In less than two years, 30-year-old D.C.-native Harry Alford went from being an intern at 1776 to becoming the managing director of a growing, national co-working and startup accelerator brand. And that's just a small part of his story since graduating from the University of Maryland.
Alford, formerly an operations associate at NextGen Venture Partners, is the new managing director of Bunker Labs DC. Bunker Labs is a national veteran-centric startup accelerator that operates from offices across the U.S. Locally, they have a chapter based in Alexandria, Va.
"Joining Bunker Labs is a natural fit for me and I believe I have a number of leadership qualities that can help Bunker Labs grow. Having founded my own startup [Lacrosse Playground], I’m empathetic towards our members’ pain points in capital raising and how to effectively scale an early-stage startup," Alford told DC Inno in an interview.
His appointment to Bunker Labs DC was announced earlier this month, following an 8 month stint with NextGen Venture Partners and prior to that a two year career in Major League Lacrosse (MLL). Alford also briefly spent time working for D.C. tech incubator and seed-stage VC fund 1776 as a business and digital content strategy intern.
Between 2007 and 2009, Alford played in the MLL for the Chicago Machine and Denver Outlaws.
"Playing professional lacrosse in the MLL right out of college was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I had realized my potential and played alongside my childhood idols. Playing in front of crowds against the Chesapeake Bayhawks, a team I grew up rooting for, is something I’ll never forget. Towards the end of my playing career I realized that I had deep domain expertise in the sport of lacrosse ... This experience in entrepreneurship really influenced my interest in seeing it from the other side at a VC," said Alford.
In January 2009, Harry and his twin brother Thomas (currently LifeFuel's marketing director) co-founded Lacrosse Playground, a content-wrapped sports e-commerce website. They later exited the company to pursue venture capital and marketing careers, respectively.
Regarding where Bunker Lab's sees itself in the area's increasingly competitive accelerator, co-working and incubator scene, Alford said "we definitely don’t view the local accelerators or incubators [organizations such as Mach37, 1776 and Relevant Health] as competitors. We believe there are a good deal of opportunities to work together in collaborative ways."
One of the accelerator's underlying strengths, due to its national scale, is its network of more than 500 global leaders and industry partners.
"Bunker Labs DC’s mission is to integrate military veterans into the greater business ecosystem by launching sustainable and scalable startups. We offer three primary series over a 21-week program: education, mentorship and access to capital," Alford explained in a blog post.
At the moment, Alford is responsible for helping develop Bunker Lab's newest cohort of 15 local startups. Businesses in the spring 2016 BunkerLabs cohort include: TABB, Delect, CareerMaven, Gray Tier Technologies, Dark Cubed, Hethrone, HLinc, SightRunner, Vumble, Socioll, National Military Spouse Network, Purple Squirrel, Nautilus, Designer Tributes and Medical Zoom.
This new 2016 cohort represents the first time that Bunker Labs has accepted non-veteran founded startups into the program. "Military service alumni is a huge part of Bunker Labs identity so we don’t want to stray from our core values, but we also plan to attract the most promising entrepreneurs throughout the DMV region with non-equity grants up $25K," said Alford.
Startups that are accepted into Bunker Labs do not trade equity in exchange for admission, instead the accelerator makes money by selling co-working office memberships, mentorship services and educational business programs.
Interestingly, Bunker Lab members are also not industry-focused, but rather each class brings a diversity of different technologies and products connected to, for example, cybersecurity, entertainment and social networking, wearable health-tech, food tech and data storage services.
"We are currently in the process of assembling a board of advisors and funding for fall 2016 cohort members ... [and are] planning a 3-round bracket-style pitch competition with other accelerators beginning this April hosted by 1776," Alford told DC Inno. Other potential partners for this large area startup competition, which is still in the planning stages, may be Halcyon, GP Tech Labs, Relevant Health and Mach37, according to Alford.
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