Quorum

Type| Private
Industry| Public Affairs
Founded| 2014; 9 years ago (2014) in Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Founders| Alex Wirth and Jonathan Marks
Headquarters|

Washington, DC

USA

Area served

| Worldwide
Services|

* Quorum EU
* Quorum Federal
* Quorum Grassroots
* Quorum States
* Quorum Local
* Quorum Stakeholder Engagement

Website| quorum.us

Quorum (also known as Quorum Analytics) is an American multinational software technology company headquartered in Washington DC. Quorum produces an online legislative data analysis and aggregation platform. Quorum was developed for stakeholder engagement, legislative tracking, and grassroots advocacy.[1] The company operates internationally with an office in Brussels, Belgium, and serves cities, counties, and capitols across all United States .

Quorum compiles and aggregates publicly available big data—in the form of bills, amendments, committee documents, floor statements, voting records, social media posts, press releases, email newsletters, and census data—into a single, comprehensive database. The platform then uses quantitative analytics to identify key players in specified legislation.

Quorum has been used to identify who is speaking on a specific issue,[2][3] measure the effectiveness of lawmakers,[4][5] identify connection between representatives,[6][7] identify champions of specific legislation,[8] review congressional records,[9][10] and gauge congressional response to specific issues.[11]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Further reading
* 3 Quorum data cited by the media
* 4 See also
* 5 References

## History

Quorum was founded by Alex Wirth and Jonathan Marks in 2014 while they were undergraduates at Harvard University.[12] The idea for Quorum was born from a frustrating summer Alex Wirth spent on Capitol Hill attempting to build bipartisan support for a Presidential Youth Council. Wirth worked with his college roommate Jonathan Marks to discover how they could use computer science to make the process of influencing legislation easier and more effective. Their initial goal was to see if they could “use computers to figure out which members of Congress know each other and work together based on previous patterns.”[13]

The beta version of the Quorum platform was built in the Summer of 2014[14] in association with Harvard innovation lab[15] and was financed by a grant from the Harvard Institute of Politics.[16] Quorum earned further funding through the 2014 I3 Harvard College Innovation Challenge McKinley Family Grant for Social Enterprise,[17] the 2014 Harvard Ventures Pitch Competition,[18] the 2015 George Washington University Business Plan Competition,[19] and the 2015 The Queen's Entrepreneurs Competition.[20]

Quorum was publicly launched on January 26, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts.[21] In May 2015, the company moved its headquarters to Washington, DC to be closer to its client base.[21] In May 2017, Quorum opened an office in Brussels, Belgium, to serve the consultancy market of Europe's regulatory capital.[22]

## Further reading

* IOP Now “Millennial Must-Read: The Future Of Politics: One Line of Code At A Time” by Alex Wirth and Jonathan Marks[14]
* The Washington Post “Who will decide which party controls the House? Whiter, wealthier Americans.” by Amber Phillips[23]
* DC Inno “Office Envy: Quorum’s Journey from a Harvard Dorm Room to the Nation’s Capital” by Kieran McQuilkin[24]
* WhereNext Magazine “How Big Data Is Changing Corporate Lobbying” by Jeffrey Peters[12]
* Bloomberg Businessweek “Lobbyists Have a New Secret Weapon” by Alexandra Stratton[25]
* Axios “Congress' favorite hashtag in 2017: #trumpcare” by Axios Staff[26]
* The Queen's Entrepreneurs Competition “Quorum: On wading through U.S. politics and winning the QEC 2015” by QEC Staff[20]
* Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences “The Un-dropouts” by Adam Zewe[27]
* Technical.ly “Quorum has a new tool to track how much Congress gets done in a week” by Nia Dickens[28]
* Technical.ly “Quorum releases new CRM for public affairs teams” by Tajha Chappellet-Lanier[29]
* Technical.ly “These are the 20 #dctech startups worth watching this year: realLIST 2017” by Tajha Chappellet-Lanier[30]
* Washingtonian “The Residents in DC’s Nerdiest Group House Want to Shake Up Washington’s Oldest Trade” by Michael J. Gaynor[31]
* Consumer Technology Association “This Startup Helps Track Everything Happening on Capitol Hill” by Kelsey Pommer[32]
* DC Inno “Bernie, Cruz Supporters Should Love Quorum Analytics’ New Grassroots Software” by Chris Bing[33]
* The Huffington Post “This Startup Is Like Google For Congress, And Legislators Love It” by Alexander Howard[34]
* FedScoop “Upstart big data firm hacking policy and the law” by Greg Otto[13]
* Technical.ly “Quorum rolls out political analytics system to US statehouses” by Lalita Clozel[35]
* National Journal “Saying No to the Slog: How Two Harvard Students Changed Lobbying” by National Journal Staff[36]
* The Washington Post “The ‘Moneyball’ effect on K Street: The influence game gets scientific” by Catherine Ho[37]
* techPresident “With Quorum, See What (and Who) Makes Congress Tick” by Jessica McKenzie[38]
* The Harvard Gazette “Making sense of Congress” by Alvin Powell[39]
* The New Mexican “Startup with New Mexico ties gathers congressional data for clients” by Anne Constable[1]
* The Washington Post “Start-up Quorum offers insight into lawmakers’ actions, based on metrics” by Catherine Ho[40]
* DC Inno “Harvard-Founded Startup Quorum Analytics Moving to DC” by Chris Bing[21]
* Medium “Harvard Ventures: 2014 in Review” by Brian Truong[18]
* The Harvard Crimson “I3 Innovation Challenge Awards Four $10,000 Prizes” by Francesca Annicchiarico[17]
* Boston Inno “6 Student Startups Split $50K, Winning Harvard’s Most Competitive I3 Yet” by Lauren Landry[41]

