national press club. >> if you spend any time on social media, you may be surprised about a recent poll. while the country is polarized as ever, 95% of voters agree that, quote, respect for each other is key to having a government that works. and 8% of voters agreed civility is the language of respect. yet research shows that most americans believe political discourse in the united states has become less respectful. this year, with more gen z voters than ever voting, it's

critical to ensure these young dulls get the information they need to make he best decisions at the polls. at the same time a lot of sources for unbiased, fact-based news and coverage are under strain. to this has resulted in growing news does erts across the country. actor and producer chris evans, boast known for his role as captain america in the marvel cinematic union verse, and mark kassen, play right and actor. entrepreneur, long bio. and tech entrepreneur stepped into addressing the challenge with the founding in 2020 of a starting point. the mission, to create a bipartisan channel of communication and connectivity between americans and their elected officials with the goal of creating a more informed electorate. this year a starting point is launching an election-year campaign to prepare young voters with information, resources and engagement opportunities and today we're so eager to hear more about a starting point.

the latest campaign and your plans to reach millions of gen z voters. join me in a warm press club welcome for chris and mark. [applause] >> thank you. >> so i think to kick things you have a we've got to start with the one big question. obviously you two have had successful careers in hollywood. why come to d.c.? why begin something like a starting point? >> foolishness, i think. [laughter] >> true naivete. >> dunning kruger, is what it is. we thought we could help shine a light on certain issues and create more zivic engagement and we each have our own individual social medias, we have our own individual opinions. but that only reaches a certain amount and i think we both felt that more good could come from creating a mechanism, a platform, where it's about engagement. it's about education.

demystifying issues to create a government that more accurately reflects who we are. if you have half of the country not voting and not using their voice, how can you ever have a government that understands where we're going? so it felt, you know, as much as i like getting on social media and spouting off my own opinion, you realize that's only doing so much. this felt like a more effective way to use our plat forms. >> and to be fair, we didn't mean to do all of this. we had a very -- chris originally had a very narrow idea which was, i'm a little embarrassed that i don't know this definition of some of these things like and a half tark not specifically nafta, you may have nope what that was. but let's hear frit the horse's mouth. let's get three republicans and three democrats to answer and define each of these things asms we began talking to them, we realized it was a unique channel

of communication we were opening up. it seemed a shame if we didn't use this to hear more from these folks and then to begin to unpack some of the stuff we were experiencing for the audience that we had to be able to throw it forwards. and frankly, we need to be able to say we're conscious we're not reporters or news. we create a platform of information so we can go to where you all work and really dive deeper. so it started very small. then we couldn't help ourselves. now here we are. >> i want to touch on something that you kind of said there. it was back in maybe 2019. prepandemic. you did get attention for a couple of tweets that were critical of certain lawmakers. i think certainly as someone who goes on social media a lot for work that's not uncommon you see that all the time. but i wanted to get a sense, take me through your mindset shift from someone who is tweeting things like that, to someone who is now running this nonpartisan organization?

>> well, it kind of touches on something both of you said. i was someone who was politically involved. i had my own opinions. i considered myself slightly above a dilettante. i kind of had an understanding but not much. even for someone like me there were issues i'd see every day like, what is that? i need to know basic, basic what is that? when you try to google something, very quickly you're in the weeds in terms of clear, partisan perspectives or maybe not even partisan. just above your pay grade, you know. too complex to process at an entry level. i thought man if someone like me is having a hard time learning these basic things, how can we encourage people who maybe missed the political boat in their teens and twenties, which happens. how do you get them back in the field? how can you say, that is safe place to say, i don't get it, give it to me nor more digestible bites. that's the idea of think, maybe we can be the entry way.

>> that was the basic idea. mark, has this project evolved like you expected it to in the last four years? what's been the obstacles? what's been the surprises? >> no. covid. we were supposed to -- >> remember that? >> we were supposed to launch at the south by southwest 2020 which was the first major thing to get canceled. >> we were so devastated. when they canceled it, it was before we knew what it was going to be. we were like, this is irresponsible. i can't believe they're canceling it. this is going to ruin the city. >> and to be fair, i said this. and you know -- but we were happy we didn't go. however, as we got into it, interestingly enough, because of that, because of that challenge, we were forced to find other ways to communicate and people really needed that. and so one of the things that ended up happen, and quite frankly, chris and i, would have

