle.  Prior to joining A-Grade Investments and The Yucaipa Companies, Chris worked in Investment Banking.  Chris graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Vanderbilt University with a degree in Economics and minors in Finance and Philosophy.

JESSE DRAPER

Jesse Draper is creator and host of “The Valley Girl Show” through which she’s become a spokesperson for startups and helped pioneer the way of new media content distribution.

Formerly a Nickelodeon star, Draper is now CEO of Valley Girl™ where she runs pre-production through post-production and distribution for the show, runs technology blog Lalawag.com and is a regular featured writer for Mashable, San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post and Glam. Draper is also a speaker at business conferences around the world including DLD, SXSW and universities such as Stanford.

Getting back to ProjectPolicy.org, there’s more information in a brief video they’ve produced,

If you are interested in helping this team make its policy visualization tool useful and accessible, here’s more about the positions they are advertising,

As a Technology Associate, you will help the technology team develop the platform.

You will be responsible for helping to develop crucial modules of the product. This

will be a valuable learning opportunity for you to work in product development at a

fast-growing startup. The fellowship can be part-time or full-time, carried out

virtually and alongside studies (Compsci/Engineering undergrad/postgrad or

other activities).

Duration: 3 to 6 months, depending on preference. Expenses reimbursed.

Joining date: ASAP

Requirements:

– Excellent Programming skills

– Knowledge of Web based Software development methodologies

– PHP

– MySQL

– Server side Java including Web Service development

– JavaScript

– Google Maps API

– Google Fusion Tables

– Software Testing

– Ability to learn new technologies

– Willingness to work independently

– Organised.

To apply, please email your CV and a short paragraph explaining your motivations

and why you want to join us to: contact@projectpolicy.org

As a Policy Fellow, you will work remotely to assist the team in developing the first
online platform focused on public policy. Responsible for a geographic area you
will assist in data selection and curation at the local level.
As an Economics/Politics/Public Policy/International relations student or recent
graduate, you must be familiar with researching quantitative and qualitative
information quickly and accurately.
We are currently looking for Policy Fellows to cover the following territories:
– North America;
– Asia (with fluency in relevant languages);
– Continental Europe (with fluency in relevant languages);
– Spain and South America ex Brazil (fluency in Spanish required);
– Portugal and Brazil (Fluency in Portuguese required);
– Sub-saharan Africa (with fluency in relevant languages).
Policy Fellows are expected to work independently and virtually.
Duration: 6 months min.
Joining date: ASAP.
Time commitment: 4-6 hours per week.
To apply, please email your CV and a short paragraph explaining your motivations,
area of interest and why you want to join us to: contact@projectpolicy.org

I wish ProjectPolicy.org good luck in the competition and I hope to be seeing their tools online in the near future.