A startup company is generally one that is just getting off the ground, and it usually has high costs and a small amount of revenue. In order to maintain operations, many startups seek capital from friends, family, venture capital, crowd sourced funds and loans. When developing their identity startups must often consider where they will do business, how they will be structured, and generate revenue.
FiscalNote is based in Washington, DC and was founded in 2013 by then 21-year-old entrepreneur, Tim Hwang. FiscalNote started as a product that allowed companies to track legislation, and has grown to become a company that has over 4,000 clients and recently announced a $160 million round of funding. FiscalNote uses Artificial Intelligence to track and analyze changes to laws. Like any startup FiscalNote has had its ups and down, specifically with one service announced in 2016 that predicted the likely success or failure of legislative proposals. Although this service ultimately failed, the company was able to successfully pivot to selling software packages that assisted organizations with contacting advocates and compelling them to contact their local lawmakers.
With revenues between $10,000,000 and $100,000,000 FiscalNote has opened additional offices in Baton Rouge, New York, Brussels, Gugugram, Seoul, and Hong Kong. The success of this locally based company should serve as inspiration for other founders to build businesses that provide government, regulatory, and legal services. Building software that tracks laws and regulations has allowed a relatively small company to exist in an industry that is typically dominated by the likes of Bloomberg, Westlaw and Lexis Nexis. Having this happen in the mid-Atlantic region is exciting and inspiring to Maryland based lawyers and entrepreneurs.
