Let me be honest with you: In many ways, I’m not cut out for transforming politics and democracy.

I’m a thinker, operating far outside my comfort zone.

I’m a thinker and a problem solver. The best way for me to transform democracy would be to guide a team of able and well-funded people.

I’ve been operating far outside my comfort zone and skill set for over four years. Over four years of mostly failure.

Luckily, I’m a thinker, so I figured out that it wasn’t working and tried new things at various points.

Transforming Democracy Part-Time wasn’t Working

I realized it wasn’t working last May (2015) and committed to paying a ghostwriter to write two books. If I die, the idea shouldn’t die with me. Plus, publishing them should get us a little press. If nothing else, I would hope it would convince a few people to help. With the ghostwriter doing most of the work, I went back to looking for cofounders.

In September I realized that looking for partners wasn’t working, and I hired a coach, an expert in marketing. He helped me focus and prioritize and blog more. Now, more people are visiting the web page and if you search for “people count”, you find our site! That will be valuable when we launch. And we put together a marketing plan.

In December, someone approached me to build the site. I thought I didn’t have money for it. But the price was reasonable and I faced the truth that it was more expensive to not have a job and not make progress. It would take a second mortgage, and I had internalized a cultural “truth” that, not having an income, I shouldn’t be paying people. I gave that up and hired his team. That was a great decision.

Climbing to the Apex of Commitment to Transform American Politics

It forced me to make a schedule. A schedule! To me, a schedule is the essence of a real project. Stumbling into the future almost never results in significant success. The schedule drives everything. Before I was driven to search for the next hand-hold, the next step. Now I’m heading to the mountain top.

I had been looking for partners mainly on FounderDating.com and CoFoundersLab.com. It wasn’t working. Those people are mainly committed already, and are looking for traditional businesses. Most think “risk” means taking the calculated risks they know about.

Doing what Needs to be Done, not what the Culture Knows to Do

There’s an entrepreneurial “culture” with bodies of knowledge, like “lean startup” and “crossing the chasm” and “agile methodologies”. They have truisms like “no one starts a business alone” and “ideas are worthless” and “if there’s not a 30-second crystal clear pitch, it won’t work”. They know that “you should prove it in a small market.” They look at a business plan from this set point of view and think they can judge it in a few minutes.

It’s not wrong, it’s just business-as-usual. That doesn’t fit PeopleCount.

I need a partner. Or two. In January I told my coach it was a priority.  He suggested I put a regular job ad up on Monster or GlassDoor. “But those are for people looking for salaries! And those cost $300.” But after saying that aloud, I realized it was just more cultural bulls**t. In a half hour of searching, I found Indeed.com, which says their ads tend to be less expensive. So I tried it, putting “equity only” in the title. I got a dozen resumes in a week, and by the third week in January, I had a wonderful, experienced co-founder- and he lives close by!

There’s more to do. But I’ll do it. It’s just far outside my comfort zone. I’m devoting my savings to this venture, to creating the possibility for a better future for all of us. Please, help out. Send me a few dollars. And whether you donate or not, please add your email address to our announcement list. Be part of the revolution when it starts, this Spring, 2016.