// startup autopsy
Poliana
A data visualization platform that made political funding and legislative information transparent and accessible to citizens and institutions.
marketfitslow_bleed
Key Events Timeline
FOUNDING
Poliana founded by Grayson Carroll, Patrick Cason, Seth Whiting, and Shawn Whiting with a mission to bring transparency to the U.S. political system through data visualization.
PRODUCT LAUNCH
Initial launch as a gateway for communication between politicians and citizens, tracking political funding sources.
PIVOT
Poliana pivots to focus on data visualization tools for schools and universities, attempting to monetize educational use cases.
PIVOT
Second pivot attempting to sell data visualization services to news media organizations of various sizes.
PIVOT
Third pivot launching SaaS model allowing general public to create custom data visualizations through paid access terminal.
SHUTDOWN
Poliana shuts down after exhausting all three business models and running out of funding. Team decides to open-source the entire codebase rather than pursue ethically questionable revenue models.