I Launched a New Company Focused on Local
I want to change the way people talk about local issues
I’m really excited that I launched my new company this week — it’s called Hamlet. This is what I’ve been working on for the past 5 months or so, and I’m thrilled to release the first version out into the world.
Last year, I ran for city council in Orinda, and while I didn’t win the election, I learned an enormous amount about what makes my town tick. I also became concerned about a few trends:
- Online discourse is getting more inflammatory and polarizing
- Agreement about facts has become few and far between
- Local newspapers are dying at a record pace and struggling to cover their communities (and/or are being taken over by large media conglomerates)
We use AI to find information that is buried in small corners of the internet and turn it into insights you can actually use. An example of this might be “Where are my city’s tax dollars going?” or “How is the city budget being spent?” These are examples of subjects that are widely discussed anecdotally but are rarely discussed on the basis of facts.
Hamlet will take lengthy and/or confusing public data and use AI to distill it down, generating a clear analysis or narrative. Because context matters, we’ll account for historical data points, neighboring cities, and topical trends. Finally, we’ll have an actual person fact-check and validate the content before publishing it with an unbiased voice. We plan on addressing local subjects such as:
- Real estate development
- Education
- Business openings and closings
- Crime and safety
We are not a journalistic organization and have no plans to cover local news. We are focused solely on turning difficult to understand local data into understandable newsletters.
We are live in 30 + CA cities — if you live in any of our cities I could really use your help with any local government contacts, or if you’re willing to subscribe/share I’d be grateful. Here is a sample article about the housing element in Saratoga, CA (where I was born).
By the end of the year we want to be in 1,000 small cities in America.
Here is a city list for context:
- El Cerrito
- Pleasant Hill
- Lafayette
- Moraga
- Orinda
- Alamo
- Del Mar
- Coronado
- Imperial Beach
- Solana Beach
- Rancho Santa Fe
- Sausalito
- Kentfield/Larkspur
- Corte Madera
- Belvedere
- Tiburon
- San Rafael
- Burlingame
- San Bruno
- Menlo Park
- Portola Valley
- San Carlos
- Laguna Hills
- Laguna Beach
- Dana Point
- Rancho Santa Margarita
- San Juan Capistrano
- Saratoga
- Morgan Hill
- Cupertino
- Palo Alto
- Los Gatos
- Mountain View
Thanks as always to the Internet for helping me out — grateful you are subscribed to this list.