also been busier during that year and weren't. like everybody else. but yet the government and certain other folks really needed to find ways to communicate. people were actually more open they didn't use the app in the way we thought they would we made the app originally that members of congress had. we thought this will be great they can upload videos whenever they want, they'll love to talk to us. >> there were two apps. we made an entire separate app for elected officials they thinking they'd use it. i don't think they used it once. >> and when they weren't with their staffers, they didn't have the mek noism remind them to do some of those things what did end up happening because they were happy to talk to us, we ended up doing video conferences. and then we ended up developing a platform to talk to them and record that. made many other verticals of communication, daily points, and explainers, that's -- none of that would have happened, or who knows what would have happened? it wasn't intended to be that

robust. now i think the last thing we thought we'd be doing is in-person events. we've now teapped up with people like close-up and bridge u.s.a. to reach out through their communities, both digitally, virtually and now in person. none of that was the plan. we thought meade we'd make this thing and kick back, couldn't wait for elected officials to uploald things. >> talk to me about your relationship with elected officials. people said chris evans, that is scam. not going to respond. >> kalen who works with us -- >> she was a comms director for somebody, a republican. republicans didn't want to talk to us. we sat down and she came and talked, she was so helpful in thoasms way we approached so much so that mark was like, should we hire her? we should go get her.

she's great. and she's -- i mean, invaluable. >> someone asked us before the event, you know, you probably do have -- don't have that many people who tell you what they actually think. >> kale season a straight -- kalen is a raight shooter. that helped enormously. i think d.c. specifically among elected officials there's a real tight knit network that if someone says this is ok, that spreads. so that was the -- >> to be fair when we first came to d.c. the website didn't exist. and to -- >> tough to sago look at this. >> it's going to be great. you all i'm sure, you know, as reporters, letting people feel safe to sit down with you to begin with. i'm terrified right now. and you know, so these folks were kind enough to sit down with us. without actually having anything to reference and to show that we promise we're not going to hurt

you. over time we eventually convinced them. >> what was the breakthrough moment? what was the moment you were chatting with lawmakers and you're finally like we got something. >> maybe the third or fourth -- the first trip here we were so excited. had three or four days. we were filming in the senate. what was that room called? whatever it was it felt real fancy to us. we're like, we're doing it. we're really doing it. not one republican showed up. >> we only had four people scheduled for 17 slots when we got here. >> so i think maybe the third or fourth trip when not only did we have everyone show up for the plan ski jude, we were trying to squeeze more people in. maybe extend the trip. that's when it was like, ok, i think we're finding momentum. again, that's -- the site itself is a constantly evolving thing. as most sites in general are. you kind of have to read wo ware audience, counterpunch as you grow. but the good thing we gained in

the process was the good will and trust of elected officials. i think that's a hard thing to earn. >> and they said to us, a lot of folks, you come to d.c. and tell us what you think. you tell us how we should act. you guys are asking us questions. and again because we're not reporters, we're not journal itself we just wanted definitions and answers and then we wanted to put it up as cleanly has possible. and over time, other people told their co-workers, no, this is real we found, you know, we had a couple of republicans were some champions of ours. then they told others. same on both sides. then it didn't matter anymore. now it doesn't. i mean quite frankly, this is great. we're the least important thing about our site. we aren't necessary to most of us. which is fantastic, that's been the goal. >> we do appreciate you being here and telling us all about the site. i wanted to ask, chris, you mentioned that you really don't see a starting point as being a part of the media landscape.

i want to see if you could elaborate on that a little bit. i'm a congressional reporter. i also talk with lawmakers and report what they say. i try to get details about the bigger facts going on. tell us where you see yourself in the media landscape. >> we're not news. we're information. you know. it's -- boiled dunn to sound bites. >> we not news also like to think of ourselves as information. >> but we're not coming from a place that's drafting long form information predicated on previous events where you can walk away with a theory. >> we don't have journalists researching for months and months. we're not embedded like the war correspondents. >> coming from the neophytes, for the neophytes, to boil it down, not just catering to the collective dwindling attention span we're all subjected to but span we're all subjected to but

i think that's the difference. other things we've done right is naming the website the starting point. i came up with the a. the domain was available and helped, too. but the right name because we don't think that you should end with what -- with what that site says. hopefully it's demystifying it and hopefully is a place people can begin their journey and then go off on their own and look at things themselves. >> how have you made sure folks

