He used crowdfunding to launch a progressive media startup in Canada

Like a lot of people on the political Left, Geoff Sharpe grew frustrated by how successful conservatives were on Facebook. For years, he watched as right leaning conservative groups built huge Facebook followings, which allowed them to promote their highly partisan views to millions of Canadian citizens.

So Geoff and his colleagues decided to do something about it. They initially launched their own left-leaning Facebook page, growing it to hundreds of thousands of followers. But they then wanted to pivot to something even more ambitious: a standalone website that published original content from leading progressive voices.

To do this, they launched a crowdfunding campaign, and over the last year they’ve rolled out a membership offering that helps generate recurring revenue. I interviewed Geoff about why the political Right does so well on Facebook, how he designed the membership program, and what impact his site has had on Canadian politics.