The D.C. metro's tech ecosystem is growing in several directions, with destinations unknown, but one of the best ways to gauge the future potential of a tech ecosystem is to take a look at a region’s youngest entrepreneurs.
From the hallways of D.C. universities to coworking spaces, meetup groups and incubators, the newest generation entering the technical workforce has more startup resources than ever – and is making good use of them.
To highlight a handful of the D.C. region’s most accomplished young entrepreneurs, we reached out through our newsletter, social media, community leaders, accelerators and schools for nominations. We’ve trimmed that to a list of 20 local innovators who are 25 years old or younger.
Here are D.C.'s 2019 Inno Under 25:
Danya Sherman – 22 Founder, KnoNap
Danya Sherman is an entrepreneur passionate about combining human rights and technology. She is the founder, CEO and inventor of KnoNap, a cocktail napkin that is capable of detecting the presence of illicit drugs in a beverage. Sherman has participated in entrepreneurial fellowship programs including Target Incubator, Halcyon House, Future Founders and Kairos. She also served as an American representative at the 2019 G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance in Buenos Aires, and the 2019 Global Entrepreneur Summit in the Hague. Not to mention, KnoNap earned first place in the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce 2019 i-List Awards.
Lea Boreland – 22 Editor, 4 Cool Jobs
Lea Boreland is the founder of 4 Cool Jobs, a newsletter and blog that helps young people surmount imposter syndrome and become excited about their future careers via humorous industry summaries, expert interviews and cool jobs. 4 Cool Jobs started when Boreland saw friends in college applying to the same five big companies; she began sending them an email, once a week, and the audience grew. She also leads customer success operations at Quorum, a D.C. public affairs technology firm.
Roshan Mirajkar (23) & Roshaan Khan (23) Co-founders, KoinStreet
Roshaan Khan and Roshan Mirajkar are the co-founders of KoinStreet, a startup creating a social platform where people can gain exposure, learn and earn digital assets like cryptocurrency through engagement. Previously, Mirajkar founded student-run Blockchain at Mason at George Mason University and he currently is involved in spreading blockchain education through writing for BlockGeeks. Khan was previously a business analyst at Vianova Health and also launched DataChain Capital during his final year in college.
Jack Ross – 23 Co-founder & CTO, Beanstalk
Alexandria native Jack Ross’ company, Beanstalk, grows pesticide-free, heirloom produce in robotic, vertical farms. He and brother Michael started the company two years ago to address the problems of the modern food system – in particular, the need for healthier and more sustainable produce. Beanstalk is a Y Combinator and Foundation Capital backed company, and its first vertical farm is operational in Springfield, Va. Jack is a graduate of UVA's engineering school where he was a Rodman and IBM Watson scholar, and last year he was selected for the Virginia STEM Catalyst award by Governor Ralph Northam.
Logan Phillips – 25 Head of Operations, Remodelmate
Logan Phillips is the head of operations at D.C. startup Remodelmate, where he landed after being a project manager at Rockville, Md.-based Davis Construction’s commercial interiors division. Prior to Davis, Phillips worked for Classica Homes in Charlotte, N.C., where his work helped it win the NAHB National Builder of the Year Award. He’s spearheading Remodelmate's commercial line of business, which is designed for multi-unit developers and property managers that do bulk renovations, while also finishing his Masters of Real Estate degree at Georgetown University.
Jade Bernad – 25 Founder, DC Advocacy Week
Jade Bernad is the founder of DC Advocacy Week, a free, non-partisan week-long gathering of advocacy initiatives across a variety of causes aimed to educate, inspire and connect all those passionate about positive social impact. She's launching the upcoming 2020 event to highlight and celebrate activists, advocacy organizations and nonprofits. Prior to creating DC Advocacy Week, Bernad produced events for several charities and nonprofits across D.C., including being on the team that brought Alejandro Inarittu's "Carne y Arena" virtual reality pop-up exhibit to the District in 2018.
Margot Nitschke – 24 Grant Compliance Specialist, Byte Back
Margot Nitschke joined the Byte Back team this summer as its grant compliance specialist and has been dedicated to giving back to the D.C. community for three years. Behind the scenes at Byte Back, she's discovering equitable solutions and improving systems and accessibility, leveraging data and linking programatic and fundraising teams in a way that's never been done there. Before Byte Back, Nitschke made data-driven decisions at the Campus Kitchens Project and was also a Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellow. In her spare time, she is part of The Sanctuaries, which ignites social change with art.
Lucas McCanna – 25 Managing Director, CUCollaborative
Lucas McCanna took on several roles at 1776, most recently regional director of the D.C. area, where he worked with hundreds of startups to provide programming and resources. He also headed up the accelerator's digital marketing and helped develop a growth strategy for each region. He recently made a move to become the director of marketing at CUCollaborative, and additionally serves as a mentor at Urban Alliance where he helps under resourced youth interested in tech.
