government-affairs
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National Journal Went Back to the Future
The weekly magazine disappeared. The company survived by noticing that Washington did not need more information nearly as much as it needed information already shaped for Monday morning.
FGS Global Built a Control Room for the Moment Everyone Starts Calling
Four old firms, one modern problem: when markets, politics and public opinion collide, the client cannot afford four separate advisers. FGS Global made integration its product - and complexity its market.
The Ad Agency That Learned to Move a City
R&R Partners wrote four words that escaped advertising and entered the language. The more revealing trick is what happened next: the Las Vegas agency learned to treat campaigns as coalitions, cities as products and persuasion as infrastructure.
The Six-Year Yes: How PolicyWorks Sells Patience in a Town Built on Deadlines
PolicyWorks spent six years helping fantasy sports clear the Iowa Legislature. Its real product is not a press release or a lobbyist's handshake - it is the stubborn coordination of politics, publicity and time.
Innsena Bet on the Buyers Health Tech Kept Overlooking
When private digital-health funding tightened, the Atlanta consultancy shifted its balance toward Medicaid, public health, and government-backed work. The move turned policy fluency and relationships into a practical go-to-market advantage.
The Company That Knows Which Door Opens Next
Bondi Partners sells something more useful than access: a map of who matters, what changes next, and how an ambitious company turns policy into a contract.
Eight Clients Walked Out the Door With Him
Laurel Strategies started with no staff, no infrastructure and eight CEOs willing to follow its founder. A decade later, that origin still explains the product: judgment, access and attention when the script has stopped working.
The Lobbying Firm That Learned to Run the Whole Room
NorthStar Strategies does not stop at opening doors in Trenton. It lobbies, runs associations, stages events, raises money, and explains infrastructure projects to the neighbors - a small firm's answer to problems that refuse to stay in one lane.
Culloton + Bauer Luce Knows the First Four Hours Are the Whole Game
The Chicago boutique does not sell a prettier press release. It builds compact political campaigns for companies with a regulator, a newsroom or an angry neighborhood at the door.
The Lobbying Firm That Outgrew Its Own Name
Prism Group spent years adding policy, communications and creative muscle. Then, in 2026, it admitted the obvious: the old label no longer described the work.
The Cookie That Asked the Publicist to Stop
Nicholas & Lence sells a rare New York combination: the ability to make a story travel and the judgment to know when enough people have heard it.
The Lobbyists Who Learned to Run the Meeting After the Meeting
For 55 years, California Advocates has sold access to the policy process. Its more revealing invention was learning to run the associations that need it.
David Perry & Associates knows who needs to be in the room
A San Francisco communications firm built its practice around mayors, museums, neighborhood crowds and the occasional Olympic flame. Its useful trick: understanding who needs to hear the story before deciding how to tell it.
Intesa knows who needs to hear it
A San Diego communications firm built its business where reputation meets public policy. Its most revealing work starts before anyone writes a press release.
Saaba knows the value of being in the room
From policy advice in Erbil to women’s business gatherings in Dubai, Saaba puts relationships at the center of its communications business.
FiscalNote Turns Capitol Chaos Into a Search Bar
For teams buried under bills, rules and hearings, FiscalNote offers one disciplined place to watch government move. The coverage is broad, the workflow is practical, and the price still begins with a conversation.
Leigh Dow Learned to Market What Cannot Fail
From a Florida governor's communications office to Mattermost's first C-suite marketing post, Leigh Dow has built a career translating complicated systems for people who cannot afford confusion.
Armand Iorgulescu Learned Politics the Hard Way - Then Built a Machine to Read the Fine Print
A bill died in the final 48 hours because one quiet line escaped the people paid to watch it. For Armand Iorgulescu, that miss became the blueprint for Fed10.
Overture Ventures
Most climate investors bring capital and a network. Overture adds a policy desk - helping technical founders turn the machinery of government from a maze into a market advantage.
Fed10
Fed10 is a full-stack AI legislative consulting firm that monitors every bill introduced across all 50 U.S. state legislatures and Congress, classifies whether each bill is a threat or opportunity to a specific client, drafts amendment language, and maps out who to call and what to say. Founded in 2025 by three former teenage lobbyists who dropped out of Harvard, Williams, and Berkeley, it aims to do the work of a $500/hour policy consultant in seconds instead of days.
Hydra Mendoza
Hydra Mendoza is the VP and Chief of Strategic Relationships in the Office of the Chair and CEO at Salesforce, where she builds and stewards key stakeholder relationships across government, community, and corporate sectors. A native San Franciscan born to a Filipino military family, she made history as the first and only Filipina ever elected to office in San Francisco - serving three terms on the SF Unified School District Board. Her career spans community organizing, mayoral advising, school board leadership, and overseeing communications for the nation's largest public school system before joining Salesforce, where she co-architected the company's original educational investments alongside Marc Benioff.