D.C.'s leaders have big aspirations for expanding the city's tech startup scene—and the Washington, DC Economic Partnership has become the face of the city's new efforts to support and expand it to new heights. New hires and ambitious plans for the coming year are all built around putting a spotlight on D.C.'s potential for economic growth, especially when it comes to technology.
"All that we do is to serve and help businesses here," said Stanley Augustin, the new small business and retail attraction manager for WDCEP. "We're trying to foster grassroots economic development, helping get businesses out of the bedroom. Tech companies are part of that."
Convincing businesses that the District is the spot for them means creating and getting the word out about why exactly that's true. WDCEP's moves toward that end cover a spectrum of networking and professional lecture events and mentoring—and also less-direct help, like creating a convenient map of all of the area's co-working spaces. Augustin acts to find out and provide the services that will make entrepreneurs want to be in D.C.
"My job is to be that synergy between the District and everything that business has to offer," Augustin said. "I'm kind of a middleman, helping incentivize businesses to move here and stay here."
Not that tech is the only sector that WDCEP focuses on, but it is growing in importance for the group. Nothing highlights that more than the group's role as the official connection between D.C. and the tech festival portion of South by Southwest. WDCEP hosted the city's We DC House earlier this year, and is planning to do the same next year.
"People don't always think of D.C. as a big part of the tech startup and innovation world. That's changing."
"People don't always think of D.C. as a big part of the tech startup and innovation world," said Erica Moore, who's recently taken on the role of WDCEP first technology and entrepreneurship program associate. "That's changing and the Partnership is evolving to promote it."
Moore's job includes coordinating how D.C. presents itself at SXSW. She handles the data collection for the District's tech sector and thus helps give local companies whatever help they need to accomplish their goals at the festival, while simultaneously putting the city's best foot forward in Austin.
"An important part of promoting D.C.'s space is going to SXSW," Moore said. "We can promote what the D.C. tech space is doing as a whole."
That means meeting with more than just startup entrepreneurs. Venture capitalists and other potential investors are a vital component for building a tech startup scene. WDCEP is aware that without that flow of investment, none of the other benefits of being in D.C. really matter. It's another facet of the SXSW planning too. Arguably, attracting those dollars provides the most direct reason the District is willing to invest in the festival.
"At SXSW we are showcasing to potential investors in our startups," said Julie Weber, WDCEP's marketing director. "We can show them we have a burgeoning, thriving startup scene that they should take a look at."
SXSW is a high point, but it's going to take more than one approach for WDCEP to really accomplish its goals for the area's economic growth. If the tech sector continues to get the attention and resources that WDCEP—and by extension the District itself—is seeking, there's plenty of reason to think that entrepreneurs and established tech business owners will keep D.C. on their list of possible headquarters or branch office locations.
"We're definitely going to keep the focus on high-tech startups," Moore said. "There's no real limit to what D.C. can do."
