Social Times: What’s the Future of D.C. Technology?
Jared Goralnick
· 1 year ago
Nick,
I agree that we've taken some heat in the press of-late, but I also don't think that they've been overty critical in the past. The Post has very little local business news (one day/week) and small tech is rarely mentioned. Maybe that's the real issue...but to Kendra and Zach's credit, they did provide a lot of coverage of startup weekend and the tech community a few months back...and nothing really negative up until this recent article.
We're in an interesting community, because we have an international newspaper that we expect to care about a sector that's not big on people's minds here, in comparison to big business and government contracting. Most cities don't even have a paper that gets read outside of their 30 mile radius. So I guess any coverage is either damning or inspiring...but it doesn't necessarily surprise me how little we get.
As for blogging, it would be great if more people would cover the scene. It begs the question of whether we need more of the west coast interested in our writing, or whether we ought to be commenting on each others' writing more. But either way, any publicity that talks about our events and companies growing is a good thing.
Keith Casey
· 1 year ago
I think they're missing the change in mindset too...
In the past, the economic success of an industry/area/etc was based on having a couple major players/employers in the area. While those are still strong indicators and aren't irrelevant, they're only part of the picture. In the last couple years, the number, variety, and types of tech companies in the area has not only exploded, but they're becoming better connected.
I think this is where DC is excelling and growing in ways that the WaPo doesn't detect and probably can't get their minds around... yet.
Jason Garber
· 1 year ago
Nick, thanks for posting this, it rather concisely sums up a couple of the rants (as Martin would say) I've had floating around my head.
As you mention, having 100+ folks brave the cold and impending bad weather (two months in a row now!) to attend a gathering like Refresh blows my mind and should silence any criticism regarding a "lack of community" in the DC area.
Marc Hausman
· 1 year ago
As a service provider to the DC region's technology community, this is obviously an important issue for my firm. I have two thoughts about the ingredients necessary for a vibrant community:
1. It's ultimately about the quality of management who run our region's emerging growth companies. I recently wrote about this in follow-up to a meeting I had with the new CEO at Reston-based CorasWorks:
2. A strong desire to take risks. In a meeting with a client this week who is very much a serial entrepreneur we talked about this issue. He said that VCs in this region swing for doubles, while in the Valley it's about the big score. Even if that means a majority of a VC firm's investments eventually don't work out.
Ann Bernard
· 1 year ago
Nick...you know this is a topic near and dear to me and I've been continuously brewing on it. I will do a post to share my full thoughts but you hit on all the major points. I think everyone still needs to be more active. We're not there yet because we haven't cracked the nut on what role everyone is playing to grow our community. It involves different involvement for the various people in the community.
Nick O'Neill
· 1 year ago
@Ann, I agree aside from the roles position. A community naturally exists. You have naturally occurring leaders and as such I think we are starting to see that take place. In regards to people being "assigned" a role I think everyone will naturally figure out what role they want to play and it will happen.
We just need to continue providing venues for the discussion to take place and then eventually we will see this community grow. I think it's happening we just need to continue the discussion and build the buzz.
Nick O'Neill
· 1 year ago
@Kiem, totally agree. Don't need to imitate ... just need to (as I said on the last comment) build the buzz. As I said in the post "While we may not have the same mixture of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, developers, designers and tech bloggers as Silicon Valley, we definitely have a great mix."
Jared Goralnick
· 1 year ago
As a side, there was some good positive coverage of the area by Zachary today:
I'm not at all playing down this issue--negative articles may piss us off, but the good news is that we have an awesome community here.
Kiem Tjong
· 1 year ago
Nick: Re the line in your article: "we won’t see the influx of continuous web focused venture funding."
Is that referring to funding of web technology or web 2.0 startups? Because i do think our local culture is not in sync with the web category....we should do better with more traditional techs like biomed or IT hardware.
The formula the guys out west are using for Web2.0 is "think it up, build it, run it, monitor it and if it does not get traction real fast (like a month) move on to the next thing". That mindset will not do well here, but with low barriers of entry you really do need speed for web 2.0 I think we are thorough but not speedy.
Jimmy
· 1 year ago
Hi Nick,
As usual great post. I often have a lot of these questions kicking around in my head. Dont know if you saw this or not, but I wrote this a couple of weeks ago about this very, almost very, topic.
While I do not want it to be true, I think it may be a factor
take care
jimmy
Brian Wynne Williams
· 1 year ago
Thanks for keeping this discussion going, Nick.
