Meet Patrick Utz | CEO, Co-Founder

Read the full article here: https://shoutoutla.com/meet-patrick-utz-ceo-co-founder/

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?

‍Over the last two years, Abstract has grown into a venture backed startup with 12 employees, and a mission to increase government transparency. My co-founders and I have utilized our diverse backgrounds to make lobbying accessible by building a collaborative platform that helps organizations search, track, and influence bills in government. Abstract has enabled customers like Snapchat, the Milken Institute, and GenUp, to better digest government bills, and map out potential implications.

We’re excited to pave the way towards making lobbying accessible down to the individual level, and re-imagine how democratic societies interact with their respective governments. We believe our enterprise tech will be key in how Abstract helps promote unity, and overcome the ever-increasing division society is experiencing as a whole.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

I just moved to Sac! We made the decision to move our headquarters here to be closer to the state capitol, and our customers. So far, I really love Gunther’s Ice Cream, the Sac Co-op, and Wedashii sushi.

The biggest hack to Sacramento is that you can drive to SF in 1hr 20min, Napa Valley in 40min, and Lake Tahoe in 1hr 30 min. I’ve mostly been hitting the ski slopes in Tahoe every Saturday.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

There are easily 30+ people I’m 100% indebted to for helping us get Abstract off the ground. However, I’d like to highlight the role that Dr. David Choi from Loyola Marymount University played in inspiring us three co-founders to pursue our own venture. If it weren’t for his early mentorship and advice, Abstract would have remained a school project.

His role really highlights the importance of mentorship in the early stages. Once you grow, your network expands, and resources become readily available. But in the early stages, it’s people like David who truly make a difference in planting those initial “strategic seeds”.