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?

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?

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.

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.

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-the-dc-area-stifle-innovation/

While I do not want it to be true, I think it may be a factor

take care

jimmy

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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/community-of-people.html

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.

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.

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.

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.