<sod>In 2012, Cooley founded Democracy.com as a result of his masters degree research at the Harvard Kennedy School, which focused on democratic participation, civic engagement, network theory and the Internet. The company launched its beta test site in late 2013, providing an internet platform connecting citizens to candidates and civic organizations<ref>{{cite web|work=TechCrunch|title=Democracy.com Launches Plug-And-Play Web Presence For Political Campaigns|url=http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/09/democracy-com-launches-plug-and-play-web-presence-for-political-campaigns-aims-at-building-a-social-network/|date=9 October 2013}}</ref>. In 2014, Democracy.com was awarded "Best Technology Innovation" by the American Association of Political Consultants and "Best Fundraising Platform" by Campaign and Elections<ref>{{cite web|title=Pollie Winners|url=http://theaapc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2014_AAPC_Pollie_WinnersBook_FINALAFTERPOLLIES.pdf|date=4 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Reed Award Winners|url=http://www.campaignsandelections.com/awards/reed-awards/reed-awards-2014#political-technology|date=15 June 2014}}</ref>. After achieving 35% month-on-month user growth in 2014, the company began to redesign and recode its entire site in 2015 (into open source Javascript) in order to launch a full scale social network for civic engagement. As of early 2016, the beta site had reached over a million users, and the launch of the second generation platform was scheduled for mid-2016<ref>{{cite web|title=Democracy.com|url=https://www.dropbox.com/s/12zs4o0w9n7dtfa/Democracy.com%20Deck%202.23.16.pdf?dl=0|date=23 February 2016}}</ref>. Democracy.com's second generation site will introduce a full-scale social network for civic engagement that connects every citizen with every public official, candidate and civic organization, allowing anyone to create high impact results on the issues they care about through online actions that take less than 60 seconds to accomplish. Powered by the world's largest database of civic and political engagement opportunities for citizens<ref>{{cite web|title=Democracy.com|url=https://www.dropbox.com/s/12zs4o0w9n7dtfa/Democracy.com%20Deck%202.23.16.pdf?dl=0|date=23 February 2016}}</ref>, the company's ambition is to "make civic engagement as fast and easy as buying a book online".<ref>http://www.democracy.com/about.aspx</ref><eod>
<sod>In 2012, Cooley founded Democracy.com as a result of his masters degree research at the Harvard Kennedy School, which focused on democratic participation, civic engagement, network theory and the Internet. The company launched its beta test site in late 2013, providing an internet platform connecting citizens to candidates and civic organizations<ref>{{cite web|work=TechCrunch|title=Democracy.com Launches Plug-And-Play Web Presence For Political Campaigns|url=http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/09/democracy-com-launches-plug-and-play-web-presence-for-political-campaigns-aims-at-building-a-social-network/|date=9 October 2013}}</ref>. In 2014, Democracy.com was awarded "Best Technology Innovation" by the American Association of Political Consultants and "Best Fundraising Platform" by Campaign and Elections<ref>{{cite web|title=Pollie Winners|url=http://theaapc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2014_AAPC_Pollie_WinnersBook_FINALAFTERPOLLIES.pdf|date=4 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Reed Award Winners|url=http://www.campaignsandelections.com/awards/reed-awards/reed-awards-2014#political-technology|date=15 June 2014}}</ref>. After achieving 35% month-on-month user growth in 2014, the company began to redesign and recode its entire site in 2015 (into open source Javascript) in order to launch a full scale social network for civic engagement. As of early 2016, the beta site had reached over a million users, and the launch of the second generation platform was scheduled for mid-2016. Democracy.com's second generation site will introduce a full-scale social network for civic engagement that connects every citizen with every public official, candidate and civic organization, allowing anyone to create high impact results on the issues they care about through online actions that take less than 60 seconds to accomplish. Powered by the world's largest database of civic and political engagement opportunities for citizens<ref>{{cite web|title=Democracy.com|url=https://www.dropbox.com/s/12zs4o0w9n7dtfa/Democracy.com%20Deck%202.23.16.pdf?dl=0|date=23 February 2016}}</ref>, the company's ambition is to "make civic engagement as fast and easy as buying a book online".<ref>http://www.democracy.com/about.aspx</ref><eod>