On Wednesday night, DC Inno hosted its State of Innovation: Tech Madness and Sports Tech event with a packed house, full of local startups and supporters from the D.C. innovation community. Thank you to our event sponsor, Truss, for powering the evening, and to our event partners WeWork Labs and TwentyTables for supplying a great venue and delicious food.
The night was centered around the Sweet 16 reveal for our Tech Madness bracket challenge, as well as a sports tech panel discussion moderated by Kieran McQuilkin, editor at DC Inno. The panel featured J.D. Willcox, co-founder and CFO of Qore Performance; Patrick Conroy, Principal at Revolution Growth; and Adam Gross, co-founder and CEO of RightEye.
We discussed the milestones these startups hit in 2018, what challenges they face in 2019 and how they plan to make this year their best. Our top takeaways are:
- Venture capital isn't always a young company's best option early on. Both RightEye and Qore Performance have taken on limited funding rounds from small, private investors to keep operations lean as they grow.
- Transitioning a startup's product into regulated industries is no small feat. However, if a company prepares well and sets aside time for added approval and administrative tasks, clients in industries like health, defense and sports betting can be lucrative.
- The labor market for software engineers in D.C. is tight, so many small companies in the area have to look elsewhere for talent. And all three panelists agreed that finding a stellar marketing head early on is sound advice for any District entrepreneur.
- A startup's early sales pitches, and what they're willing to give up, depends on the product. For Willcox, giving away a few products for free was an easy way to get a foot in the door and build a brand. For Gross, the costs of operating RightEye's product were too high to give out freely, so he made sure even the earliest customers were paying their fair share.
In addition to the panel, we had Cybrary, GetUpside, Goodshuffle, Inky, MeSpoke, WhyHotel, and Xometry showcasing their startups. A big thank you to everyone who attended, participated and helped make last night successful.
We’ve selected some of the best photos from last night’s event below.