know about a starting point and they know, i read this news article and don't understand what daca is and don't understand why this person doesn't like this thing that seems really good. how have you reached those folks? >> it started out because chris is really famous and that helped a little bit. >> it's a plus on capitol hill. >> he didn't charge a lot to tweet for us and was really useful. then quite honestly, this was surprising to me, the elected officials audiences. the more they participated and the more the elected officials found they got feedback from participating in the site, the more their constituents began to pay attention to us. the best thing we've done is working with organizations that are committed for all of this. bridge is one and we've worked

with many other news organizations and will continue to. this year we're going to partner with quite a few organizations and do some tours and things like that. those folks we can provide service to helped us grow our audience a lot. >> i wanted to ask because i went on the site last night and you have some in depth topics there. i watched the video on e.s.g. investing and you have other things on there like teen therapy, artificial intelligence, gerrymandering, human trafficking. how do you identify these topics and enforce the information? >> the first question -- and it gross. this is where, quite frankly, you asked where we planned to go and didn't think we'd be here. i think we discipline ourselves or the team disciplines ourselves to not trying to -- you want to be as instantly topical as possible p. but really, we look at the year in terms of the legislative calendar and scottous -- scotus

calendar and i would ask you this question, things pop up and i would guess you have an idea around the time of year the thing may be newsworthy. we have a very small team and so we'll prepare, you know, information to gear up for that and then we have folks who are here who spend a lot of time both figuring out what elected officials are going to be closest to the topic that will talk thousand and spend a lot of time building that up and then as you're prepared and certain things come up, you know, we turn as fast as we can and we work with other groups to help, you know, hold us accountable or help to send to them when we can. >> i'm curious how you feel, coming to you as a congressional reporter, lawmakers sometimes intentionally or not intentionally do give inaccurate information. how do you make sure you're sitting down with the lawmakers and doing interviews and posting them to the site you're not

putting something out there that's simply not accurate? >> the starting point for the definitions are all fact checked. we work with fact checkers. however, there's information that comes up every day that comes directly from the elected officials answering a question or defining something. i think the point is it i'm one of their constituents, i need to know what they think. it's about hearing directly and taking ourselves out of it and the complaint could be from someone that their words are manipulated, they are not. they say what their opinion is or what they think an issue -- how they believe it. quite frankly, people for the most part don't come to our sit- >> for spouting things wildly ie thought, how will we navigate truth but it hasn't been the main thing we've had to navigate. >> we're not a place for

hyperbolic speech. that's not what our -- quite frankly, of the things that have been heartening, youth doesn't want it. >> they are bloodhounds for it, too. the young people can really tell when they're being misled. >> you said youth are bloodhounds for it? >> i think young people nowadays are more aware with the proliferation of social media which is where people are getting news these days, i think they're aware of selective facts and framing information in a way that's deliberately misleading and if you do it once, it's probably in your nature and will do it more than once and that is when a picture becomes clear. >> again, we have a great team that they interact with our audience and we hear what people think and what they want more of. and obviously like any of you, if you put anything out there, it's a wonderful ground for

anyone to plant seeds of not nice things if they want to and have conversations on social media but the basis has to be pure and we get really great feedback from the folks that seem to enjoy the information. that is a result of a healthy mechanism for elected officials to come and speak because some of the incentives for maybe waxing hyperbole are not there. >> when you ask these elected officials to do this, so often when they're being asked to speak, it's because they're a very targeted audience and have a very particular message for them but you're speaking an educational role and you have the opportunity to do stuff like this, to sit down and explain an issue straight out. >> yeah, i don't know. maybe for a minute until someone copies us and does it better, they'll talk to us. but i will say the one thing -- one thing impressed us going to d.c., it may sound naive but how

busy these people are, a lot goes on here, being elected and there's a bill and they're running out. we should have a bunch of outtakes of people running away from chris evans because they have to go vote on something, the amount of times it's happened is maybe only here. and you think well, how did -- we felt it's important to honor the time because whatever they're doing, you know, it's almost embarrassing they were talking to us. now i don't think so. now i think we really are a service and useful and like i said, we're not unnecessary to the process of them speaking because they want their audience way more than they're interested in us, which is great. but yeah, i mean, they walk really far, four or five miles away and get their steps in, especially the house. amazing. i got distracted. >> it is a lot.

you'd be surprised how many get lost, too. you find them wondering around, are you trying to go? this way. >> it's incredible. >> you touched on the elections and a lot of us, when we think of the upcoming 2024 election, one thing really on our minds is the level of misinformation we've seen out there and how that will drive in 2024. broadly here, what are your goals for the upcoming election? >> so many. and i'm not sure how many we can address on the site. specifically one of the sites of a.s.p. is counterpoints. one of the things that's missing is not necessarily the what but the how. that's always been extreme perspectives and always people who are more ready for a fight more than other people. but civil discussions and disagreements, the way we speak to each other.

