Although I personally support the above mentioned candidate it should be mentioned that this post is intended to be an observation rather than a politically motivated tirade.

 

Exciting times we are living in, folks.

 

I remember it this time last year, sitting outside of Cafe Zondag (super cool place) in Maastricht, NL, with a good friend of mine from Germany. Merely two hours prior, he had, with confidence, handed in his Bachelors Thesis. For several hours we discussed how we would idealize a different, more progressive world. Both of us prefer to have holistic, systemic views on complex systems and we both love to imagine those systems democratizing themselves organically. One year later and here comes the Bernie Sanders political machine.

 

If you haven’t heard yet, the Democratic frontrunner in the U.S. Presidential race, Hillary Clinton, is being continuously routed in her Primary campaign by a dark-horse Senator from Vermont named Bernie Sanders. As of April 7, Sanders has shrunk Clinton’s lead of 25 points in Pennsylvania down to six in a mere two months. In Wisconsin, a state that was long believed to be in the bag for Clinton, Sanders has come seemingly out of nowhere to set an example for for many that big money does not, in fact, have to rule politics.

 

How?

 

The Sanders campaign is being financed not by Super PAC’s (NGO’s that filter money into campaigns disguised as social interest groups), nor is it taking the maximum allowable individual donation from its backers (one individual can donate a maximum of $2,700 to any candidate). The emails I get daily from the Sanders campaign request, rather, donations of between $3 and $6, but the average donation from his six million contributors is an alarmingly low $27. Yet he is still, on a monthly basis, out fundraising Clinton 2:1 (for Q1 2016).

 

 

Campaign finance, along with the popular vote, is a good indicator of the social desirability of a candidate, and the numbers behind it tell the story. The Sanders campaign is, in my eyes, the first of what will hopefully be many crowdfunded political campaigns in the future. Regardless of how I feel about him politically, I think one cannot underestimate how democratizing those numbers are and what they mean as a response to Super PAC financing. The ease with which one can contribute and stay connected is a direct result of technology intersecting with finance and disrupting the incumbent system to the benefit of the entire system and its members.

 

I was really excited when I heard that breakdown of his finances and immediately called my German friend to discuss what this could mean for the future of politics and the future of democracy. Sitting here I wonder what will happen next as technology makes marketing efforts more and more intangible and future politicians crowd fund their campaign. One cannot help but wonder what the first growth hacked campaign will look like in 10-20 years. How many more connected individuals will it take to truly democratize this system?

 

— C.L. Sparks

 

If you want to learn more about growth hacking I highly recommend clicking here to buy the Growth Hacker Marketing primer by Ryan Holiday. A fantastic introduction to the mindset that shouldn’t take you more than 3 hours to read.