Comments on: Hey Valley VCs, Haven’t You Heard? Washington DC is Hawt! http://www.webconsultingdc.com/2010/hey-valley-vcs-havent-you-heard-washington-dc-is-hawt/ It's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it. Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:07:09 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Ernesto Gluecksmann http://www.webconsultingdc.com/2010/hey-valley-vcs-havent-you-heard-washington-dc-is-hawt/comment-page-1/#comment-3331 Ernesto Gluecksmann Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:47:31 +0000 http://www.webconsultingdc.com/2010/hey-valley-vcs-havent-you-heard-washington-dc-is-hawt/#comment-3331 Sssh! I know Bob. I'm just trying to make it sound like we're extra hardy around here. ;) I totally agree with you of course. I love Washington DC. It's arguably one of the best and most livable cities in the world. And especially right now if you're interested in cities with growing tech sectors, this is definitely the place to be. With Baltimore being right next door, this entire region is excellent breeding grounds for technology & innovation. In the ReadWriteWeb comments, there was one guy (SP) that I think definitely hit the nail on the head with his comment about how despite all of what we have to offer, there's still not enough seed/early round investors here. Yes, some of the local businesses are getting serious $ investments ($5m-$20m) but there's not enough interest in helping startups looking for anything under the $1m mark. My gut thinks that the real problem there is that the local tech sector competes with the biotechs in the area very poorly. The money sloshed around for biotechs is mind boggling larger. It simply dwarfs the money that's available for next "web app" product here. So without early funding in this town, what you see lot of bootstrapping going on here. There are no spoiled darling tech startups here, that's for sure. Sssh! I know Bob. I’m just trying to make it sound like we’re extra hardy around here. ;)

I totally agree with you of course. I love Washington DC. It’s arguably one of the best and most livable cities in the world. And especially right now if you’re interested in cities with growing tech sectors, this is definitely the place to be. With Baltimore being right next door, this entire region is excellent breeding grounds for technology & innovation.

In the ReadWriteWeb comments, there was one guy (SP) that I think definitely hit the nail on the head with his comment about how despite all of what we have to offer, there’s still not enough seed/early round investors here. Yes, some of the local businesses are getting serious $ investments ($5m-$20m) but there’s not enough interest in helping startups looking for anything under the $1m mark. My gut thinks that the real problem there is that the local tech sector competes with the biotechs in the area very poorly. The money sloshed around for biotechs is mind boggling larger. It simply dwarfs the money that’s available for next “web app” product here. So without early funding in this town, what you see lot of bootstrapping going on here. There are no spoiled darling tech startups here, that’s for sure.

]]> By: Bob http://www.webconsultingdc.com/2010/hey-valley-vcs-havent-you-heard-washington-dc-is-hawt/comment-page-1/#comment-3330 Bob Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:31:33 +0000 http://www.webconsultingdc.com/2010/hey-valley-vcs-havent-you-heard-washington-dc-is-hawt/#comment-3330 Hey, you make it sound like the Mid-Atlantic is a big strip mall. I totally disagree. The district itself may have a lot of poltico's running around, but it is a hip young place that these days has become the envy of quite a few people from around the region and outside of the region. Take a short drive outside of the District and you have access to some amazing Beaches, Chesapeake Bay, Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, and the amazing mountain and river country of Pennsylvania. Included among that are some very fine rapids and places to skii and snowboard. Our VC Community isn't so bad off either. 2008-2010 might not have been the best years for the economy, but there were quite a few startups that got funded into the 15-30 million range. There were some not so bad exits too including Bill Me Later just outside of Baltimore. Even the little guys like TapMetrics have had some exit success. Hey, you make it sound like the Mid-Atlantic is a big strip mall. I totally disagree. The district itself may have a lot of poltico’s running around, but it is a hip young place that these days has become the envy of quite a few people from around the region and outside of the region. Take a short drive outside of the District and you have access to some amazing Beaches, Chesapeake Bay, Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, and the amazing mountain and river country of Pennsylvania. Included among that are some very fine rapids and places to skii and snowboard. Our VC Community isn’t so bad off either. 2008-2010 might not have been the best years for the economy, but there were quite a few startups that got funded into the 15-30 million range. There were some not so bad exits too including Bill Me Later just outside of Baltimore. Even the little guys like TapMetrics have had some exit success.

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