As you spend Christmas Eve wrapping up all those presents you haven't gotten to yet (or checking movie times and Chinese restaurant hours if you're me), and putting them under the tree, we thought it would be a good time to suggest what the D.C. tech world would like to find under its tree tomorrow morning.
More Seed Funding - There has been plenty of big funding numbers for D.C. tech startups this year, but seed funding has been a lot trickier. A lack of angel investors compared to other startup cities makes it harder for startups to get those crucial early checks, the kind that institutional seed syndicates can provide to support a startup ahead of a Series A or B round.
More IPOs - Connected to seed funding, the D.C. tech scene could use some more IPOs and other exits. There were several impressive exits this year, but those exits are vital as the source of the angel investors and early seed funding that D.C. needs. There's some hope that there will be some major IPOs out of the region next year, but entrepreneurs will be watching to see if D.C. deepens its bench of potential angel investors.
Community Support - Compared to the stereotypes of sniping, gossip and rumor mongering in Silicon Valley, D.C. can seem downright bucolic. But, that doesn't mean that there isn't room for improvement. Outreach, especially to people new to the area looking to get into the tech startup world, can always be increased. Supporting those who may not be interested in coding and engineering but might have other talents to bring to a tech startup is another area that D.C. has made some strides in but could do even more about.
Regulators, Lawmakers and Judges Who Understand Tech - One of the biggest hurdles for innovators is finding ways to reach accommodations with other industries and with the government agencies that regulate them. Defining and organizing regulatory structure for drones or the sharing economy is difficult enough even when the technology is easy to understand, it becomes orders of magnitude harder when even the concepts under discussion aren't clear to those making the decisions. Whether its a local government, federal agency or judges from the Supreme Court on down, understanding the technology at hand is vital for useful regulations and rules to be made.