## Quorum data cited by the media

* The Hill “Women, Dems leading sexual harassment discussion in Congress: analysis” by Christina Marcos[2]
* The Hill “Vulnerable House freshmen passed most bills in decades, analysis finds” by Christina Marcos[5]
* CyberScoop “This state is becoming America's factory for cybersecurity legislation” by Chris Bing[8]
* The New York Times “How You Can Measure a Senator as a Presidential Contender” by Alex Thompson[9]
* Time “How Congress Reacts To Mass Shootings In One Chart” by Michael Sherer[11]
* Politico “What's next on gun control?” by Cate Martel and Jesse Rifkin[3]
* Vox “Bipartisan legislation is making a comeback” by Matthew Yglesias[6]
* CBS “Female senators upending the old boys' club” by CBS News Staff[7]
* The Hill “Ted Cruz's Senate record by the numbers” by Jonathan Easley[10]
* Bloomberg Politics “The Numbers Don’t Lie: Women Make More Effective Legislators Than Men” by Emily Greenhouse[4]
* MSNBC “Female senators perform job better: study” by Rachel Maddow[42]
* Mashable “Want to end partisan gridlock? Elect more women.” by Rebecca Ruiz[43]

## See also

* Guide to Public Affairs

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Constable, Anne (26 January 2015). "Startup with New Mexico ties gathers congressional data for clients". http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/business/startup-with-new-mexico-ties-gathers-congressional-data-for-clients/article_ad7c8e12-a3c7-56b8-a851-a3aca5fa18a7.html.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Marcos, Christina (27 November 2017). "Women, Dems leading sexual harassment discussion in Congress: analysis". https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/362036-women-democrats-leading-sexual-harassment-discussion-in-congress.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Martel, Cate; Rifkin, Jesse (2 October 2015). "What's next on gun control?". https://www.politico.com/tipsheets/politico-influence/2015/10/whats-next-on-gun-control-vw-hires-jones-day-210523.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Greenhouse, Emily (20 February 2015). "The Numbers Don’t Lie: Women Make More Effective Legislators Than Men: A new startup by two Harvard seniors finds that women have been considerably more likely than their male counterparts to get bills through, and to achieve that near-unicorn of modern Washington: bipartisan agreement.". https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-20/the-numbers-don-t-lie-women-make-more-effective-legislators-than-men.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Marcos, Christina (24 October 2016). "Vulnerable House freshmen passed most bills in decades, analysis finds". https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/302533-vulnerable-gop-lawmakers-outpace-other-freshmen-in-productivity.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Yglesias, Matthew (14 September 2015). "Bipartisan legislation is making a comeback". https://www.vox.com/2015/9/13/9310733/bipartisanship-chart.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 CBS Staff (31 July 2015). "Female senators upending the old boys' club". https://www.cbsnews.com/news/claire-mccaskill-amy-klobuchar-kelly-ayotte-shelley-moore-capito-women-senate/.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Bing, Chris (20 October 2016). "This state is becoming America's factory for cybersecurity legislation". https://www.cyberscoop.com/texas-cybersecurity-legislation-michael-mccaul-john-ratcliffe-will-hurd/.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Thompson, Alexander (5 January 2016). "How You Can Measure a Senator as a Presidential Contender". https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/05/upshot/how-you-can-measure-a-senator-as-a-presidential-contender.html.