Why We Invested in Neighborland

What do you want in your neighborhood?

Many of us have probably thought about this question, and many of us have insights and ideas that would make our community a better place. But until now, we haven’t had the means to translate our dreams and visions into reality.

What if there was a tool to help you connect with others in your community, to engage with key decision makers, and to create positive change in your neighborhood?

Now, there is. Enter Neighborland, a brilliant platform to help people shape the development of their communities. Engaging with Neighborland begins with a simple, fill-in-the-blank form: I want ____ in my neighborhood. From there, the opportunities are endless. Users can connect with others who share their vision, engage local government, and gather support for their ideas from friends and family. It’s a beautiful way to inspire change for communities, and we’re very happy to support it.

We at True strive to make the world a better place for entrepreneurs, and we love partnering with entrepreneurs who want to make the world a better place for all of us as well. Neighborland’s Dan, Tee and Candy are just such mission-driven founders who have envisioned a platform that will help citizens take action on issues that matter to their communities. Above and beyond being simply an online resource, we believe that in Neighborland, there exists the seeds of the type of broader social movement that our partner Om talks about in the context of companies like Kickstarter and Twitter. They bring us together online, but their real impact is made in our lives offline.

Neighborland is also a powerful example of the continuing evolution of technology as a tool to connect people. While Facebook may have reconnected you with a third-grade classmate and LinkedIn may have fostered the growth of your professional network, Neighborland is all about helping you engage with members of your real world community to drive meaningful and positive change. It’s a tool to give voice around civic participation and engagement to those who haven’t had an outlet to do so, and the activated and engaged citizenry it will create will deliver tangible economic and social impact.

In the months ahead, people all across the United States will be able to understand and experience the power of Neighborland. But, there are several current examples of the platform in action and it is producing positive results already. Success stories from a pilot that ran in New Orleans in 2011 include the first St. Claude night market, a petition of 2,200 signatures supporting the expansion of streetcars into new neighborhoods, opening up transit data to app developers, and the formation of the New Orleans Food Truck coalition. These and similar future initiatives are all small steps towards shaping the places we live and work to become what we truly believe they can and should be.

We’re proud to be participating in the seed financing of Neighborland to enable Dan, Tee and Candy to continue to develop their vision for the company. Our partners in the round are friends of theirs and friends of ours, including Biz, Ev and Jason at Obvious, with whom we have a long history. Alongside Chris Schultz at Voodoo Ventures, Lerer Ventures, SV Angel and Crunchfund, we look forward to working with the Neighborland team to bring this platform to life.