INNOVATE2016: A New Brigade Launches For Civic Engagement

Is the American political system broken?

Yes it is – at least according to Brigade CEO Matt Mahan who founded Brigade with his old friend Sean Parker.

Mahan, a Harvard graduate who began his activist career by leveraging Facebook data to be elected Student Body President, believes that the fundamental problem with American politics is the absence of digital platforms for civic engagement.

People care deeply about issues, Mahan says, but they haven’t had the networking tools to organize and promote their causes. And that, of course, is where Brigade, which is a platform for civic engagement, comes in.

Founded a year ago with seed money from Ron Conway, Marc Benioff and Sean Parker, Brigade has spent this summer in private beta. But now it’s ready for a public launch and Mahan expects it to have “millions” of users by November 2016.

Many thanks to the San Francisco iHangar for hosting this interview with Mahan. And thanks again to CALinnovates for its help with producing the show.