>> can you talk about what counterpoints looks like on the site? >> counterpoints was something two elected officials with opposing perspectives on an issue would have a chance to go back and forth but it was filmed in a way where they would film their initial opinion and other people in their own due time would watch the original elected official and they would respond and this would go back and forth two or three times. >> we made a complicated, expensive app because we knew they'd want to do it on sundays and submit to it. apparently we were wrong. >> marketing is running down hallways. >> but just in an effort to, look, it's not even when you watch it, it's almost irrelevant whether you agree or disagree with the opinions. what most people take away from it when you watch it, man, that was nice, watching people speak to each other in a way that at least it feels -- sometimes i think that's what breathes allegiance almost more than what you're saying, it's how you're

saying it because you believe this person is a listener and they have respect and they understand and respect the institution. >> i believe you have a better chance of hearing the information. if it's not about one united statesmanship in terms of winning -- one ups manship in terms of winning the conversation, then the counterpoint is trying to figure out what they may or may not agree with because a lot of times they're not that far apart and sometimes you blow people up but you want to hear the information. and in terms of the goals for the election, overall, i think one in five youth that didn't vote in the last election didn't vote because they didn't feel informed enough. and i think if we can at least create a place between our election hub which has a ton of resources that are localized to tell people almost everything you need to do about their polling places and issues and

things like that so you make it easier for them to vote and easier to register and then not feel silly about what they don't know. so there's a place for them to feel engaged and maybe that's a service we can provide and then in addition we'll do different things and partner with all the organizations to help find other ways we'll be doing throughout the year to find other verticals. >> you mentioned partnering with other organizations. you'll both be at the white house tomorrow, great organization to partner with it you want to get attention. and you're meeting with dozen of high school students to engage with them ahead of the election. you laid out the lay of the land on youth voters but i guess in trying to get a better sense, why do you think a lot of youth voters feel like they're not educated? they're online with all these resources and arguably have more resources than any other youths in the history of forever, what is it you think leads them to feel like they can't vote because they don't know enough? >> i think it's just the nature of being a teenager, isn't it?

in the 20's you just don't -- i consider myself -- i love politics now but not in my 20's. it wasn't on my landscape. that's understandable. the american story is one of constant awakening. that's the youth, the tip of the spear. the elderly are voting but they're maybe the rudder and mixing metaphors. but the youth is the bow. they're where we're going. is the bow the front? ok. good. so they're going to be splashed a lot. it's hard to know. but it actually is -- you need their involvement, you need their engagement. they're more emblematic of where

they're going. what did you say? eight million new gen-z voters? >> 8.3. >> a minute ago when i was a first time voter, i had other things important to me, did jenny like me? >> did she? >> still working on it. or whatever it was, you know. and i think now there's more information on those other things as well. there's more things for younger folks to be distracted by as well. and again, like you said, a part of growing up, people should do the things they want to do. if we can use whatever it is we have to create a space this can be an addition to that, we're not trying to judge folks how they want to spend their time or what they want to swipe through. >> or just the day you wake up and say, i should be more involved. the first time you say, i should know this stuff.

we all have that moment when we're young. there was a discussion at a party, i don't know a single thing what they were talking about, where do i go? >> oh, i guess i need to know a few things to get involved. >> and both for gen-z and anyone, if you are trying to find out these things, you do hit a lot of misinformation out there. there's a ton. i know you've created a safe space on the internet for information, but is there also a role for a starting point to play in sort of combating some of that misinformation in other areas? >> i don't know. listen, like i said, we have an extremely hard, overworked team of a handful of people. so to not break them, i don't know you can give everybody that job as well. but we look to branch out in other subjects, you know. we're finding other ways to involve experts that we never did before and there are subject matters we found that it's not

maybe best to have elected officials break it down because we realize maybe that makes information too hot and challenging to do that. we branched out in that way and will branch out in other subjects. a natural prosecution in talking about a.i. brings people to ask questions about other things in technology. we're going to continue to grow in that way. i think we'll figure out how far we can go based, quite frankly, eventually we've done this ourselves and will bring in financial partners and see how that goes and who we continue to work with. but i think, you know, we thought baby steps, they're at least toddler steps. but we'll see how much we can do. but we're very conscious that we're not you. and you're held to a very high bar and don't want to trip a wire that we can't handle. so i think we're in a good lane