First, on AOL: I personally think that AOL's move will be a boost to the local web community, at least in the short-term. At Viget, we have a couple of new start-up clients founded by former AOLers, and we've talked with a number of potential hires who have left or are leaving. So, from my point of view, it's a bunch of experienced, talented people getting mixed into the community in new ventures, which is exciting.
Second, on funding: I met with a small group of angels and VCs a couple of weeks ago where the topic of discussion was: where are the good emerging companies around here to fund? It was the exact flip of the conversation I normally have with entrepreneurs looking for smaller investments. I think there's interest out there on both sides, but the start-ups need to be really solid ideas, and the funding sources need to be sincerely interested in early-stage. That connection will happen for the right ventures.
I agree that we need more of a "culture of risk" and I agree with Kiem's comment about failing fast. What will boost the community ultimately is wins. When a Clearsping or a Mixx sees a big exit, for example, those kinds of deals will be exciting, and will usher in a whole new group of start-ups and funders.
I don't think what's "missing" is big media coverage. That will come if we earn it as a community. What's missing is a more open, active business culture where individuals and companies share whatever they can -- knowledge, connections, office space -- and where the results are tangible (more start-ups, more exits, etc.), even if they aren't direct.
There's a core of us doing our part, and I think it's spreading. I'm optimistic about the future for this area, regardless of the current buzz in major media. They'll catch on.
Geoff Livingston
· 1 year ago
We discussed the same thing on last Tuesday's District of Corruption. AOL has been dead for some time, so this is a good thing. What may be more harmful is Sprint's exodus.
And Thursday's SMC event was also a big hit. Just goes to show you, the Washington Post is out of touch with its community. Ironic, isn't it?
Office Interior Design
· 7 months ago
There are a few points that I think are critical to this conversation as I’ll outline below but ultimately it’s the participants that decide what will really happen.
Wii Fit
· 7 months ago
Since that article was published I’ve had a number of conversations with individuals active in the community.
Florida News
· 7 months ago
There are a number of people that have been criticized for not being highly active in the community and I still think that’s the case but it’s changing rapidly.
Conference Professionals
· 7 months ago
In Silicon Valley, company executives of larger companies attend events and brush shoulders with aspiring entrepreneurs.
Electrical Switch Sockets
· 7 months ago
The second thing missing is a culture of risk that exists out west. I don’t think we’ll ever have the same culture of risk but we can sure embrace it and encourage others to take risks.
big loan
· 6 months ago
I agree with Marc Housmen comments and i'll support him..It's ultimately about the quality of management who run our region's emerging growth companies.
Kiem Tjong
· 1 year ago
Nick is right on the second reason, that of our culture of risk.....what do you expect when 80% of all business in our town originates from the US government....US gov rightfully buys products and services that are "proven" and have been operational for years....discourages risk....you get penalized here for doing risky things.
Also, that stat about the high density of technology specialists and researchers in DC is misleading....we do have the highest concentration in the country of advanced and post graduate degrees....please think about what that says about our tolerance for risk....go count how many advanced degrees there are among the entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.....look up the number of bachelor vs advanced degrees held by groundbreaking entrepreneurs in the US overall and that should tell you something....think about why a person who has invested many years of her life in an advanced education should want to throw that all away to go start a new company as compared with a person who barely or did not get a bachelor's education....look at the mindset and personality of an entrepreneur and realize that here in DC many of us who like careful analysis, thorough planning and time for extensive documentation tend to frown on that.
...there are many other reasons why we do not have the culture and resulting business community in DC that they have in Silicon Valley but they are too numerous for me to commit here. Rather than try to imitate Silicon Valley's model we should try a different one that suits our culture and demographic more easily.
All Comments
I agree that we've taken some heat in the press of-late, but I also don't think that they've been overty critical in the past. The Post has very little local business news (one day/week) and small tech is rarely mentioned. Maybe that's the real issue...but to Kendra and Zach's credit, they did provide a lot of coverage of startup weekend and the tech community a few months back...and nothing really negative up until this recent article.
But I didn't much appreciate that article, and wrote my own response here.
We're in an interesting community, because we have an international newspaper that we expect to care about a sector that's not big on people's minds here, in comparison to big business and government contracting. Most cities don't even have a paper that gets read outside of their 30 mile radius. So I guess any coverage is either damning or inspiring...but it doesn't necessarily surprise me how little we get.
