1) Constituent services are at the heart of every local government and the data surrounding them are its vital signs. From an operations (top-down) perspective

1) Constituent services are at the heart of every local government and the data surrounding them are its vital signs. From an operations (top-down) perspective, constituent services tell you which departments are living up to their civic mandate. Think CSAT and NPS in SaaS companies — two metrics that predict retention and growth, that measure how you're doing and customers' faith in your future. If, bottoms-up, you want to drive democratic decision making with real data, look at the hundreds of millions of interactions constituents have with their local government. It's only by improving the day-to-day that governments get a high-level view of what structural changes need to be made. The product focus of Romulus is on those day-to-day users right now, but it's really the level above — the chiefs of staff, elected officials, city managers — that love the potential. YC) Will do. As a philosophy major, I'm glad to see more liberal arts around here.