now and we'll grow as fast as we can. >> i will say it makes sense. i know as a reporter, when everyone has so much of a demand for their attention, we're told often write concise and short and write in a way people can adjust to it quickly which means i can't spend several paragraphs reminding everyone the senate is controlled by democrats and you need 60 votes, da, da, da. do you get into those basics when it comes to the basics of the structure of government? >> we do. honestly, that's something we never thought of. >> the explainers are great. >> people love them. and they're breaking down -- again, chris and i get almost no credit in it. we shouldn't. we deserve no credit. we have a team of folks that think about ways and go through a process to communicate. one of the things we bring to the table is we are storytellers

so we try to revisit what we're doing and work with the team as we would if they were any kind of a team of storytellers and these stories are information and sometimes defining subjects. but they really work very hard in breaking things down in a digestible manner and that's something we'll grow on because people love them. >> you mentioned a couple times that you want the starting point to be its own thing and not to be a thing you're at the center of it. can i ask why? what's your thought behind it? >> one of the reasons i've made my opinions known so vocally, we don't want someone at face value to think we're pushing something. the nature of the site is bipartisan and information-based, not my opinion. i'm not an expert and not a journalist and have no right to be in this arena other than as a voter, as an american who wants to just play on the one string i have which is my voice, as we all should.

and i think -- i mean, a lot of the things i think turn people away from politics aside from the fact that certain issues are complex, we just don't think it works. forget politics, structural things, things like term limits and gerrymandering and things that build politics people become frustrated with. but voting changes that, too. voting, voting, it's such an important thing. >> and gerrymandering gets repeated over again and doesn't mean anything. you need a place to define that so people can be reminded when they see it, oh, actually, that is gerrymandering. >> creating engagement. creating a new generation of voters that care, that realize that simple thing voting, federal or state level, makes a difference. >> that's worth saying, too. you were asking what we're doing in the year, partnering with the national state legislatures organization.

and that's been fantastic. one of the things for me, you know, and this is not national statistics but i'll tell you maybe half or more of the issues that get discussed boil down to a states rights thing. and i'm shocked that i never thought about that until recently, right? so now we have -- now we work directly with the state legislators. and in a time where, what, you have 3100 counties and 2,000 of them don't have a local newspaper, state legislators need a voice in talking about their back yard which affects the country the way a lot of things are going. that's something we're actively doing and reaching out to talk to those folks to be a service to their communities. >> and they know you're working with the state council of state

legislatures and are there any specific states you're honing in on? >> absolutely not. we love all 50 of them. >> i also did want to talk a bit, because it goes with our discussion about young voters is the discussion of specific education. i'm a former education reporter and have written about how map and leading scores means less than civics and history according to the national segregation, only 22 were proficient in civics and 80% in history. and given the fact so many basics aren't picked up, how do you push the people to learning about their government when there's lack of education about the structure of it. >> partner with professionals. >> find people that do it better than you and partner with them. we don't pretend to have the answers but it's a matter of finding people in that arena and

understand how to reach those people and the best mechanism, they've done all the trial and error. >> close-up, they've been around for 50 years. and we're lucky enough to connect with them to not just guide us but to also, you know, help provide things that could be of service to their mission. that way it's not about what -- the big mistake would be suddenly we sit around and decide what the youth should be learning. >> there are those committed in that space and we use whatever it is we have to draw attention to and feed the organizations like what news is doing with bridge in colleges and what they're doing at close-up and others. >> you're not going to show up in a classroom one day and start with civics. >> we actually did plan on it. >> that was the original plan before covid happened. >> say more. >> we were excited to launch and all the in-person things we could do because there are ways

to lean on things like celebrity to get some temporary eyeballs and hopefully get people excited and turn on a few light bulbs. >> spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. >> am i the sugar or can i just hear that the way i wanted to? >> you guys have anything or consider stuff on your site as far as explaining the media and journalism? the media landscape of today is different than what it was a couple decades ago. i think there are so many more people calling themselves journalist and news organizations but more of a need to parse through and understand and categorize some of what is being written. >> i don't know it's our place -- we're very careful not to -- we're not here to pick apart what other people are doing. we choose to participate in a way that we can and we use our voice -- a.s.p. -- one of the things i'm most proud of is the tone and voice of a.s.p.

