While in high school in Santa Monica, Green was interested in politics and community activism. According to a Los Angeles Times story, Green "ran for the local school board when he was 17 and campaigned for a living wage for Santa Monica hotel and restaurant workers." Green is Jewish.
College
In the Fall of 2003, while an undergraduate at Harvard University, Joe Green helped Mark Zuckerberg create Facemash, a website that allowed users to compare and rate the faces of Harvard undergraduates for attractiveness. Both Green and Zuckerberg were threatened with expulsion by Harvard's administrative board. Green had reportedly attempted to persuade Mark Zuckerberg to create a social network centered around politics, but Zuckerberg created Facebook instead. In light of the trouble with Facemash, Green's father advised him against collaborating with Zuckerberg on projects similar to Facemash in the future. As a result, Green declined Zuckerberg's offer of shares in Facebook. Had Green accepted, these shares would have been worth billions of dollars at the time of the Facebook IPO. Green studied under Marshall Ganz, who sparked his interest further in community activism and grassroots organizing. In 2004, Green worked on Democratic nominee John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. In 2005, Green started Essembly, a nonpartisan social network that helped connect people with others who shared their political views.
Causes
In 2007, Green co-founded Causes along with Sean Parker, famous for co-founding Plaxo and for his early involvement with Facebook and Napster. The Causes platform enables users to create grassroots groups that take action on a social issue or support a specific non-profit organization. These groups, individually called a "cause," are building blocks for most activity on the site. To fundraise, a cause must identify a registered nonprofit in the United States or Canada.
Joe Green briefly served as the president of a company called NationBuilder which enabled politicians to create their own campaign websites with minimal technical knowledge. In February 2013, Green stepped down from his role as President of the company.
FWD.us
In April 2013, a lobbying group called FWD.us was launched with Joe Green as the president. The group, with staff in both Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. and with most of its contributors from the Silicon Valley area, aims to lobby the United States government for its vision of immigration reform, improvements to education, and enabling breakthrough technologies with benefits widely distributed to the public. Prior to the launch of the group, a prospectus prepared by Green for prospective donors was leaked to Politico. Green admitted to some factual inaccuracies, outdated information, and misleading statements in the prospectus when questioned about it. In September 2014, Re/code reported that Joe Green was leaving FWD.us, and his departure appeared to have been forced. A blog post on the FWD.us website confirmed the leadership change.
