There is obviously a lot of good things happening here in the DC area with regards to our local tech community and some of the startups that are being born out of it. But I can’t help but feel that many of us here have developed a bit of a complex, whether we know it or not. I am as guilty as the next person. I mean one of the reasons I started this blog was to bring some more focus onto the great things happening here in the area. I have been so happy to meet such good people in the process who are doing great things and fighting the good fight to get their glimmers of ideas to come to fruition. However, I think we have developed the “We are trying to start a company here in DC and its definitely not Silicon Valley, or Seattle, or Boston, or …”. Many of us are constantly striving to find that tangible, or intangible thing we seem to be missing here is DC and many a posts are being written and comments left on the subject.
All that being said, this idea of the complex popped into my head the other day while catching up on some reading I had set aside. The article I was on was a Washington Post article featuring LaunchBox Digital. We have written about LaunchBox here before after we saw one of the founders interviewed on The Social Times and Nick O’Neill. At the time it seemed like LaunchBox was the perfect company at the right time for DC. A local incubator that was going to help get the blossoming tech community here off the ground. The firstpart of the article was about some actual funding the group received lately from some local investors. What caught me off guard was the next part.
San Francisco ? Isn’t that somewhere near Silicon Valley ? Don’t they have lots of VC money out there ?
I’ll be honest, I was a bit surprised, and frankly a bit disappointed. And I wasn’t the only one. I saw a comment by Ann Bernard, CEO of WhyGoSolo a local DC startup
My thoughts exactly. For a firm that proposed to help support and grow the local “DC” tech community, I am not sure this was a terrific first step.
So with this in mind, is it surprising to think that we may have developed a bit of a complex ? How can we not to be honest ? A local firm decides to invest their first bit of cash on the other side of the country ? I think it will be very curious to see how many local startups actually get selected to participate in LaunchBox08, their summer startup incubation program along the lines on Y-Combinator.
So what do you think, complex or not, or just growing pains ?
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When I was in NYC on Jeff’s show last Tuesday…one of the in-studio guest used to be part of an Angel Group and works with many Angel Groups and his question was “Why are you staying in DC?” A question we keep getting. He knows a lot of Boston Angels he could introduce me to, but they won’t invest in a company in DC. He said we could have better luck with NYC Angels. Our options are so limited here in so many ways. No matter how amazing the entrepreneurs are in this area and how much work we do…if the early seed backing isn’t there with $$ this area will never be a thriving web/tech type start-up environment.
It will be interesting to see who the entrepreneurs are that take part of the LaunchBox Digital Program and what comes of those companies. IMHO had they invested in a local startup to start with that would have encouraged others to trust them and turned the eyes of the community on this area which would have been in their favor. With that being said…their program will turn some eyes our way so lets hope it they can execute properly.
Great post. I think we might talk about this on District of Corruption on Tuesday.
Interesting post Jimmy… Ann had some good insights…
It may be a challenge getting over the perception that DC is just a mecca for politics and government…
Great post! Thanks for bringing light to that point, I completely missed that Washington Post article. You know whats interesting is that it seems like so many individuals are after investment from firms like LaunchBox Digital or Y-Combinator. It also seems like a lot of time is wasted going after firms like this and other VC’s, time that could be used in developing and improving the business itself….
I find the interesting part of it is that both LaunchBox Digital and Y-Combinator only give up a few thousand in actual cash to get a company going. Most of the value is in the network of individuals working at and advising these firms.
I say let LaunchBox Digital invest in companies from SanFran; good luck to them! Why don’t we all, as the heart of the DC entrepreneurial community, start our own version if we want to guarantee that this group will only focus on DC startups. Between all our networks and contacts, we could probably reach the same networks as those individuals at LaunchBox Digital…
Anyone out there interested in coming up with a club, association, company (I don’t know what you would call it at this point..) then we should explore the option more. It sounds exciting to me, and maybe even help spark more growth in our area. I would love to be a part of group like that. I would be willing to do a huge amount of work for shares in an early stage startup!
Chris,
I think that is a great idea. Use the local VC’s lack of support as motivation to succeed.
Seth Godin has a good entry in his blog today about the forces of mediocrity resistance increasing as you progress and ends with “..without people pushing against your quest to do something worth talking about, it’s unlikely it would be worth the journey.”
Keep that in mind and push back.
Some really good points from everyone. WhyGoSolo wasn’t the only local venture that they passed on and it won’t be the last either. The one thing that everyone needs to remember is that there is no shortcut to success. To get somewhere you have to have a combination of good ideas, people, strategy and the ability to execute. As for the us vs. them discussion, I don’t think that is a bad thing. A little competition can go a long way to motivate folks.