We’re mere hours away from the new JOBS act being signed into law. While it’s an all-around awesome bill for entrepreneurs, the fact that it will legalize crowdfunding in startups by non-accredited investors will revolutionize the way startups are built. Take where we are at this moment with Contactually. We have thousands of users. A large portion are heavy users. Our paid user...
the year I got a dog. the year I asked Alex to marry me. the first year I went to SXSW. the first time I visited Europe. the year I hired my first employee. the year that the DC startup community blew up. the year I got involved in community building. the year I spent way too much time in airports. the year that I finally dropped everything to pursue a grand vision. the year that I first raised...
One year ago today, we launched ProudlyMadeInDC. I sent out this message to our mailing list In the wee hours of the morning, on December 2nd, 2010, the two of us started throwing together a simple WordPress site, after a dinner discussion with other entrepreneurs about improving the scene in DC. We posted a list of startups that we knew about (a total of 40!), and shared it with a few close...
I had an idea. (repeat 1,000,000x) I had an idea. I wrote it down. (repeat 86x – based on Evernote usage since August ’09) I had an idea. I wrote it down. I talked to a lot of people about it. (repeat ~30x) I had an idea. I wrote it down. I did a basic landing page, or mockups. (repeat ~20x) I had an idea. I wrote it down. I did a basic landing page, or mockups. I told everyone I know...
It’s legend* that Cortez, upon reaching Vera Cruz, burned his ships so there was no way for him and his crew to retreat. It was all-or-nothing from then on out. My last post (back in July, #blogfail) was about the challenges we faced consulting while building our startup (then called Enforcery, now renamed to Contactually). We were starting to get into a pretty good rhythm of ensuring...
Since the last startup I was CTO of was acquired in 2009, I’ve been working for other startups and agencies as a consultant. While my main goal in life is to be building startups that I am the founder/co-founder of, consulting has been a great way to pay the bills while I iterate with different products, ideas, and people, figuring out the next big thing to throw myself into with all my...
The past sixth months we’ve seen an explosion in the DC community. Events where we normally may have expected a few dozen of the same faces to show up have now grown into the hundreds. There seems to be this constant flow of new people, new companies, and general enthusiasm around creating new ventures in the region. We’re hoping that this becomes self sustaining, and all signs point...
I’m honored to be on Washingtonian’s list of Tech Titans this year.
Onward and upward.
It’s been a little under five months since we launched the first version of ProudlyMadeInDC, a website that has helped shed light on the growing startup community in DC. It’s received more media attention and traffic than I expected when it was built. Since then, we’ve launched two additional initiatives – the DC Tech Meetup (800 attendees expected for next week) and DC...
It’s been great watching the early stage startup community grow in the DC region over the past six to twelve months. Companies are getting funded, new ventures are being created every day, and on the whole, the entrepreneurs in the area no longer feel like lone wolves wandering around with no support network. As I’ve become heavily involved the mechanics of the community, through...