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Easley, Jonathan (27 March 2015). "Ted Cruz's Senate record by the numbers". https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/237172-ted-cruzs-senate-record-by-the-numbers.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Sherer, Michael (2 October 2015). "How Congress Reacts To Mass Shootings In One Chart". http://time.com/4059777/oregon-shooting-house-senate-gun/.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Peters, Jeffrey (30 January 2018). "How Big Data Is Changing Corporate Lobbying". https://www.esri.com/about/newsroom/publications/wherenext/big-data-in-politics/.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Otto, Greg (7 October 2015). "Upstart big data firm hacking policy and the law". https://www.fedscoop.com/how-a-big-data-startup-is-changing-the-legislative-process/.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Wirth, Alex; Marks, Jonathan (1 March 2019). "Millennial Must-Read: The Future Of Politics: One Line of Code At A Time". https://iop.harvard.edu/iop-now/millennial-must-read-future-politics-one-line-code-time-0.
15. ↑ "Venture Teams: Quorum". 2014. https://innovationlabs.harvard.edu/current-team/quorum/.
16. ↑ "2014 Winner". 2014. https://iop.harvard.edu/get-involved/internships-careers/gov-20-grant/2014-winner.
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Annicchiarico, Francesca (4 April 2014). "I3 Innovation Challenge Awards Four $10,000 Prizes". https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/4/4/harvard-innovation-challenge-i3/.
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Truong, Brian (8 December 2014). "Harvard Ventures: 2014 in Review". https://medium.com/@trubrian/harvard-ventures-2014-in-review-ffc6f7d0f03d.
19. ↑ "7th Annual GW Business Plan Competition Highlights". 14 April 2015. https://newventurecompetition.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2886/f/downloads/2015 GWOE_1415_9_2015GWBPC Highlights.pdf.
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 QEC Staff (30 September 2017). "Quorum: On wading through U.S. politics and winning the QEC 2015". https://theqec.com/quorum-on-wading-through-u-s-politics-and-winning-the-qec-2015/.
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Bing, Chris (10 February 2015). "Harvard-Founded Startup Quorum Analytics Moving to DC". https://www.americaninno.com/dc/harvard-university-startup-quorum-analytics-moving-to-dc/.
22. ↑ Seward, Zack (31 May 2017). "Quorum goes international with EU expansion: The startup, which makes CRM software for public affairs pros, is making the announcement today from a conference in Brussels.". https://technical.ly/dc/2017/05/31/quorum-goes-international-eu-expansion/.
23. ↑ Phillips, Amber (17 May 2018). "Who will decide which party controls the House? Whiter, wealthier Americans.". https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/05/17/who-will-decide-which-party-controls-the-house-whiter-wealthier-americans/.
24. ↑ McQuilkin, Kieran (7 November 2018). "Office Envy: Quorum’s Journey from a Harvard Dorm Room to the Nation’s Capital". https://www.americaninno.com/dc/dc-startup/office-envy-quorums-journey-from-a-harvard-dorm-room-to-the-nations-capital/.
25. ↑ Stratton, Alexandra (10 January 2018). "Lobbyists Have a New Secret Weapon: Walmart’s successful campaign to kill a piece of the tax bill it hated was greased by computer code designed in a Harvard dorm room.". https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-10/lobbyists-have-a-new-secret-weapon.
26. ↑ Axios Staff (7 December 2017). "Congress' favorite hashtag in 2017: #trumpcare". https://www.axios.com/congress-favorite-hashtag-in-2017-1512649523-0483c93b-45ae-423b-a5a9-3d5a37214c82.html.
27. ↑ Zewe, Adam (26 September 2017). "The un-dropouts: Mission accomplished at a growing startup, former students return to Harvard". https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2017/09/un-dropouts.
