Prior to the Twin Tech Party (the Twin Tech II RSVP is here) I posted here on iStrategyLabs that I wanted people to start talking about creating a startup incubator in the heart of DC that will support entrepreneurs who are building the next iteration of the web.
Low and behold, people came out of the woodwork and got me up to speed on the plans our fair city is already undertaking to make that happen! As it turns out, the Washington DC Economic Partnership and The Emerging Technology Consortium are in the midst of a feasibility study to determine if a full blown startup incubator is something our regions needs and would put to good use. My answer is obviously YES!
The group conducting the feasibility study has asked me to help gather as much input as possible from the community on this topic, so I’m asking you to please do the following:
1) Take five minutes to complete the following survey whose results will determine a) if this incubator gets built, and b) what it would look like if it does. Click here for the DC Area Entrepreneur Survey.
2) If you have a webcam, please leave me a videomail with a blurb on why you think we need an incubator. Talk about what you would use it for, how it would help the startup community and whatever else you think we need to know. Click here or the image below to initiate a video call/video mail:
3) Please take another moment to blog about this, email this post/survey link to an interested party, and/or tell anyone and everyone that we’re in the process of bringing to life what could become a vital new entity in DC.
I’ve made it my personal mission to help the Capital Region become the tech mecca that it should be. If we do our job right, people will be flocking here in the next five years to join the most vibrant startup culture outside the valley (we’re already well on our way there). Please lend a hand by tackling #1, #2 and #3 right now!
July 29th, 2008 at 1:37 am
Are you trying to start a DC incubator or one in Charlottesville, VA? Your survey is from a company based there.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:54 am
I wanted to let you know there is already a DC incubator program that just launched its first set of nine portfolio companies last week. It is called LaunchBox Digital and is similar to Y Combinator in Silicon Valley or TechStars in Boulder.
I attended the first LaunchBox Digital demo day last week and was impressed with what these companies were able to do over the summer with just a little seed funding. So I thought you should know that they already have started to help to make “the Capital Region a tech mecca” by making a place you can get some seed funding. I could see there being room for more such programs in the DC area.
Check out some of the companies that were part of the program:
http://www.somewhatfrank.com/2008/08/launchboxdigita.html
August 12th, 2008 at 11:41 am
@Frank I’m certainly well aware of Launchbox and they’re doing great things
I was sad not to be able to make it out to their demo day last week, as I was too slammed with client work.
That being said, the incubator that’s being investigated at the moment is meant to be a DC government + private sector collaboration as far as I know which would make it a bit different than Launchbox. It seems they’ve been investigating this for a little while, and only recently have become tuned into what the new tech crowd has been up to and perhaps what Launchbox is up to as well. I’m just helping them get feedback from the right audience via their survey.
Personally, what I’d like to see is a place for all startups/entrepreneurs to be able to come to regardless of whether they’ve been selected as a portfolio company or not - if the DC Gov can fund that, and private investors can provide the human and financial capital to accelerate the growth of the best new companies, I think that would be a valuable - and not redundant - thing for the capital region.