This Startup is Tackling the Problem of Lack of Citizen Participation in Influencing Government Policies and Politics Affecting Their Lives

We are publishing an interview of Mr. Aman Gupta, Co-Founder & CEO, YourMarch – A Bangalore based startup which is tackling the problem of lack of citizen participation in influencing government policies and politics affecting their lives.

About the founders:
Aman & Himanshu are computer science engineers from RGPV Bhopal. They have an industry experience of 2 years from OpenText, Hyderabad.

They are together from last 5 years and has experience in various technologies like AI, Big Data, Machine Learning, etc.

They worked as a team for various projects in the past. With their knowledge in modern technologies like Big Data, AI, etc. and experience in Civic Engagement, they are working to make a disruptive platform to bring Governance and Technology on the same plate.

What is the problem you are trying to solve? Can you share with us any insights that led you to believe that this is a big enough problem? 
In India, there is a lack of citizens participation in solving community issues and shaping government policies.

In order to bring any form of change within the society, be it social or civic, Citizens and Government are most important stakeholders in it. Change is not possible without influencing or changing government policies. Most of the youth felt disconnected with the government, but everyone has something that he cares about, has some changes that he wants to see in the society, has some views on governance, policies, politics, etc.

In technical terms, YourMarch is tackling the problem of lack of citizen participation in influencing government policies and politics affecting their lives.

What is the uniqueness about your Startup? 
YourMarch is demystifying the complex political process of our country using bleeding edge technologies like Big Data, Sentiment Analysis, etc. YourMarch will engage voters using social media and help them to organize around the issues that they care about. YourMarch will ultimately connect voters with communities whom they vote with and their representatives.

Why do you choose crowdfunding? 
YourMarch chose to crowdfund because it will help them to understand their user base in much better way and will also help to validate their concept. In this manner, it will really become a venture for the people, by the people and of the people.

Why should anyone or investor back you? 
YourMarch is a venture with a social impact which will enable voters to raise their voice for the issues that they care about. It will help voters to connect with their voting community and representatives.

For supporters, it’s an opportunity to back something which will prove to be a game-changer for enabling people to raise their voice in a systematic manner.

For investors, YourMarch will prove to be a highly successful investment because they are working in the field of data analytics in unexplored areas, which will help interested entities to find insights based on the voter demographics.

Where can people back your project? 
YourMarch is currently running a crowdfunding campaign on Catapooolt since it was selected in Catapooolt Changemakers along with top 30 startups from all over India.

If you like their idea of building an online community of Indian Voters where users can raise their voice on the issues that they care about and find out how they compare with others, then you can support their project by backing them at http://bit.ly/supportyourmarch

What would you do after raising funds? 
YourMarch will use the raised funds for following two goals:

1. Aadhaar Integration for voter verification, reducing abuses, trolls, etc.
2. Start operations on local and ward level in major cities based on the number of backers from a specific place.

What is the revenue model? What is the logic behind it? What is the model you are following – Free / Freemium / Premium etc. ? Explain your thought process. 
YourMarch is a very early stage startup. They are working on various different possibilities. But ultimately, they are a social network, so they figured out following possibilities about revenue models:

1. Data Insights: Micro targeting solutions for Election Campaigns, Advertisers, Advocacy Groups, etc.
2. Advertisement: Targeting based on the sentiment analysis of voters.
3. Premium Services: Upgradation of the service provided to the voters.

All these possibilities requires a significant amount of users, which is their primary objective at this point of time.

Who are the consumers that you are targeting? How is this going to affect them? 
YourMarch is building a platform where citizens can engage with representatives and their voting community on a day to day basis to discuss and debate important local, state, and central issues while using game mechanics to encourage and rewards them for participation.

This platform will help in creating a transparent, consistent and manageable connection between voters and representatives. This will help voters to raise clear, concise and collective voice on the issues and policies impacting them. This will help representatives to provide the precise response to the voters on various issues promoting transparency between the two.

What is the big picture of your startup? Will it lead to something bigger? If so, how? 
Within 5 years, this platform will help in encouraging citizen participation in solving civic issues and influencing government policies i.e. creating empathy within the voters for the nation and government.

Within 5 decades, this platform will act as the central stage of political conversation and functioning of the government.

What is the success story of your startup in your own words? 
YourMarch’s journey began in November 2016. In the initial stage, the primary focus was to bring representatives on the platform in order to make it impactful, where we failed miserably because of lack of interest from their side.

After some time, they changed their focus and moved towards voters instead where we are gaining a significant amount of users. This strategy will ultimately help them to bring representatives to their platform.

It’s been a difficult path till now where they have seen various ups and downs. Currently, they are facing issues financially therefore in order to sustain the business they are also working as software consultants for other startups.

The moral of the story is that if you want to start something, then you have to start it right now, irrespective of the problems that you are facing. You have to learn whatever is needed for your venture i.e. YourMarch is a team of 2 co-founders and they are developers, designers, marketers, researchers, etc. and they are willing to learn and do whatever is required to make YourMarch a great success.

Any other information about your startup that you would like to share with us.
Some of our  achievements are:

1. YourMarch has 2300+ users debating around various national and state level issues.
2. YourMarch has 2000+ fans on Facebook.
3. YourMarch is selected in FBStart for BootStrap and Social Good Tracks.
4. YourMarch is selected in Catapooolt Changemakers along with top 30startups
   from India.
5. YourMarch is selected in Microsoft Bizspark Program.
6. YourMarch won the special recognition in Vizag Startup Summit.
7. YourMarch is selected in Incubation Program at iLabHub (Partnered with ASSOCHAM and Indian Startups).