Axios Finish Line: Hey, Dad! We built an app
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James VandeHei Jr., 21, is a rising senior at High Point University and a Division I soccer player. He brings us the backstory of an app that launched Thursday (and is moving up the news chart):
My dad's letter on AI, which dropped in Axios Finish Line in January, came right as I was starting to go deep into the technology myself. Along with two buddies — Charlie Stallmer at Holy Cross and Chris Brophy at the University of Denver, also college juniors — I was already thinking about building an app.
The idea: After a summer on the Hill, the three of us had the same realization. Voting records, campaign finance and legislative activity are technically public — but practically buried. Even on the official Congress.gov, breaking down a single bill means sifting through legislative language no normal person should have to translate.
- Politik is a nonpartisan, data-driven guide to how your leaders vote and where they get their campaign funds. Just submit your ZIP code and Politik does the rest. You can ask questions about issues and legislative procedure, and say how you'd vote on hot bills.
Zoom out: The three of us are international relations majors. Not one of us had any prior experience coding or developing. For the first time in history, that didn't seem to be an issue.
- Using AI, we mapped out a path and built a strategy. We learned how to create motion graphics, animations, automated email marketing campaigns, app prototypes and much more.
Our secret sauce: The actual app was built by a self-taught programmer and AI savant, Nate Laquis. Nate, like us, didn't study computer science or programming. He was a finance major, driven by passion and curiosity, and has now started a software-building agency, Kanopy Labs. Nate worked his magic with our app, Politik, building the software in under three months.
Reality check: None of us went to college to study computers or software development. We didn't have to. Using AI, we built a fast, smooth app that hit the App Store on Thursday. Democracy ... now with receipts.
What I've learned:
- AI amplifies your passions. That's true for everyone — me, my dad, Nate, my grandmother. Every day, it seems, there's a new model. A new tool. A new must-use product. My advice: Pick one thing you're truly passionate about and explore it with AI. What you'll find is that you learn more about AI than you do the actual topic.
- Context is king. Create skills and memory files for your model to reference for everyday tasks. A simple example: We make all our video content using Claude Code. Every time we shoot a video, we have Claude analyze a file using every previous post, our brand guidelines and our video development skills. A process that used to take hours or days now takes us 20 minutes.
- Take pride in your prompt. Sounds simple. But the more time you spend on an LLM, the more tempting it gets to abbreviate or brush past important details. That'll come back to bite you. Take the time. Think through exactly what you want.
The bottom line: This is just the beginning of Politik. We want to build a community of passionate, engaged people hungry to inform themselves. We believe in fighting fire with facts. Politik is an unfinished canvas — and we want you all to help finish it.
- Be blunt with your feedback. Email me anything: [email protected].