and again, quite frankly, the team is now -- if we went away tomorrow, they're subservient and beyond us and there's a north star and we're committed to that. it's not our place to take apart how other people are doing it but hope -- >> is there, say, an explain forehow the media works and something that kind of helps folks get their foot in the door to being able to understand the vast context they have right now. >> i don't know i know how it works. i don't know i can speak to how. there's no denying it, i'm sure everyone in this room is held to certain journalistic standards. the integrity of the job you do, i'm sure you see how it's completely perverted through social media, click bait things, people calling themselves journalists on a daily basis and that's unfortunate but that's where a lot of people do get

news. >> on the other side of it, i think 200 counties have no newspaper at all, not even a daily newspaper, no newspaper. and you can easily go back to boss hog, i might have really made a dated reference. >> did you make something up? >> the dukes of hazard. now i'm slightly embarrassed. but i think, gosh, it's tough for the business of media. we definitely see that. but, you know, i could go through 10 stories, five stories off the top of my head in the last two months of mass firings of papers going down, and they're all people trying to figure out how to speak to an audience in a way that pays for the people to do all of that work. so i think we're at an interesting -- everything is in flux, right? >> you talked about partners, if you want to partner about teaching people of media and

reading the news, i know an organization that does a lot with journalists. >> your cookie was slightly better than the a.s.p. i'm superopen. >> we have a couple questions here from the audience. one, how are you funding this and do you have various public support? how can folks support you? >> we have self-funded it to this point. we are now partnering with other folks and we are now beginning to work with other financial partners. it was tricky especially in the beginning because part of the original conceit of this site is you don't know where the information is coming from and who is paying for it. somehow the solution was us. >> just do it ourselves. >> but as it's grown and to achieve our mission and to grow, we'll now take on partners but it's tricky and it started but so far we're a not for profit in the sense we haven't made any money. >> i will say we do have time

for a couple questions from the audience. i think there's some staffers around you can pass your cards to or feel free to hand us -- i see you, sir, with a card. feel free to hand it up. nope. never mind. you obviously have the hollywood background and a lot of ties and connections to hollywood. what do your celebrity peers think about what you're doing and have you seen sort of momentum build inside hollywood, inside the west coast for helping out with some of these initiatives which so far have a lot of people -- >> that's kind of been the ace up our sleeve when do we make those hollywood calls? when do i have to say, will cow do this soon? -- will you come do this soon? >> for one thing, hollywood is like d.c. and they'll be timid until they know what they're stepping in to. for a few years we have something to point to, this is truly bipartisan, information-based, and driven in

an academic manner. hopefully, yeah. >> we've gotten a lot of good feedback from our peers. people do respectbecause they recognize it's tricky waters to navigate. >> some actors stay clear and i realize it's not worth a phone call but other buddies would jump in in a heartbeat. >> it's important that whoever we involve it's servitude to the mission a.s.p. has. and there are different folks that can bring attention to different things and areas, or open up a conversation in pockets around the country. i think that will be an interesting thing to play with. but it's got to be specific and not a gimmick. and so we're figuring that out in pieces as we go. >> you say open up the conversation in pockets of the country, is there a particular spot you have in mind for where? >> no, listen, there's lots of different places where people are from, you know.

>> the tail might wag the dog. depending who might be interested in doing it, you can say what are you interested in, where are you from, what's your passion and what you want to talk about? >> go from there? >> yes. >> i know that we are almost out of time and now i feel guilty since everyone passed up their questions doing it. i will ask just one more quick question. there's a table of g-z in the back if you want to chat with them in the back. >> hey, gen-z table. you put them in the back. work your way up. >> how do you currently sustain engagement? just given that everything moves as quickly as it does. i'm thinking, you talk about news cycles in d.c. and it's surprising it was last week or a week ago we were talking about a shutdown and now it's on a tax

bill and also immigration but also ukraine, how do you keep up and make sure people are informed when the news in real time moves so quickly. >> when theres an influx of information, that's a good thing. we're coming into an election year and it's like owning a snowplow before a blizzard. it's good to have this sort of site. there's no shortage of information but a lot more work for the other folks at the table. >> we can't do everything which is one of the reasons why we'll grow. have a need and do feel the sense of responsibility. by have a team and yearning desire to take the thing we built and very proud of and throw more at it. we can't hit everything. if we don't have the resource to deal with that one, something else will be there and we do what we do.