28. ↑ Dickens, Nia (7 July 2017). "Quorum has a new tool to track how much Congress gets done in a week: It's a snapshot of how active legislative leaders are both on and off social media. The startup is also working on local government tracking tools.". https://technical.ly/dc/2017/07/07/quorum-congress-weekly/.
29. ↑ Chappellet-Lanier, Tajha (28 February 2017). "Quorum releases new CRM for public affairs teams: It's like Salesforce for special interest groups.". https://technical.ly/dc/2017/02/28/quorum-releases-new-crm-public-affairs-teams/.
30. ↑ Chappellet-Lanier, Tajha (9 February 2017). "These are the 20 #dctech startups worth watching this year: realLIST 2017: From picture frames to lobbying data, these young companies are the area's most exciting.". https://technical.ly/dc/2017/02/09/top-startups-dc-reallist/.
31. ↑ Gaynor, Michael J. (30 October 2016). "The Residents in DC’s Nerdiest Group House Want to Shake Up Washington’s Oldest Trade". https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/10/30/nerdiest-group-house-washington-quorum-big-data/.
32. ↑ Pommer, Kellsey (12 August 2016). "This Startup Helps Track Everything Happening on Capitol Hill". https://www.cta.tech/News/Blog/Articles/2016/August/This-Startup-Helps-Track-Everything-Happening-on-C.aspx.
33. ↑ Bing, Chris (4 February 2016). "Bernie, Cruz Supporters Should Love Quorum Analytics’ New Grassroots Software". https://www.americaninno.com/dc/grassroots-advocacy-software-dc-tech-quorum-launches-product/.
34. ↑ Howard, Alexander (27 October 2015). "This Startup Is Like Google For Congress, And Legislators Love It: Quorum Analytics crunches data to tell you how influential or effective members of Congress are. Washington is taking notice.". https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/quorum-analytics-google-for-congress_us_562e82d8e4b06317990ee3e6.
35. ↑ Clozel, Lalita (5 August 2015). "Quorum rolls out political analytics system to US statehouses; D.C. newcomer Quorum Analytics helps lawmakers and lobbyists wade through political data. After starting with Congress, the startup is expanding its reach.". https://technical.ly/dc/2015/08/05/quorum-analytics-state-data/.
36. ↑ National Journal Staff (22 May 2015). "Saying No to the Slog: How Two Harvard Students Changed Lobbying". https://www.nationaljournal.com/s/26737.
37. ↑ Ho, Catherine (13 March 2015). "The ‘Moneyball’ effect on K Street: The influence game gets scientific". https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/the-moneyball-effect-on-k-street-the-influence-game-gets-scientific/2015/03/12/4ab365f2-b14e-11e4-854b-a38d13486ba1_story.html.
38. ↑ McKenzie, Jessica (5 March 2015). "With Quorum, See What (and Who) Makes Congress Tick". http://techpresident.com/news/25471/quorum-see-what-and-who-makes-congress-tick.
39. ↑ Powell, Alvin (26 February 2015). "Making sense of Congress: Student-launched startup sheds light on legislative process". https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/02/making-sense-of-congress/.
40. ↑ Ho, Catherine (25 January 2015). "Start-up Quorum offers insight into lawmakers’ actions, based on metrics". https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/startup-quorum-offers-insight-into-lawmakers-actions-based-on-metrics/2015/01/23/f8ef28a8-a349-11e4-903f-9f2faf7cd9fe_story.html.
41. ↑ Landry, Lauren (4 April 2014). "6 Student Startups Split $50K, Winning Harvard’s Most Competitive I3 Yet". https://www.americaninno.com/boston/2014-winners-of-the-harvard-college-innovation-challenge-harvard-i3/.
42. ↑ Maddow, Rachel (19 February 2015). "Female senators perform job better: study". http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/female-senators-perform-job-better-study-401713731892.
43. ↑ Ruiz, Rebecca (19 February 2015). "Want to end partisan gridlock? Elect more women.". https://mashable.com/2015/02/19/female-legislators-more-effective/#M0g9vOsz5aqi.

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