Erin McGeoy – 22 Founder, Last Call For Food
George Washington University alum, social entrepreneur and creative communicator Erin McGeoy uses her marketing experience to bring people together for great causes. She is involved with the sustainable startup scene in the D.C. area, and currently as part of the Bethesda-based Be Green cohort for her company, Last Call. The startup offers college students meals for $5 or less, helping food partners target food insecurity and limit food waste.
Brian Mitchell – 23 Founder, Bullseye
Brian Mitchell, a graduate of University of Virginia as a Jefferson Scholar, was a manager of HackCVille, the student-run nonprofit that offers the school's student entrepreneurs free coworking space, skills classes, alumni mentorships and internship opportunities. After graduating he joined ICX Media and rose within a year to the head of analytics position before departing to found his own company. His current venture, Bullseye, connects high school students with admissions strategists and personalized technology to turbocharge college applications and level the college admissions playing field.
Colin (14), Ryan (11) and Austin Gill (8) Co-founders, Freres Branchiaux
In October 2017, the young Gill brothers wanted more allowance to purchase video games, but their parents told them that they had maxed out their toy allowance and to either “get a job or start a business” if they wanted more money. They decided to start a business, so Mrs. Gill attended a candle-making workshop and then taught the brothers, who created Freres Branchiaux. They now combine their own scents with fragrance oils, hand pour each candle in small batches, and have added accessories to the product line including room sprays and diffusers. The siblings, this year's youngest Inno Under 25 nominees, donate 10 percent of their profits to D.C. homeless shelters.
Dan Bogachek – 23 Founder, Handwrite.io
Dan Bogachek is the CEO of Handwrite, a company that uses AI-powered robots wielding real pen and paper to write and send cards in users' own handwriting. He bootstrapped the company starting in January 2017, living and working out of a shed, and raised a successful pre-seed round in October 2018. Prior to Handwrite, Dan studied electrical engineering at the University of Maryland and co-directed the Startup Shell, a student-run startup incubator based out of the UMD College Park campus.
Bethany Foxx – 25 Customer Success Manager, Quorum
Bethany Foxx is one of the longest-tenured employees at D.C. public affairs tech firm Quorum, and for the past several years has helped it recruit organizations including Anheuser Busch, Coca Cola and Walmart. Beginning in 2018, she was the first customer success manager for Quorum Stakeholder, helping drive new product enhancements such as event management. This year, Foxx was the project manager for the launch of Quorum's newest product, Quorum International, leading to her promotion to product manager as the second member of the company's product team.
Zach Oschin – 21 Founder, Elenas
Zach Oschin's business Elenas, a social commerce startup for Latin America, has enabled tens of thousands of women across Colombia to build an online store and earn extra income. The company is taking on the direct sales market by connecting lifestyle brands with a network of ambassadors to promote and sell products over WhatsApp and social media. Elenas has raised over $1 million in seed funding and is backed by Polymath Ventures, Alpha4 Ventures and the Georgetown Angel Investors Network. It was a TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Latin America finalist, Georgetown Entrepreneurship Challenge winner and top undergraduate prize winner at the Leonsis Family Entrepreneurship Competition.
Tali Gasko – 22 Marketing Manager, Proper Socks
Tali Gasko is the marketing manager for D.C.-based brand Proper Socks. Under her leadership, the e-commerce footwear startup has begun transforming its digital brand and strategy to focus on sustainable initiatives and expand into new verticals. The average ticket price has increased more than three times during her watch, while significantly improving organic and mobile conversions. Soon she'll head up Proper Socks' launch of an online custom sock category for weddings and events.
Vid Micevic – 25 Impact Analyst, Seed Spot
Vid Micevic is a social entrepreneur and design novice born in South Africa who graduated from Arizona State University’s Barrett Honor college with a degree in sustainable engineering. While a student, he co-founded 33 Buckets, a nonprofit aiming to solve the global water crisis through local franchise development and received three national scholarships – including a Fulbright. Now, Micevic is at the forefront of Seed Spot's national mentor program and runs its alumni program. Outside of the business world, he's a triathlete and is participating in the Mandela Washington Fellow Reciprocal Exchange, which is sending him to Chad in coming weeks.
Jason Spriggs – 22 DevOps Engineer, Xometry
Jason Spriggs fosters growth and coaches software engineers for fast-growing D.C. firm Xometry's automated, on-demand manufacturing platform. The young techie is the mind behind Xometry Supplies, a new business line that automates custom metal cutting and shipping across the country. Before Xometry, he led devOps engineering at Brivo, a cloud-based security company. And since the age of 18, Spriggs has been leading an effort to support popular video game and music touring festival MAGfest.
