Toward the end of the workweek it was revealed that Twitter D.C. was making the move to a more suitable office space. With $1.8 billion raised in last weeks IPO, why wouldn't Twitter try to expand its District arm for better lobbying potential?
Thursday morning, the Washington Business Journal broke the news that Twitter, based on a permit for an interior renovation for the ninth floor of 1133 15th Street NW, was moving to a new office. Perhaps that address – a 201,000-square-foot building owned by Clark Enterprises Inc. – sounds like any other to you, but it's not. Three floors up from the new Twitter office (and soon to be one floor down, as well) is the space that 1776 calls home.
Sure if the ninth floor is anything like the 12th, the office space is a great move for Twitter. And a stone's throw from K Street, it's strategic in the lobbying sense, as well. But are we to believe it's just by chance that Twitter is now a neighbor to one of the hottest startup incubators on the East Coast?
In another WBJ article on the suspect move, Twitter spokesperson Nu Wexler wrote via email, "We've been working in temporary Regus office space downtown since fall 2011. We're moving our existing staff (12 employees), half of whom service DC-area advertising clients." He maintained that they would be working separate from 1776. Twitter has a pretty minimal existence in Washington, having only made its first hire in the area in 2010 when they names Adam Sharp government liaison. Later in 2011, the company hired Colin Crowell, ex-senior counselor to the chairman FCC, to head their global public policy campaign who worked from home for quite a while. In 2012, they took on Will Carty to help him.
We couldn't get ahold of a representative from 1776 to comment on the fact they'll be a short elevator ride away from the lobbyists for one of the biggest social media companies in the world. But 1776 continues to grow, and you have to wonder if Twitter being contained by its multiple floors of space is more than just coincidence. Donna Harris has also recently spoke of expanding to more floors in the 15th Street building to house other planned arms of the 1776 campus, other than just the General Assembly D.C. campus, which will soon be up-and-running on the eight floor, and the 12th floor main incubator campus. You could imagine the recently-announced 1776 Ventures may take over another floor.
Then again, 1776 has made an effort toward zoning in on startups in regulated industries that aim to solve the world's most serious issues. For instance, the Challenge Cup, which is currently traveling to hubs around the world, looks to crown startup champions in the categories of education, health care, energy and smart cities. 1776 Ventures will look to foster businesses tackling those same issues. Though 1776 welcomes any startups trying to disrupt and revolutionize the world through innovation on a scalable level, the focus seems to be on these bigger issues. And no offense to Twitter, but social media isn't going to make cleaner energy or lower the cost of living a healthy life; at least not now. And for that reason, Twitter seems to be out of 1776's fit, at least in terms of the way things have been going lately. Then again, the 1776 Ventures announcement came out of nowhere, and certainly so could some kind of plan to work with Twitter.
What do you think? Twitter and 1776 in the same building: more than a coincidence?
Image via Washington City Paper