As for blogging, it would be great if more people would cover the scene. It begs the question of whether we need more of the west coast interested in our writing, or whether we ought to be commenting on each others' writing more. But either way, any publicity that talks about our events and companies growing is a good thing.
In the past, the economic success of an industry/area/etc was based on having a couple major players/employers in the area. While those are still strong indicators and aren't irrelevant, they're only part of the picture. In the last couple years, the number, variety, and types of tech companies in the area has not only exploded, but they're becoming better connected.
I think this is where DC is excelling and growing in ways that the WaPo doesn't detect and probably can't get their minds around... yet.
As you mention, having 100+ folks brave the cold and impending bad weather (two months in a row now!) to attend a gathering like Refresh blows my mind and should silence any criticism regarding a "lack of community" in the DC area.
1. It's ultimately about the quality of management who run our region's emerging growth companies. I recently wrote about this in follow-up to a meeting I had with the new CEO at Reston-based CorasWorks:
http://strategicguy.blogspot.com/2008/02/commun...
2. A strong desire to take risks. In a meeting with a client this week who is very much a serial entrepreneur we talked about this issue. He said that VCs in this region swing for doubles, while in the Valley it's about the big score. Even if that means a majority of a VC firm's investments eventually don't work out.
We just need to continue providing venues for the discussion to take place and then eventually we will see this community grow. I think it's happening we just need to continue the discussion and build the buzz.
Wash Post Blog
I'm not at all playing down this issue--negative articles may piss us off, but the good news is that we have an awesome community here.
Is that referring to funding of web technology or web 2.0 startups? Because i do think our local culture is not in sync with the web category....we should do better with more traditional techs like biomed or IT hardware.
The formula the guys out west are using for Web2.0 is "think it up, build it, run it, monitor it and if it does not get traction real fast (like a month) move on to the next thing". That mindset will not do well here, but with low barriers of entry you really do need speed for web 2.0 I think we are thorough but not speedy.
As usual great post. I often have a lot of these questions kicking around in my head. Dont know if you saw this or not, but I wrote this a couple of weeks ago about this very, almost very, topic.
http://eastcoastblogging.com/2008/02/10/does-th...
While I do not want it to be true, I think it may be a factor
take care
jimmy
First, on AOL: I personally think that AOL's move will be a boost to the local web community, at least in the short-term. At Viget, we have a couple of new start-up clients founded by former AOLers, and we've talked with a number of potential hires who have left or are leaving. So, from my point of view, it's a bunch of experienced, talented people getting mixed into the community in new ventures, which is exciting.
Second, on funding: I met with a small group of angels and VCs a couple of weeks ago where the topic of discussion was: where are the good emerging companies around here to fund? It was the exact flip of the conversation I normally have with entrepreneurs looking for smaller investments. I think there's interest out there on both sides, but the start-ups need to be really solid ideas, and the funding sources need to be sincerely interested in early-stage. That connection will happen for the right ventures.
I agree that we need more of a "culture of risk" and I agree with Kiem's comment about failing fast. What will boost the community ultimately is wins. When a Clearsping or a Mixx sees a big exit, for example, those kinds of deals will be exciting, and will usher in a whole new group of start-ups and funders.
I don't think what's "missing" is big media coverage. That will come if we earn it as a community. What's missing is a more open, active business culture where individuals and companies share whatever they can -- knowledge, connections, office space -- and where the results are tangible (more start-ups, more exits, etc.), even if they aren't direct.
There's a core of us doing our part, and I think it's spreading. I'm optimistic about the future for this area, regardless of the current buzz in major media. They'll catch on.
And Thursday's SMC event was also a big hit. Just goes to show you, the Washington Post is out of touch with its community. Ironic, isn't it?
Also, that stat about the high density of technology specialists and researchers in DC is misleading....we do have the highest concentration in the country of advanced and post graduate degrees....please think about what that says about our tolerance for risk....go count how many advanced degrees there are among the entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.....look up the number of bachelor vs advanced degrees held by groundbreaking entrepreneurs in the US overall and that should tell you something....think about why a person who has invested many years of her life in an advanced education should want to throw that all away to go start a new company as compared with a person who barely or did not get a bachelor's education....look at the mindset and personality of an entrepreneur and realize that here in DC many of us who like careful analysis, thorough planning and time for extensive documentation tend to frown on that.
...there are many other reasons why we do not have the culture and resulting business community in DC that they have in Silicon Valley but they are too numerous for me to commit here. Rather than try to imitate Silicon Valley's model we should try a different one that suits our culture and demographic more easily.
K. Tjong